Latest / Reformed Thinking / Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul and Body in Hell | John Piper

Transcript

Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul and Body in Hell | John Piper · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive where we
• 0:03
  take your chosen sources, look closely at them and try to pull
• 0:07
  out those key insights to help you get really well informed.
• 0:11
  That's right. And today, well, we're tackling
• 0:13
  a pretty serious and frankly, weighty subject.
• 0:17
  It really touches on some ultimate questions about
• 0:19
  existence, about justice. It really does.
• 0:21
  The sources we're looking at today come from a careful
• 0:25
  reading of the biblical text, particularly focusing on the
• 0:28
  words of Jesus himself. Right, his actual words.
• 0:30
  Exactly. Specifically on the nature of
• 0:32
  God's judgment, what hell is According to him, and you know
• 0:36
  what it actually means to fear God.
• 0:37
  OK, our aim here is really to lay out these concepts clearly
• 0:41
  using what he said, so you can get a grasp of the scope of what
• 0:43
  Jesus taught about hell, about God's justice and also his
• 0:47
  liberating provision. OK, so let's dive right in.
• 0:50
  Maybe the best place to start is with Jesus's own voice.
• 0:53
  Like you said, there's this really striking command he
• 0:56
  gives. I it's in Matthew chapter 10
• 0:57
  verse 28. He says and do not fear those
• 1:01
  who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear him
• 1:05
  who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
• 1:07
  Yeah, that's quite direct. It is, it immediately sets up
• 1:10
  this well, this stark contrast, doesn't it, between what humans
• 1:14
  can do, their limit, and then God's ultimate sovereign
• 1:17
  authority, it. Forces you to prioritize,
• 1:19
  really. It really does.
• 1:20
  It makes you think, OK, where should our ultimate fear, or
• 1:23
  maybe apprehension really lie? It's a powerful starting point
• 1:27
  because Jesus, He clarifies the limits of human power right
• 1:31
  away. People, even at their worst, can
• 1:33
  only affect your physical life, your time here.
• 1:35
  Which is serious, obviously, but limited.
• 1:37
  Limited, exactly. But then he points to God, who
• 1:41
  has authority that goes way beyond the physical.
• 1:43
  It touches the eternal destiny of, as he says, both soul and
• 1:46
  body and. It's presented as a command, not
• 1:48
  just advice. Definitely.
• 1:50
  It's an instruction. Reorient your deepest concerns.
• 1:54
  Shift that ultimate fear away from temporary threats, things
• 1:57
  that pass, and place it squarely on the one who holds eternal
• 2:00
  jurisdiction. It clarifies where the real
• 2:03
  power, the ultimate authority, actually is.
• 2:06
  And it's actually quite striking, isn't it, that Jesus,
• 2:09
  who we often rightly think of as compassionate, loving, gentle,
• 2:14
  he's the one speaking so directly, so frankly about these
• 2:19
  really sobering realities. That's a point that often
• 2:22
  surprises people, I think. When you look through the whole
• 2:24
  Bible, it becomes pretty clear that Jesus actually spoke about
• 2:27
  hell more than anyone else. Significantly more.
• 2:31
  And that's not just, you know, a bit of trivia.
• 2:33
  It suggests that this topic wasn't marginal for him.
• 2:36
  It was, it seems, a core part of his teaching.
• 2:39
  It absolutely was foundational. If you look at the scope of his
• 2:42
  ministry, his message, it underlines how central this was.
• 2:46
  You know, we rightly focus on his love and mercy, but the
• 2:48
  sources show he was also the revealer of, well, hard truths
• 2:52
  and God's righteous justice. You.
• 2:53
  Can't separate you. Really.
• 2:54
  Can't. The fact that he warned about
• 2:56
  hell so often, so consistently, it signals how vital it is for
• 3:00
  understanding his offer of rescue.
• 3:03
  Why offer rescue if there's nothing to be rescued from?
• 3:06
  Good. Point.
• 3:06
  It wouldn't make much sense if it was just a footnote.
• 3:09
  Not at all. It was a primary truth he
• 3:11
  clearly intended to get across, and it forces us, as you said,
• 3:14
  to hold together the compassionate Christ and the
• 3:16
  Christ who gives these very serious warnings.
• 3:19
  And when he did speak about hell, the descriptions he used,
• 3:22
  wow, they are incredibly vivid, really stark.
