“Why Does A Loving God Send People to Hell?”
Introduction:
There are a lot of people who have questions that they want to ask God. One of the questions that many people want to ask God is, “how a loving God could send people to Hell?” We know that one of the characteristics that is used in the Bible to describe God that He is a God of love, if God loves people then why would He let them go to Hell? We read in God’s Word that He does not want any people to perish. If God does not want any to perish for eternity than why is there a Hell?
I believe that because of people’s fear of Hell and questioning of God’s sending of people to Hell many people have began to doubt the existence of a place called Hell. To many people Hell is simply a figment of their imaginations and is not a real place.
A Harris poll found that while 89% of Americans believe in heaven, only 73% believe in hell. However, even this figure is misleading, since people differ in how they define “hell.” When defined as an actual location—a place of actual torment where people will be sent—only three in ten adults (31%) believe in hell. Most Americans believe that Satan is merely a symbol for evil. Only 27% strongly believe that Satan is real.
I know that for a lot of so called intelligent people Hell is more of a joke than a reality. The world is all the more embracing aspects of spirituality such as New Age, reincarnation, Psychics, etc., but the church is all the more silent on these issues like the judgment of God. Be sure of this before I get into this message that Hell is real and while we may ask and wonder about this question especially as it relates to our lost loved ones, we must be reminded that God does not want anyone to go to Hell. In fact God has gone at great lengths so that we might avoid Hell. He sent His own son to die for us so that we might avoid this awful place. Hell though is just as real as Heaven.
When England closed it’s Libyan Embassy Muammar Qaddafi became so angry that he ordered England to be removed from all maps in Libya. If you buy a map in that country today, that area will be represented by a new arm of the North Sea bordered by Scotland and Wales. Simply removing England from all maps in Libya does not mean it doesn’t exist. Just because we’ve never been to Hell or the world makes light of it, or says it’s a fairy tale doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Hell is very real.
We can deny the reality of Hell, we can try to argue or justify our way around Hell, but Hell is real. If there is no Hell then the Bible becomes a book of blunders. Perhaps Hell is not something you doubt, but we do all at times wonder why God allows people to spend eternity in such an awful place.
Text: Matthew 25:31-46
I. What is Hell?
First, it is pertinent to look at what Hell is and what it is like for us to consider why God allows people to go there. We learn a lot in scriptures about Hell. We learn a lot about what Hell is like because Jesus and the other New Testament writers had a lot to say about Hell. I hope that as we look at this that we will not see God as a God who gets pleasure out of seeing his creation suffer, but we will see a God who has provided a way out for us. I hope that through this we will be more thankful for the sacrifice of Jesus. I hope that we will take seriously our lives so that we can be prepared for eternity. I hope that we will more deeply realize that there is a Heaven to gain and a Hell to shun. I believe that we will come to that if we honestly examine the scriptures and see the way that God’s Word describes Hell.
a. Separation from God
Many people in their lives do not want anything to do with God. They assume that they will be in Heaven because they are good people. People develop their religions around their lack of faith. People today want nothing more than to be separate from God. They want to be separate from God so they don’t go to church. They say that you do not have to go to church to show your faith. People today want to be separate from God so that they do not have to live at any moral standard because if they were not separate from God they could not live at their own standard. The thing is when people die; God gives people just what they wanted. I do not understand why we complain about people going to Hell and being separate from God because they are just getting what they wanted. I do believe that one of the worst things about Hell is the separation that comes along with it. I believe that what makes Hell so awful is God’s absence. Imagine being in a place completely void of anything good and completely absent from God.
Matthew 7:21-23
I believe that the worst thing we could possibly hear from God is depart from me. Imagine standing before God in judgment, perhaps you are expecting to get in, perhaps you are shocked that it really did matter what you believed and how you lived, and then you hear God saying depart from me.
b. Eternal Torment
Hell is also a place of eternal torment. I do not think any words that I say could adequately describe the torment that exists in Hell. I do believe this that as equally good as Heaven will be Hell is equally as awful. Our minds cannot comprehend the horror of such a place.
Luke 16:24
Hell is a place of torture. The Bible calls it a Lake of fire, a place where the worm does not die, and a bottomless pit. Also notice that Hell is permanent. There are no second chances it is eternal. Maybe because of this we should be careful how we live since Hell is such a dangerous thing. I hope that this has scared the Hell right out of you. I hope that you will take your life more seriously.
This same place of eternal torment that Jesus talked about is the place that has been prepared for those who do not live for God during their lives here.
A famous atheist once said, "If I believed in hell as Christians do I would crawl on my hands and knees around the world to tell one person about how to escape its horror."
Why would a loving God send people to such a horrible awful place?
