Greg Laurie - How Could a God of Love Send Someone to Hell?

TOPICS: Hell

The title of my message is «How Could a God of Love Send Someone to Hell?» So, a number of years ago, I was preaching, and I was standing at the back door, meeting people. Some guy came up to me, shook my hand, and said, «That was a hell of a message, Pastor.» I’m like, «Uh, okay. Is this your first time here?» You know, I was kind of hoping it would be more of a heaven of a message, but I think in his way he was trying to compliment me. But, uh, there’s that word «hell,» you know, and we sometimes have people say, «I don’t like these hellfire and brimstone preachers.» Now, if by that you mean someone standing on a street corner with a sign and a slogan, «You’re going to burn in hell,» with flames added for effect, I would be with you. But frankly, I can’t remember the last time I heard a hellfire and brimstone message. And by that, I mean I can’t remember the last time I heard someone actually preach on the topic of hell. So that’s what I want to talk about. Now, I’m not suggesting we’re going to do this every Sunday-"all hell, all the time» at Harvest, right? But I’m not going to run from a subject because it’s uncomfortable or because we have a misunderstanding of it. It’s worth considering that Jesus Christ, who was the very personification of love, spoke more about hell than all the other preachers in the Bible put together. Why? Because the last thing God wants is for anyone to go to this place. So, I’m going to answer the question: «How could a God of love send someone to hell?» And I’m also going to answer the question, «How can you say, as Christians, that Jesus is the only way to God? How can you say that? That’s so narrow-minded! That’s so intolerant! That’s so unloving! And all religions teach the same thing?» Okay, we’ll address all of those issues together.

And this brings me to point number one: When we come to this topic-and really any topic-we need to look at it biblically, not emotionally. For some reason, there are some subjects that we have a more emotional reaction to than others, and this probably would be one of them. So we need to think biblically. A poll by the Pew Research Center revealed that people define heaven and hell as follows: Heaven is a place where people who have lived good lives are eternally rewarded, and hell is a place where people who have lived bad lives will die and be eternally punished. That’s wrong. So that means the vast majority of people have a false view of heaven and hell. Heaven is not created for people who’ve lived good lives. Uh, heaven is for forgiven people, not good people. And that’s good news for all of us, right? Even on our best day, we’re nowhere close to being good enough for heaven. It’s for forgiven people. And hell is a place where people who have lived bad lives will die. Listen, it’s a place that’s not even created for people. According to Jesus, hell was created for the devil and his angels. It’s not something that God wants to send any person to. And I’ll explain that more in just a few moments.

We’ve made hell a joke when it’s no laughing matter. I mean, we punctuate our sentences, as I mentioned earlier, with references to hell. For instance, if something is going wrong, people will say, «All hell broke loose.» If you had a great time, we’ll say, «We had a hell of a good time.» If you’re mad at someone, you might say, «You can just go to hell.» Then the funny thing is, some of the people who tell others to go to hell don’t believe hell exists. So what are you really saying? You can just go to a place that doesn’t even exist? That doesn’t have quite the impact now, does it?

There’s actually a place in Michigan named Hell. That’s the city: Hell, Michigan. And the way that came about is in 1841, George Reeves, an early settler, found this little swampy area and bought it. They were going to build a town there, and they said, «What do you want to name the town?» He said, «I don’t care. Call it Hell if you want.» And they did: Hell, Michigan. So if you want to go to hell, I guess you could go there. But hell’s real, as is heaven. And there is an afterlife. J.I. Packer, a theologian, said, «An endless hell can no more be removed from the New Testament than an endless heaven can.» Yes, there is an afterlife, and we need to think about it carefully because we’re all going to enter it, maybe sooner than we thought, and we decide in this life where we will spend the afterlife.

Now, there’s a lot of misinformation about hell, ranging from hell being a big party ruled over by a cartoon caricature called Satan. Let me tell you a few things about the devil. He doesn’t have red skin. He doesn’t have pointed ears. He doesn’t have a tail. He doesn’t have a pitchfork. And he doesn’t have hooves. That’s a caricature of Satan. Here’s another thing-maybe I don’t know if you knew this or not -the devil does not live in hell. Hell is created for the devil. Ultimately, Satan is going to be sent to hell, but he doesn’t rule from hell from some fiery throne. The Bible calls him «the prince of the power of the air.» He’s just kind of moving around as Peter describes him, like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. In the book of Job, the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan was among them. And the Lord said to Lucifer, «What have you been doing?» He said, «Just walking around, roaming around, watching everything that’s going on.» In the book of Revelation, we’re told he knows his time is short. That’s why it seems like the devil is working overtime right now. The Bible says in the last days, there’ll be satanically energized times. And we can all see it before our very eyes, can’t we? So he doesn’t rule from hell; he’s going to be sent to hell.