• 3:25
  They weren't abstract concepts. They paint a picture of, well,
• 3:28
  total desolation. Yeah, unforgettable imagery.
• 3:30
  It's like he's illustrating the complete removal of everything
• 3:34
  good, everything joyful, and at the same time the multiplication
• 3:37
  of misery. Think about Matthew 8.12, outer
• 3:40
  darkness, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• 3:44
  That phrase weeping and gnashing of teeth, it's so visceral.
• 3:47
  It is. It goes beyond just, you know, a
• 3:48
  dark place. It suggests this intense
• 3:51
  internal agony, spiritual emotional misery, the idea of
• 3:55
  grinding your teeth in sheer anguish.
• 3:57
  It speaks of utter desolation. Doesn't.
• 3:59
  It it really does imagine the complete absence of light,
• 4:02
  comfort, hope, and instead just fear and despair.
• 4:06
  It's a picture of extreme suffering.
• 4:08
  And he doesn't stop there. He uses other intense images
• 4:12
  too, like the fiery furnace that's in Matthew 13.
• 4:15
  Right, versus 41 and 42, He says that's where law Breakers are
• 4:18
  thrown at the end of the age when the Son of Man returns.
• 4:21
  Again, not a comforting image. It speaks of active suffering,
• 4:26
  of judgement being carried. Out deliberate affliction.
• 4:28
  Yes, It's meant to convey a harsh reality, not soothe.
• 4:32
  Then there's the direct mention in Matthew 5.22.
• 4:35
  Just the hell of fire. Very plain.
• 4:38
  Very plain and reinforcing that fiery attribute.
• 4:41
  And what about Matthew 25.41? He calls it eternal fire,
• 4:45
  prepared for the devil and his angels.
• 4:47
  That's significant too. It points to its origin, you
• 4:50
  could say prepared initially for these, these rebellious
• 4:52
  spiritual beings. Not only for them.
• 4:54
  Apparently not. It becomes the destination for
• 4:56
  those who ultimately align themselves with that same
• 4:59
  rebellion against God's rightful reign.
• 5:02
  Their destiny gets intertwined. OK.
• 5:04
  And the descriptions just keep coming.
• 5:06
  Mark 9.43. He calls it unquenchable fire.
• 5:10
  Unquenchable. That stresses the ceaselessness,
• 5:12
  doesn't it? The unending nature of it.
• 5:14
  It's not something that just burns out.
• 5:16
  Exactly. It points to a permanent,
• 5:18
  ongoing state, not temporary. That aspect, the duration, is
• 5:23
  key to understanding its severity in his teaching.
• 5:26
  And maybe one of the most, well, powerful descriptions is in
• 5:29
  Matthew 25, verse 46, eternal punishment.
• 5:32
  Yes, and the context there is crucial.
• 5:35
  Because he directly contrasts it with eternal life.
• 5:38
  Precisely. And that contrast is incredibly
• 5:41
  telling. Our sources really highlight
• 5:43
  this, just as eternal life isn't just about duration, but about a
• 5:47
  quality of existence, unending fellowship, and blessedness with
• 5:51
  God. Then eternal punishment must
• 5:53
  mean more than just lasting forever.
• 5:55
  It implies an unending experience of misery, of loss
• 5:58
  under God's righteous wrath, a continuous state of anguish, the
• 6:02
  tragedy of final loss, unending despair.
• 6:05
  It really drives home the gravity He's conveying.
• 6:07
  So when you put all these terms together, outer darkness,
• 6:09
  weeping, gnashing of teeth, fiery furnace, unquenchable
• 6:12
  fire, eternal punishment. Yeah, it's quite a collection.
• 6:15
  It's clear he's not being vague. He's using all this powerful
• 6:18
  language to communicate a reality he wants us to take
• 6:21
  very, very seriously. Absolutely.
• 6:23
  He leaves no room for thinking this is somehow trivial or
• 6:25
  something you can just brush aside.
• 6:27
  Which brings us to a really important distinction.
• 6:30
  Because there's a common idea out there, isn't there?
• 6:33
  That hell is sort of the natural consequence of turning away from
• 6:38
  God. Like it just happens
• 6:39
  automatically if you reject him. Yeah, like you push God away and
• 6:42
  you just kind of drift into this negative state, almost like a
• 6:45
  self-inflicted wound or, you know, the way smoking leads to
• 6:48
  lung cancer, a natural process. Right, a passive outcome.