II. Will God really send people to Hell?
Another question that we need to consider is, will God really follow through and send people to Hell. Many people seem to think that Hell is just some cosmic bluff of God. Will God really follow through on that promise? I think that we can be just assured that the disobedient will be judged and will really go to Hell as we are that the righteous will be rewarded. This question comes down to the fact that God is faithful to His promises. We might not like everything that God promises, but God is a God of His Word, and He means what he says and He follows through on His Word. It seems that many people expect God to be faithful to some of His promises and not faithful to other promises.
I do not think that God gets pleasure in sending people to Hell, but He really will send people to Hell who are disobedient to His commands, and I know this because God said so.
Revelation 21:8
The conclusion of this question is that God is faithful to His promises, all of His promises, if he says that those who are not in Christ will be judged to eternity apart from God then we can be sure that He will. Many people seem to gamble with their souls because they do not think that God really will send people to Hell. That is a gamble that I would not want to make. I hope that if today you are gambling with your soul that you will repent and turn away from that lifestyle because God is faithful to all his promises.
III. Why does God send people to Hell?
a. God’s Holiness
One reason why people go to Hell is because of God’s holiness. We learn from very early on in scripture that God is a Holy God. Since God is Holy he cannot be contaminated with sin. God’s holiness is characterized by Him being separate, and pure, and whole. The Bible tells us that it is a fearful thing to come into the presence of a living or holy God. God’s holiness instilled in people a reverent fear because of man’s inability to live up to God’s standard. God has called all people to be holy as He is holy, but we have sinned, we have missed the mark. In the beginning God created the world and man perfect and without sin. He gave Adam and Eve one command, and that was to not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God told them that if they broke that command they would surely die. When Adam and Eve sinned death then came into the world, but also came separation from God because God could not be contaminated with sin. In the Bible when people come into the presence of God it is always a fearful thing. People fall down before Him because He is holy and that holiness instills a reverent fear. We learn that we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Because of God’s holiness sin cannot enter into Heaven. God therefore prepared a place for the wicked called Hell.
Matthew 25:41
God separates the sheep from the goats because of His holiness first of all, and sin cannot come before Him.
b. Our Free Will
A lot of times we talk about how God sends people to Hell, but we forget that God has given us the freedom to make choices in this life. God sometimes just gives us what we want. We have a free will to chose and many people reject God.
C.S. Lewis said:
There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done", and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done". All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.
We have a choice for how we will live here, and many times we choose separation from God. We should observe that God does not send anyone to hell. He desires that none should perish. God created man to have fellowship with him and provided the means by which man can have that fellowship. It is man’s choice to experience the agony of hell… As C.S. Lewis has put it, sin is man’s saying to God throughout his life, “Go away and leave me alone.” Hell is God’s finally saying to man, “You may have your wish”. In this life we must choose. We must make the choice between God and our sin. We are all without excuse. God’s Word warns us about Hell, we even have warning from the mouth of Jesus about Hell. We must decide what we love more. We must decide if we love Jesus more than our sin. I do not believe Hell should be the only thing to motivate us to love God, but we need to be reminded of the alternative. There is no in between. Either you live for God now and get the reward of Heaven or you don’t and spend eternity in Hell. We have no right to blame God for any person going to Hell, people have chosen that. Some have chosen it because they did not believe in God. They might just not been able to logically accept God, but the Bible tells us that the creation itself tells us there is a God, there is no excuse. Some people simply are ignorant of the Truth, and the truth of the matter is God has spoken through His word so that no man has an excuse. Some people chose sin over God and that is there choice, but they have to deal with the consequences. Let us not look to blame God and picture God as a savage who gets pleasure out of seeing people suffer eternally. We chose through our actions where we spend eternity, and I am thankful that God does not force anything on us, but has given us the choice and the means to accept Him.
c. God had provided a Way
We can talk until we are blue in the face about why God sends people to Hell, but I think people miss something important. They miss they key, they miss God’s grace. Remember God does not want any to perish; in fact he would go at great lengths for us not to have to spend eternity apart from Him. We can call God a savage, we can say whatever we want, but what is comes down to is we all deserve Hell. We all deserve to spend eternity apart from God, and God would be completely justified in judging us to Hell. He didn’t though; God is a God of love, of justice, and of mercy. He showed His mercy in providing a way for us. Remember sin cannot enter into the presence of God so…
II Corinthians 5:21
Romans 5:8
God does not want any to go to Hell, in fact He went at great lengths so we wouldn’t have to. When it comes down to it the choice is ours though. God doesn’t force Heaven on us. He stands though pleading to be reconciled. Those covered in the blood of Jesus will be saved from Hell. The Bible lays out plainly the way to God. We must come through Jesus. Jesus said I am the Way, the Truth and the life, no one can go to the Father except through me. The scriptures say that we must believe, and then we must confess Jesus as Lord, and then turn from those sins, then be obedient in baptism. It is then that our sins are washed away and we are seen as perfect in the sight of God. If we live faithfully then we have the promise of eternity with God in Heaven.
