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Luke 10:1016 Hell, Fire, and Brimstone Main Idea

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Luke 10:1016 Hell, Fire, and Brimstone Main Idea Luke 10:10­16 Hell, Fire, and Brimstone Main idea: Judgment is real, and God is a consuming fire. Yet it’s His kindness that leads us to repentance, because mercy triumphs over judgment. It’s amazing how casually we often go about our sin. We sin as if we’re our own boss and sin is okay. We sin as if nothing’s going to happen to us. We sin as if Heaven and Hell were not real, but even while we do that, we prove to be children of Hell, because Hell reigns in our hearts. Whenever we sin, choosing to live our lives apart from the Lordship of Jesus Christ, it’s like we look forward to Hell, where we can remain in rebellion against God. Sin is serious, and deserves God’s judgment. Hellfire and brimstone preaching was popularized in the 18th and 19th centuries, and even extended into much of the 20th century. It’s typically characterized by a lot of shouting, detailed descriptions of Hell, and warnings to unbelievers and even to believers of what happens to those who reject God, when people choose to live their own lives apart from Jesus Christ. Many of you may have grown up hearing hellfire and brimstone preaching. Some of you may even long for it, thinking that it will scare you enough to get your life right with God. Because Hell is not a party. Hell is a very scary thought. All of the movies and cartoons depicting Hell as the place where Satan rules and sin is celebrated forget one thing: that Hell was created by God to punish Satan and his demons. The Bible calls it the lake of fire. The pit. Outer darkness. The place where God’s wrath is unleashed on wickedness in all His power and sovereignty. Now, I’m not typically a hellfire and brimstone preacher, just because if I shout that long, I lose my voice. But I hope that my voice won’t give out on me today, because as you can see, the title of my sermon is Hell, Fire, and Brimstone, and that’s exactly the kind of sermon I intend to bring today from Luke chapter 10. In fact, just a few weeks ago, after I got back from my sabbatical, someone, I don’t know who, suggested while answering the Question of the Week that we needed more hellfire and brimstone preaching. Well, here it is. And I believe this is God’s will for the sermon today, because I started preparing this message even while I was on sabbatical. It’s amazing how God lines up these small details to confirm to me what I ought to be preaching. Well, anyway, one of the most popular hellfire and brimstone sermons ever preached was one by Jonathan Edwards. The sermon was titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” The title alone is pretty scary, isn’t it? Because we’re all sinners, and we know that God intensely hates all sin. So it’s a scary thought for us sinners to be in the hands of an angry God. Grace Baptist Church 965 E. Union Street, Nokomis, IL 62075 graceisgood.org And the content of that sermon was even more terrifying. In it, Jonathan Edwards made the point that all sinners deserve Hell, and that God can easily cast any sinner into Hell whenever He desires. That’s a scary thought! The main point of his sermon was this: There is nothing that keeps wicked Men at any one Moment, out of Hell, but the mere Pleasure of God. And you know what? That is completely true. Since we are all sinners, and since the wages of sin is death, the only thing that keeps any one of us out of Hell now is that it’s God’s mere pleasure to keep us out of Hell. It’s God’s pleasure. God’s sovereign choice. So we are all sinners in the hands of an angry God. It’s a good sermon. And yet, I think it’s also an incomplete sermon. Because what is the pleasure of God? Jonathan Edwards seems to say that it’s God’s pleasure to keep sinners out of Hell now while they live, but implies that it’s also God’s pleasure to condemn sinners to Hell when their time comes. It’s God’s pleasure to show mercy now, but also God’s pleasure to show wrath later. But in the Bible, God says, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel? (Ezekiel 33:11) I think this is a very important verse in Scripture, because it’s a theme that runs throughout the Bible. It’s saying this: even while warning of the judgment to come, God’s desire is to show mercy. God’s pleasure is to show His mercy. The only thing that keeps any one of us out of Hell right now is the mere pleasure of God, which is God showing His mercy to all people even now while we live, for the very fact that we’re still alive means that God’s mercy is being shown to us. And the only thing that keeps any one of us out of Hell in eternity is God’s mercy, that Jesus died in our place, paying the price for our sin, so that by grace through faith in Him, we are saved from our sin and saved from Hell. Remember that theme as we read our text this morning, which is Luke chapter 10, verses 12 through 16. We’re going to begin reading in verse 10 for just a bit of context. Luke chapter 10, beginning in verse 10. But whenever you enter a town and they do not receive you, go into its streets and say, 'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this, that the kingdom of God has come near.' I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! Grace Baptist Church 965 E. Union Street, Nokomis, IL 62075 graceisgood.org For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more bearable in the judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You shall be brought down to Hades. "The one who hears you hears me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects him who sent me." (Luke 10:10­16) Father, I pray that everyone here today would heed the warnings throughout Scripture to repent, remembering that our sin deserves death, judgment, and Hell. Draw each one of us to Yourself, so that we will not reject You, but love You, as You love us. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen. Our passage this morning is a continuation of the instructions that Jesus gave His disciples as He sent them out to be His witnesses. The last instruction Jesus gave them was concerning towns that would not receive them, to shake off the dust against them, which we’re to understand as a final testimony toward them. The testimony was basically this: “If you won’t receive Jesus, then you are as dust. From dust you were formed, and to dust you will return!” If you read Genesis chapters two and three, you find that Adam, mankind, was formed out of dust. And after he sinned in the garden, he was sentenced to return to dust. And the serpent was sentenced to eat dust. Did you get that? Because of our sin, we would return to dust, and Satan will eat the dust. So if you put all this together, Jesus was saying that any town and any person who doesn’t receive Jesus is in grave danger! And even though the kingdom of God has come near to them, Hell is also just around the corner! So repent, and believe the gospel, and don’t be consumed by the devil! And then Jesus said this in verse 12. I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town. Wow. For any town that does not receive Jesus, it will be more bearable on the day of His judgment for Sodom than for that town. For that person. And recall what happened to Sodom. It was destroyed by fire and brimstone! Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven. (Genesis 19:24, KJV) And Jude says this about it: Grace Baptist Church 965 E. Union Street, Nokomis, IL 62075 graceisgood.org Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 1:7) Jude says that Sodom wasn’t just destroyed by fire, but by eternal fire. A neverending fire. A fire which utterly consumed them, because God is a consuming fire. And Jesus was saying that it would be even worse for the town, and therefore worse for the person, who rejected Christ and His disciples.
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