• 6:52
  But the sources we're looking at, based on Jesus's words, they
• 6:55
  strongly challenge that view. OK, so what's the correction?
• 6:58
  The clarification is vital. While yes, human choices, human
• 7:03
  rejection of God, lead people toward this destiny, Jesus
• 7:06
  states very clearly that these choices deserve hell.
• 7:09
  Deserve it? That's different.
• 7:10
  Very different. It's not just a natural
• 7:12
  consequence like the smoking example.
• 7:14
  The sources insist hell is the just penalty of God's wrath, not
• 7:18
  an oldie. Like in a courtroom.
• 7:20
  Exactly like that. Think of a righteous judge
• 7:24
  handing down a sentence to a convicted criminal.
• 7:26
  It's an act of judgement based on wrongdoing.
• 7:29
  That word Jesus uses punishment in Matthew 25.46.
• 7:34
  It clearly signals God's active judicial role.
• 7:37
  So this divine sentence, a deliberate act of justice, not
• 7:41
  just things running their course.
• 7:42
  Precisely. It's not merely an automatic
• 7:45
  result of human action, it's a response from divine authority.
• 7:48
  And Jesus really seems to hammer this point home in some of his
• 7:51
  parables, doesn't he? They Pete these vivid pictures
• 7:54
  of hell as an active exercise of God's just wrath.
• 7:57
  We really do take the parable of the unfaithful servant.
• 8:00
  OK, remind us of that one. Jesus pictures a master who goes
• 8:03
  away, leaving a servant in charge, but the servant thinks
• 8:06
  oh, the master's delayed and starts beating the other
• 8:08
  servants, eating and drinking with drunkards, basically
• 8:11
  abusing his position. Then Jesus says the Master
• 8:14
  returns unexpectedly, catches him, and the text says the
• 8:17
  Master will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites,
• 8:20
  and then he adds in that place there will be weeping and
• 8:23
  gnashing of teeth. Cut him in pieces.
• 8:26
  That's strong language. It is, and it clearly signifies
• 8:29
  more than just oh, you made bad choices, now you feel bad.
• 8:33
  This is described as legitimate holy rage from the Master,
• 8:37
  followed by a direct, severe inflicted punishment.
• 8:41
  An act of judgment. A decisive act of judicial
• 8:44
  consequence by the rightful authority.
• 8:46
  It's not passive at all. OK, are there other examples
• 8:49
  like that? Yes, another.
• 8:50
  Really powerful one is the parable of the rebellious
• 8:52
  citizens that's in Luke 19. Tell us about that one.
• 8:56
  Jesus tells of a nobleman who goes away to receive a Kingdom,
• 9:00
  but while he's gone his citizens send a message saying we do not
• 9:04
  want this man to reign over us. They explicitly reject his role.
• 9:08
  Open rebellion. Open rebellion.
• 9:10
  So the Nolan returns, having received his Kingdom, his
• 9:13
  authority confirmed. And what does he command?
• 9:16
  Jesus quotes him saying. But As for these enemies of
• 9:19
  mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here
• 9:21
  and slaughter them before me? Wow.
• 9:24
  Again, incredibly strong. And again, this isn't portraying
• 9:27
  some natural decay or a disease that results from their choice.
• 9:31
  It depicts a king expressing righteous, holy wrath against
• 9:34
  those who openly, defiantly reject his legitimate and
• 9:38
  gracious rule. It's an act of sovereign justice
• 9:40
  being carried out. Exactly.
• 9:41
  So the imagery consistently points to a divine act of
• 9:45
  judgment. It's not passive separation.
• 9:47
  It's a deliberate action by a holy and just judge, an
• 9:51
  intentional dispensing of justice based on rebellion
• 9:54
  against him. OK, so this brings us back then
• 9:56
  to that initial command in Matthew 10.28.
• 10:00
  Fear him. Right.
• 10:01
  Fear God. So based on everything we've
• 10:03
  just discussed, fearing God in this context means what exactly?
• 10:07
  It means apprehending God as the holy Judge who justly sentences
• 10:10
  guilty sinners to hell because of their rebellion.
• 10:13
  It means taking His judicial authority with utmost
• 10:15
  seriousness. It's not just like reverence or
• 10:18
  all, though maybe that's part of it.
