Tim Keller's sermon on hell.
Things one needs to know about hell...
It will exist but doesn't just yet.
It will be at a location separated from God, but will not be a physical relm like earth but a spiritual one.
Jesus Christ will rule as Lord over hell, not Satan
Those who go there will want to and they will lock the door behind themselves.
The fire and torment of hell will be self inflicted.
Hell can be defined as follows: A freely chosen identity in something or someone other than God.
Confused let me try and explain...
For the Christian the taste of hell we get here on earth will be the closest we ever get to the true hell.
For the non-Christian the taste of heaven they get on earth will be the closest they ever get to the true heaven.
Hell begins here on earth within us as a spiritual addiction of an identity in something or someone else other than God. The reason this is hell is because an identity built this way will never satisfy. Like any true addiction we constantly need more and more to produce less and less satisfaction. In fact the temporary satisfaction here on earth got by the non-Christian is the only taste of heaven (true satisfaction) they will ever get. When they die and everything they have (every little taste of heaven they have horded) even their body will be taken from them and in hell there will not even be that temporary satisfaction experienced here on earth but only the craving for heavenly satisfaction remaining. This is hell and but for the grace of God, where we are all headed.
To understand the judgement of God (and the necessity of hell) allows us to be at peace here on earth knowing that every act will be accounted for. Without this perfect justice that comes from God we are destined for an endless cycle of retribution.
It is not good enough to be convinced of the existence of hell through some clever argument or as in this parable the returning of someone from the dead, even Jesus! All this does is produce a fear of hell and a selfish desire to avoid it. What we need to understand is the Love of God. Love has no worth unless it costs something. God showed us how much he loved us by paying the ultimate cost by dying in the cross taking all our sin on his shoulders and as a result suffering the separation of the Godhead for our sake! There is no greater cost that could have been born and this therefore produces the greatest love ever made known. The Godhead of Father, Son and Spirit did this out of love for us to spare us the torment of hell... If only we believe!!! Because if we don't the alternative is a hell of our own making...
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