Now we hear of demons. Where did demons come from? Well, demons are fallen angels. Satan, the devil, Lucifer, was once a high-ranking angelic being, but he rebelled against God, and he took one third of the angels with him, who now are fallen angels, also known as demons. These are the principalities and powers that the Bible tells us about. So the devil has limitations. He can only be in one place at one time, in contrast to God, who’s omnipresent and can be everywhere all at once. The devil is not all-powerful. He has certain power, considerable power, but it’s limited. God is omnipotent, which means he has unlimited power. The devil has certain knowledge, though he doesn’t know everything. He knows some things. God is omniscient, meaning he knows all things.

And hell is not a party; it’s a place of utter darkness. It’s a place of isolation. It’s a place that nobody wants to end up in. You know, more than half of the 40 parables that Jesus told deal with eternal judgment and hell, so it’s something we should pay attention to. This is a description of the final judgment for all mankind. I would add only non-believers will be present at the judgment we’re going to read about here. Revelation 20:11, John writes: «Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened.» You might underline the word «books»; plural-more than one. «And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them, and they were judged, each one according to his works. Then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.»

So we start with a great white throne. It’s great because of its awesome power and ultimate purpose. And the purpose of that great white throne is judgment. And here we stand before God. Now, what happens to a non-believer when they die? A non-believer goes to Hades. And over in Luke chapter 16, Jesus told an interesting story. It could be perceived as a parable-a parable is an illustration, not necessarily a true story but just an illustration built on things people were familiar with. Parables were like earthly stories with heavenly meanings. But in this particular account, he uses a name in his story. He talks about Lazarus and a rich man; therefore, we don’t think it’s a parable. In other words, this is a behind-the-scenes peek at what happens on the other side. We have two men dying on the same day. One man is Lazarus; he’s impoverished -he’s living off the table scraps of the rich man, who is selfish and self-absorbed and is living an evil life. So they both die.

So we have the picture of a believer and a non-believer dying, and everyone dies. Death is no respecter of persons. Uh, believers as well as non-believers get cancer. They have auto accidents. They have heart attacks. They die. We all die. But Lazarus, the believer, goes straight into the presence of God at death. In this story Jesus told, Luke 16:22 says, «So the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.» The rich man died and was buried. So when a believer dies, in contrast to a non-believer, they are ushered into the presence of God by an angel. I find that comforting, don’t you? You wonder, «What happened to my loved one when they died?» An angel escorted them to heaven. That’s an awesome escort. Sixteen years ago, my son left this life and went into the afterlife after an automobile accident. And I believe that he was escorted by an angel. You know, angels are very involved in your life every single day, but you’re probably not even aware of what they’re doing. Sometimes people ask, «Do we have guardian angels?» I don’t know with certainty, but I think maybe we do. But if we don’t have a guardian angel, maybe we’ve worn out a few of them, I don’t know. But if we don’t have a guardian angel, we have angels actively involved. The Bible says the angel of the Lord surrounds those that fear Him. Sometimes they guide us. Sometimes they stop us. They protect us. They’re involved; they’re sort of like Navy Seals. You don’t know what they did, but they just get the job done, right? It’s angels; they’re God’s secret agents.

And so they’re guiding us through life; they’re protecting us. And then one day, they fulfill their final task, which is escorting us into God’s presence. And so Lazarus dies and goes into the presence of the Lord. But now the non-believer dies on the same day. He also goes to this place called Hades. Okay, so Hades-this is all prior to the death and resurrection of Jesus-was where all people went. And it had a comfort section and a torment section; or, another way to put it: smoking and non-smoking. Right? So if you were a believer, you went into the comfort section of Hades, into Abraham’s bosom and the care of Abraham. And if you were a non-believer, you went into the torment section. And in this vivid account that Jesus gave in Luke 16, we see the man in the torment section saying, «I want to cross over. Send me some water to cool my tongue.» It’s a really scary scenario laid before us.