• 10:19
  It includes reverence, yes, but Jesus seems to be emphasizing
• 10:22
  something more intense here. It's a real apprehension, A
• 10:26
  profound regard for his role as Judd and the reality of his
• 10:30
  justice against sin. It acknowledges ultimate
• 10:33
  accountability before him. You know, I think often today we
• 10:36
  try to soften that phrase fear of God.
• 10:39
  We wanted to mean only respect or maybe wonder at creation.
• 10:43
  Understandably, perhaps, but Jesus's own words don't seem to
• 10:46
  allow for watering it down. Quite that.
• 10:48
  Much like in Loop's Gospel chapter 12 verse five, he says
• 10:51
  something very similar, doesn't he?
• 10:53
  Almost identical and perhaps even stronger, he says.
• 10:56
  But I will warn you whom to fear.
• 10:58
  Fear him. Who, after he has killed, has
• 11:00
  authority to cast into hell. And then he repeats it for
• 11:04
  emphasis. Yes, I tell you, fear him.
• 11:06
  Yes, I tell you, fear him. He really wants us to get.
• 11:09
  It he does, it makes it crystal clear the kind of profound
• 11:11
  apprehension, the serious regard he's calling for.
• 11:15
  It's a genuine, deep respect for his ultimate authority and his
• 11:18
  justice against unrepentant sin. But this raises a potential
• 11:22
  tension, doesn't it? Maybe even seems like a paradox
• 11:24
  for some people listening. How so?
• 11:26
  Well, if we're called to have this real serious apprehension
• 11:29
  of God as judge, how does that fit with the idea of God as a
• 11:32
  loving Father? How can you experience that
• 11:35
  legitimate fear, that apprehension of His authority,
• 11:38
  and also have, you know, sweet peace with Him?
• 11:41
  Do they cancel each other out? That's a crucial question, and
• 11:43
  the answer lies in how that peace comes about.
• 11:47
  It's not that the apprehension is illegitimate, but that
• 11:50
  something happens to address the reason for that apprehension for
• 11:54
  certain people. And what's amazing, looking back
• 11:56
  at Matthew 10, is what Jesus says immediately after that
• 11:59
  command to fear God. It's almost jarring, the shift
• 12:02
  in tone. It is remarkable timing, isn't
• 12:04
  it? Right after fear him who can
• 12:06
  destroy both soul and body in hell, he says.
• 12:09
  Are not 2 sparrows sold for penny and not one of them will
• 12:12
  fall to the ground apart from your father?
• 12:13
  Such tender care depicted there. Exactly, and then?
• 12:16
  But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.
• 12:18
  Fear not, therefore you are of more value than any sparrows.
• 12:22
  He goes from this ultimate judge warning to this intimate, caring
• 12:26
  father reassurance. It's an incredible
• 12:29
  juxtaposition. He reveals God simultaneously as
• 12:32
  the Judge to be rightly apprehended and the Father who
• 12:35
  meticulously knows and provides for his creation.
• 12:38
  We see that fatherly care elsewhere too, like in Matthew
• 12:41
  6, feeding the birds, knowing our needs.
• 12:44
  Absolutely. So the core question remains,
• 12:46
  how do you hold both? How can you have both the real
• 12:50
  apprehension of God's justice and at the same time this deep,
• 12:54
  genuine peace with Him? How are they reconciled?
• 12:57
  Well, the key, according to our sources, is that peace doesn't
• 13:01
  come from us just deciding not to worry about God's wrath or
• 13:03
  trying to mentally dismiss it. So it's not just positive
• 13:06
  thinking. No, not at all.
• 13:08
  True peace comes because God himself actively removes his
• 13:11
  wrath from us. It's his action, his initiative.
• 13:14
  It's something God does. Yes, it's not something we
• 13:17
  achieve on our own. It's a divine deliverance he
• 13:19
  provides. OK, so if peace requires God
• 13:21
  removing his wrath, how does he do that?
• 13:24
  What's the mechanism, the means for that removal?
• 13:26
  The means is the cross of Jesus Christ.
• 13:29
  God achieves this removal of wrath through the sacrificial
• 13:32
  death of His Son Jesus in our place.
• 13:34
  Substitution. Substitution.
• 13:36
  Jesus himself pointed to this. Remember when he spoke about
• 13:39
  Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness?
• 13:41
  Vaguely, yes. Yeah, in John's Gospel.
