Hell is Real (3 of 4)
There has been so much joy in my heart lately. The WS staff has really been amazing and we’ve began to really gel as a team. And how timely it is that UCLEW encourages us all to Grow in Christ. Because the truth is there is NO OTHER way to go. There exists a dangerous delusion that pervasively creeps into every crevice of human vulnerability. This deception says: “I don’t need God. I just need to pursue success, mind my own business, live whatever way I want to, and conform to what everybody else is doing.”
Why is this mindset utterly foolish? Allow me to tell you a story:
There was a certain rich man who lived everyday in luxury. Outside his house, a beggar laid helpless, longing for scraps from the rich man’s table. The time came when the beggar died and was carried up to heaven. Finally, the rich man died. In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham in heaven with the beggar to his side. The rich man cried out, “Have mercy on me! Send the beggar over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in an agony in this fire!”
But Abraham said to him: “Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and this beggar had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, a great chasm between us has been fixed. Those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”
The rich man answered: “Then I beg of you, please send the beggar to my household. I have five brothers and I want him to warn them about this place of torment so they won’t have to come here when they die!” But Abraham said: “The Lord has already sent prophets to warn them. His Word and Truth has already been written. Your brothers can read them anytime they want to.”
“No!” the man replied. “But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will turn from their sins!” But Abraham said: “If they won’t listen to the prophets and the truth already laid out in the Word, they won’t even listen if someone rises from the dead.”
This is a scary parable in Luke 16 of the reality ALL of us have to face. Don’t get me wrong, God is a loving and merciful God, but he is also just. Justice must me present in mercy, and love in judgment. Your social status on earth does not matter. Hell is real and there is NOTHING we could possibly do to save ourselves when we are already dead.
Sin separates. Sin deceives. Sin dooms us all to hell. But the God of all creation, who is so in love with us, has already given us all we need. He even went as far as coming here on earth fully divine (100% God, 100% Man) and died that we may have life. His words in the Bible are true, he offers salvation through Jesus Christ but we neglect the truth – deliberately. Why? We refuse to believe in its simplicity and refuse to accept the fact that there’s more to life than just earthly pleasures. We would rather subscribe to enticing ideas and lifestyles that allow us to be more ‘free’ and ‘liberated’. But really, does living apart from God, intentionally turning a deaf ear to His voice speaking in your heart, bring about true liberation?
I am in no position to neither condemn nor judge anyone but I entrust that to the convicting power of God’s Word in the Bible – sharper than the sharpest sword it exposes the true state and motives of our hearts.
When we die, each of us will be accountable. No Exceptions. All have fallen short of the glory of God. I know of no other way but through Jesus. No Other. I don’t think you would like to end up in hell and only realize then and there that you made a tragic, irrevocable mistake.
I speak with conviction because, trust me in this, nothing compares to having tasted the sweetness of our Lord. You may have turned your back on God, but He has never and will never turn his back to you. No one is beyond redemption. Take a stand while you still have time. A life enjoyed with Christ in your heart comes with it the joy, peace, purpose, satisfaction and assurance of His wonderful promises every single day – both in this life and in eternity. (Check out Psalms 33 and Isaiah 40:29-31!)
There is a God-shaped void in each of us and no amount of seeking for answers and meaning elsewhere will satisfy. Yes, there may be many noble pursuits in this world (i.e. gender equality, environmental consciousness, academic pursuits) but never neglect what matters the most.