So once Christ died on the cross, he went to heaven, and now that’s where every Christian goes. Remember when Jesus was crucified and the criminal next to him said, «Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom»? Jesus said, «Truly, truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.» So what happens to a Christian when they die? Now we go straight to heaven. We don’t go to the comfort section of Hades; we go straight to heaven, into the presence of God. As the Apostle Paul says, «To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.» So the moment you take your last breath on earth, you take your first breath in heaven. You close your eyes on earth; you open them in heaven. And it’s just like that-you know, just like a flash. And Paul writes also, «I want to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.» Far better! Heaven’s way better than earth. And the words that he uses can be translated «far, far better.» Or, as they would say in Hawaii, «mo better, bra.» Right? It’s «moa"-way better. Think of the purest joy on earth, multiply it a thousand times, and you get a fleeting glimpse of heaven’s euphoria. The Bible says, «In His presence, there’s fullness of joy, and at His right hand, there are pleasures forevermore.»

Point number five: Only non-believers will stand at the great white throne judgment. So, death and Hades deliver up the dead that were in them. So the non-believer goes to this place of Hades-this, uh, difficult section, torment section, if you will. And now they come to the great white throne judgment, and they’re judged from the books, plural. What are these books? No one knows, so I’ll just make a bunch of stuff up! No, not really. This is based on other scriptures. Maybe one of those books is a book of God’s law-you know, the commandments of God that we’ve broken? Imagine if every time you broke a commandment, it was recorded in a book. That’d be a big book, right? And the Bible says God gave us the law that every mouth would be stopped, and all the world would be guilty before God. Maybe one of those books is a record of every time you heard the gospel and rejected it because some people would probably say, «Hold on now, I never heard this. I never heard someone say I needed to believe in Jesus.» Well, actually, you did, and here’s a record of all those times you heard it throughout your childhood, and you rejected it. I don’t know with any certainty, but then if you’re not found written in the book of life, you’re cast into the lake of fire. If you’re a Christian, your name is written in the book of life. That’s the good news, right? But what about these people that don’t have their name written in the book of life? They are sent to ultimate judgment.

How could a God of love send someone to hell? Simple answer: God doesn’t send anyone to hell. God wants you in heaven, but He’s not going to force you against your will. He’s not going to say, «Get up to heaven right now, young man. I don’t care if you like it; you’re going to heaven.» No, you don’t want to go to heaven; you don’t have to go to heaven. And there are many that don’t want to. C.S. Lewis, a great theologian, said, «Scripture sees hell as self-chosen. Hell appears as God’s gesture of respect for human choice. All will receive what they actually choose: to be with God forever, worshiping Him, or without God forever, worshiping themselves.» End quote.

It’s your choice. So don’t say God sends people there. You send yourself there. The gates of hell are locked from the inside. If you want to go to heaven, then you choose to follow Jesus Christ, and He shows you how to do it. So I have to tell you what the Bible says because to promise heaven and not warn of hell is not giving the whole gospel. You say, «Well, what if I want to spend eternity in heaven?» Well then, go the way God tells you to go.

Let’s say that you said, «Hey, Greg, I want to go visit Harvest Riverside.» Okay, great! How do I get there? All right, well you get on the 55, you get on the 91, and then you go up to Riverside, and there’s a little off-ramp called Adams. Pull off on Adams, and you’ll wait there for maybe ten minutes because I don’t know why it’s a really long light, and then it goes green, and it’s red again. Yeah. So, um, then you keep going up, and it intersects with Arlington. Adams and Arlington -that’s where our church is. You can’t miss it. Yeah.

You know, I don’t really agree with that. What do you mean? I don’t agree. I think all roads lead to Harvest. What? Are you insane? I just told you how to get there! No, I think it’s in San Diego. Actually, it isn’t. Well, we’re going to go to San Diego and look for it. Have fun there! You’re not going to find what you’re looking for. Or it’d be like buying an electric car. And so you pull into the gas station, and people have done this. I’ve seen videos of people trying to put gas in Teslas. I’m not making this up. So you’re looking for a place to put the gas -there’s nowhere to put it! That, first of all, that’s dangerous because that could be on fire. How do I say it? Okay, so, well I don’t agree with that. I don’t think that this should run on electricity or a battery. I think it should run on-think whatever you want! It was designed to be plugged in and charged and run on a battery, and this is the way you do it.