• 13:43
  John chapter 3 Jesus said just as that serpent was lifted up
• 13:47
  for the Israelites to look at and live, so must the son of man
• 13:51
  be lifted up, meaning lifted up on the cross to die, that
• 13:55
  whoever believes in him may have eternal life and the.
• 13:58
  Implication is not experience God's wrath.
• 14:01
  Exactly. John 3.36 makes that explicit.
• 14:04
  Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life.
• 14:06
  Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the
• 14:10
  wrath of God remains on him. Belief in Jesus is presented as
• 14:13
  the turning point, the way wrath is averted and life is gained.
• 14:17
  So salvation isn't about us trying to be good enough to
• 14:20
  cancel out the wrath we deserve. No, it's not about balancing
• 14:23
  scales. It's about God providing a
• 14:25
  substitute who takes the penalty.
• 14:27
  Think about Jesus's cry from the cross.
• 14:28
  My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
• 14:31
  Mark 15.34 A devastating moment. Devastating and theologically,
• 14:35
  our sources understand this as Him in that moment experiencing
• 14:38
  the full weight of God's abandonment, the outpouring of
• 14:41
  divine wrath against sin in our place.
• 14:43
  He, being perfectly righteous, took the penalty we deserved.
• 14:47
  He absorbed it. He absorbed it and then his
• 14:49
  final word from the cross. In John 19.30 it is finished.
• 14:54
  To the lest I paid in full. Paid in full, it signified that
• 14:58
  the entire cost required for our salvation, the complete
• 15:01
  deliverance from God's just wrath and restoration into all
• 15:04
  His blessings, was fully paid. Nothing left owing Divine
• 15:08
  justice was satisfied. That's incredibly powerful.
• 15:11
  It is finished, a complete transaction.
• 15:14
  Absolutely. Jesus himself said He came to
• 15:16
  give his life as a ransom for many.
• 15:18
  Matthew 20.28 He paid the price to buy us back, absorbing and
• 15:22
  removing God's wrath from all who would trust in Him.
• 15:24
  So for. Everyone who truly believes in
• 15:26
  Jesus relies on his work. For them, God's wrath is taken
• 15:29
  away. It's gone.
• 15:30
  They have, as Jesus said in John 5.24, passed from death to life.
• 15:34
  They enter into an everlasting relationship of peace with God.
• 15:37
  It's a complete rescue. OK, so this changes things
• 15:39
  dramatically, doesn't it? If God's wrath is genuinely
• 15:42
  removed for believers because of Jesus, then what is left for a
• 15:46
  believer to, well, to fear in that Matthew $0.10?
• 15:50
  Does the command still apply? It does, but it's nature
• 15:54
  transforms the object of the apprehension shifts.
• 15:57
  Shifts to what? For the person trusting in Jesus
• 15:59
  the great danger, the thing to apprehend with serious concern
• 16:03
  is unbelief. Not judgment itself, but falling
• 16:06
  away from the solution to judgment.
• 16:07
  Exactly for a believer fearing God, apprehending the terrible
• 16:11
  prospect of not trusting, of distrusting the one who paid
• 16:15
  such an infinite price to secure their peace with God.
• 16:18
  So the fear itself becomes a kind of protective mechanism.
• 16:21
  Precisely. It's a means God graciously uses
• 16:23
  to keep believers resting peacefully and securely in
• 16:26
  Jesus. This is why genuine believers
• 16:28
  don't live in this constant state of cringing dread.
• 16:30
  They believe they rest in Christ's finished work, in God's
• 16:34
  sovereign fatherly care. That makes sense.
• 16:37
  It's not a fear of God in the sense of expecting punishment,
• 16:40
  but a fear of leaving God, of devaluing the relationship he
• 16:43
  purchased. That's a great way to put it.
• 16:45
  This holy apprehension acts as a safeguard when temptation comes,
• 16:49
  maybe the temptation to doubt God's goodness or to rely on
• 16:53
  something else to drift into sin, this godly fear rises up.
• 16:57
  Like an alarm bell. Yes, it warns the believer.
• 17:01
  Think about what you're doing. How foolish would it be to
• 17:03
  distrust the God who loved you so much?
• 17:06
  He gave His own Son to secure your anxiety free joy.
• 17:10
  It guards their faith, protects their contentment in Christ.
• 17:13
  I remember an analogy used in the source material that really
• 17:15
  helps illustrate this. It involves a big dog, ah.
• 17:19
  Yes, the story about the author's son Karsten.
• 17:21
  Right, he was visiting someone with this huge imposing dog and
• 17:25
  the boy started to run across the yard.
• 17:27
  And the dog let out this deep growl and started loping right
• 17:29
  after him. Quite alarming.
• 17:31
  Definitely, and the odor called out.
• 17:33
  You better just walk. He doesn't like it when people
• 17:35
  run away from. Him.
• 17:36
  A simple but profound observation in that context.
• 17:39
  And the author draws this parallel.
• 17:41
  This huge dog who actually loves children but dislikes people
• 17:44
  running away is sort of like God in this sense.
• 17:47
  It paints a picture, doesn't it? If you trust him.
• 17:50
  If you find your joy in him. If you metaphorically throw your
• 17:54
  arms around his strong neck and rely on him.
• 17:56
  Then he's everything good. Protector.
• 17:58
  Provider, Friend. He'll be everything you could
• 18:00
  hope for and more. But, and this is the crucial
• 18:04
  part of the analogy, if you decide other things look more
• 18:06
  attractive if you turn your back on him and choose to run away.
• 18:10
  Won't be pleased. He becomes angry.
• 18:11
  Exactly. And that connects right back to
• 18:13
  that parable of the rebellious citizens in Luke 19 where the
• 18:17
  king says about those who didn't want him to reign, bring them
• 18:19
  here and slaughter them before me.
• 18:22
  So, putting it all together, for the believer, fearing God means
• 18:25
  fearing the terrible possibility, the sheer folly of
• 18:29
  running away from the merciful, all providing completely
• 18:32
  satisfying reign of King Jesus. Yes, it's a fear that motivates
• 18:36
  staying close, not pushes away. It guards peace rather than
• 18:40
  destroying it by keeping us connected to the only source of
• 18:43
  true peace. This understanding also sheds
• 18:45
  light on why Jesus spoke so strongly about hell and why the
• 18:49
  Bible presents it as just. It does Jesus command to fear.
• 18:53
  God, understood in light of His judgement against sin, teaches
• 18:57
  us that sin itself is, well, unfathomably serious.
• 19:02
  More serious than we tend to think.
• 19:03
  Much more serious, many people struggle with the concept of
• 19:07
  eternal hell being slukley just because, frankly, they have a
• 19:10
  diminished view of sin and often a diminished view of God's
• 19:13
  holiness and worth. So how do the sources define sin
• 19:16
  in this context? Fundamentally, sin is defined as
• 19:19
  lawlessness that's breaking God's law.
• 19:22
  But crucially, it's seen as an offense against God first before
• 19:26
  it's against other people. Even if it hurts other people.
• 19:28
  Even then, the primary offense is vertical towards God.
• 19:31
  Remember Jesus and Matthew 7.23 saying to those who claim to do
• 19:35
  things in His name, but lived lawlessly?
• 19:37
  Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
• 19:39
  The issue was their relationship, their standing
• 19:42
  before Him. OK, against God first.
• 19:44
  Why is that so serious? Because of who God is, the
• 19:46
  seriousness of an offense is measured by the dignity of the
• 19:49
  one offended, right? Makes sense.
• 19:51
  Insulting a king is worse than insulting a peasant in that
• 19:54
  framework. Exactly.
• 19:55
  And God is presented as infinitely worthy, infinitely
• 19:59
  honorable, infinitely desirable. He holds an office of infinite
• 20:03
  dignity, infinite authority, infinite value.
• 20:06
  The ultimate standard of goodness and worth.
• 20:08
  Precisely. Sin therefore, in its essence
• 20:11
  says the opposite. Whether by action or attitude,
• 20:14
  sin declares that something else, our own will, some
• 20:17
  fleeting pleasure, some thing, is more desirable, more worthy
• 20:20
  of our allegiance, more valuable than the infinite God.
• 20:23
  It's a profound insult, a rejection of his supreme value.
• 20:27
  It's presented as an infinitely outrageous crime to rebuff,
• 20:30
  ignore, or prefer something else over a God of infinite worth and
• 20:34
  glory. And if the crime is infinitely
• 20:35
  outrageous because it's against an infinitely worthy God?