But then we’ll come to God, and we’ll say, «Well I don’t believe- I don’t believe that Jesus is the only way to God. Why do you Christians say Jesus is the only way to God?» Well, technically, it was Jesus that said it, so we’re simply repeating what He said. And Jesus said, I think all of us know this verse, John 14:6. We could say it together, I’m sure: «I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me» or «through me.» The Bible says there’s one God, one mediator between God and man, and it’s the man Christ Jesus. Uh, Peter preached and said, «There’s salvation found in no other name under heaven by which a man can be saved.» So there it is. Why do we say it? Because Jesus said it.

Seventy percent of Americans believe many religions can lead to eternal life, and strangely and wrongly, fifty-six percent of so-called evangelical Christians say there are many paths to God apart from Jesus Christ. Okay, they’re wrong. A biblical Christian who understands what scripture says would go with what Jesus said. «Well, that’s so intolerant! That’s so narrow-minded! I believe all roads lead to God! I believe all religions teach the same thing!» If someone says that to you, that’s their way of saying, «Hi, I’m completely ignorant!» Because even a casual glance at the religions of the world would clearly show they don’t all teach the same thing at all. As an example, Christians believe in a personal God; Buddhists are pantheistic, denying the existence of a personal God. So the views just are different in everyone.

So don’t say all religions teach the same thing! And then there’s this one: «We’re all children of God!» No, you aren’t! You’re not all children! I know I’m going to offend someone. I told you, right? Didn’t I say that? You’re not all children of God. How dare you say that, Greg? Well, where in the Bible does it say we’re all children of God? Here’s what the Bible says: «For as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become sons of God.» I am a child of God because I believed in Jesus, and I was adopted into His family. I’m adopted, right? I was adopted by a man named Oscar Laurie. He made me his son legally. So that’s a privilege. I now can take his last name, though I didn’t like it as a child, quite frankly, but I’m fine with it now. But you know, it is a girl’s name after all, isn’t it? So, but I am adopted. And the same is true when you become a believer.

Now, I think we could say we’re all created by God; we’re all made in the image of God; we’re all loved by God. But we’re not all children of God. You become a child of God by believing in the Son of God, who died on the cross for your sin and rose from the dead. «Well, I just think all roads lead to God.» Really? Okay, let’s play that out in the real world. Let’s say you boarded a flight at LAX, the worst airport in America. It actually is! It’s always under construction and never seems to improve. Traffic is always backed up forever-the worst. Anyway, I digress. Okay, so you go down to LAX and you board your flight, and you’re taxing down the runway, and the voice of the captain comes over the intercom system: «Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to flight 231 with direct service to Honolulu, Hawaii. Um, by the way, folks, I’m not going to be using my navigational equipment today, nor am I going to consult a map because, folks, I believe that all roads lead to Hawaii.»

Wait, Hawaii is like a speck in the middle of the ocean? No, no! «So mahalo and aloha!» Get me off this plane! You are a crazy man! What would you think of a doctor? You go in for surgery, and he says, «I haven’t read your charts. I don’t know what you’re dealing with. Uh, I have a little time; I’ve got a scalpel. Let’s do this!» Wait, no, no, no, no! I want you to give attention to detail! And yet we come to God, who tells us how to come into a relationship with Him. And we have the audacity to say, «I don’t agree with you!» Who are you to have an opinion on this topic? Who are you to argue with the Son of God? You see, Jesus is the only way to God because there’s never been anyone like Jesus before. He wasn’t a prophet; He wasn’t a guru. He was fully God and fully man, and He walked among us. And He lived a perfect life. Then He died a perfect death. And with one hand, He took hold of sinful humanity, and with the other hand, He took hold of a holy God. And nails were pounded into those hands, and He died for our sin. That’s why Christ-and Christ alone-is the only one who can connect us to the Father in heaven. That’s God’s way; this is God’s lifeline.

Let’s summarize: How could a God of love send somebody to hell? He doesn’t! Hell was not created for people; it was created for the devil and his angels. You have a choice in the matter. If you reject God’s provision and offer of forgiveness and end up in hell, you have no one to blame but yourself. The gates of hell are locked from the inside.

Issue number two: How can you say Jesus Christ is the only way to God? To be technical, it was Jesus who said it. He’s the only one uniquely qualified to bridge the gap between a holy God and sinful humanity. He died for our sins; He atoned for our sins; He rose again from the dead. And He Himself said He was the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by Him.