• 20:38
  Then the logic follows. It merits an infinite
• 20:41
  punishment. This perspective is critical for
• 20:43
  understanding the biblical concept of divine justice
• 20:46
  regarding hell. So his intense words about hell
• 20:49
  aren't some kind of divine overreaction to minor mistakes.
• 20:53
  Not at all. They are understood as bearing
• 20:55
  witness to the infinite glory and worth of God and the equally
• 20:59
  infinite offense, the outrageous dishonor of human sin and
• 21:03
  rebellion against Him. It recalibrates our
• 21:05
  understanding of both God and sin.
• 21:07
  OK, this has been intense. We've talked about fear,
• 21:11
  judgement, wrath, sins, gravity. What's the take away?
• 21:15
  Where does this leave us personally?
• 21:17
  Well, it might sound strange at first, but the conclusion our
• 21:19
  sources draw is that Jesus command to fear God even in
• 21:23
  light of hell is actually a profound act of mercy.
• 21:26
  Mercy. How so?
• 21:27
  Because he warns us it's a wonderful, gracious thing that
• 21:30
  He doesn't leave us in the dark, ignorant of the reality of
• 21:33
  judgment and the consequences of rejecting Him.
• 21:36
  He tells us the truth, even when it's hard.
• 21:37
  He gives us the information we need to make a choice.
• 21:40
  Exactly. He gives us this precious gift
• 21:42
  of knowledge about the wrath to come so we aren't caught
• 21:44
  unaware. And what's the intended effect
• 21:47
  of this warning, this apprehension?
• 21:49
  The best effect, the intended effect, is that it wakes us up.
• 21:53
  It startles us out of complacency and makes us realize
• 21:55
  our desperate need for help. It shows us we can't save
• 21:58
  ourselves. Precisely.
• 22:00
  It's not meant to paralyze us with terror, but to point us
• 22:03
  urgently toward the only solution, the only refuge, the
• 22:07
  all sufficient Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
• 22:09
  So the fear itself pushes us toward the very one who can take
• 22:13
  the fear away. Oh, that's the beautiful gospel
• 22:14
  dynamic. The apprehension of judgment
• 22:16
  leads us to the Savior who bore the judgment for us.
• 22:19
  The invitation flowing from all this is let the serious
• 22:23
  understanding drive you to Jesus.
• 22:25
  Find in him the consolation, the security, the peace that removes
• 22:30
  the ultimate reason for fear. And Jesus himself offers that
• 22:33
  assurance, doesn't he, to those who come to him.
• 22:35
  He does remember Luke 12.32 after warning about hell, after
• 22:39
  talking about God's care, he says to his followers, Fear not
• 22:42
  little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give
• 22:45
  you the Kingdom. From fear of judgement to the
• 22:47
  Father's good pleasure. That's the journey.
• 22:49
  That's the peace that follows when true apprehension leads you
• 22:52
  to the arms of the Savior. Wow, OK, that was quite a deep
• 22:56
  dive today. We've really seen how Jesus,
• 22:59
  more than anyone else in scripture, spoke directly,
• 23:02
  clearly and often about hell. And not just as some passive
• 23:06
  thing that happened, but as God's active just penalty for
• 23:09
  sin. Yes, a penalty deserved because
• 23:11
  sin is understood as an offence against an infinitely worthy
• 23:14
  God. But we've also seen that this
• 23:16
  profound truth about God's authority and judgement isn't
• 23:19
  the end of the story. It's not meant just to leave us
• 23:22
  anxious. At all.
• 23:23
  It's meant to point us directly to the only remedy God Himself
• 23:26
  provided, the complete sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.
• 23:30
  Right. And for those who trust in that
• 23:31
  sacrifice, the whole nature of fear changes.
• 23:35
  It's no longer dreading judgment.
• 23:36
  It transforms into a holy apprehension, A protective fear
• 23:40
  of distrusting the One who paid absolutely everything to secure
• 23:43
  our peace and relationship with God.
• 23:45
  It really leaves you thinking, doesn't it?
• 23:46
  It prompts us to consider it, maybe personally.
• 23:49
  In what ways might I might you be tempted to run away, even
• 23:53
  subtly, from the gracious all providing, all satisfying reign
• 23:57
  of King Jesus? And how can a right
• 23:59
  understanding of both his perfect justice and His
• 24:01
  incredible mercy actually draw us closer into his embrace, into
• 24:05
  lasting peace and contentment found only in Him?