My dear friends, it is indeed a very great pleasure and privilege for me to be back here in Dayton for your family conference. This evening earlier, I found it hard to believe that seven years had passed since I last had the privilege of being with you. But when I was standing beside Pastor Fortner a moment ago singing, I realized that I couldn't read the words of these songs without my glasses. I didn't have that problem seven years ago. So the passage of time is taking its toll. I've always said that I never enjoyed a conference more than the last time I was with you. And I'm enormously grateful for the invitation to return. My pleasure at being with you and at the prospect of renewing old friendships and making new ones has been heightened by the presence of my wife with me, whom I hope many of you will have an opportunity of meeting. She has kindly been invited by our hosts. And another great plus of the visit was the opportunity to spend the weekend in Mebane and to develop fellowship with the people of God in that place. I look forward to the whole of the conference. I look forward with enormous pleasure to the prospect of ministry from Pastors Hendricks and Pizzino each morning and to fellowship with you all. The subject allotted to me for this conference was the doctrine of hell and I plan to approach that subject on the four evenings topically or thematically. I trust our studies will be exegetical, but we shall not be focusing in on a particular passage each evening. Rather I want to approach the subject by means of four questions. And the first one this evening is, why should we think about hell? Why should we think about hell? It is an extremely unpleasant subject. One writer has described it as the ultimate horror of God's universe. And you, of course, are here for a holiday conference. You're here to relax, to be refreshed, to enjoy yourselves. A few weeks ago a friend was asking me, well perhaps he wasn't just as close a friend as I imagined, but he was asking me where I was going and who I was speaking for, and he said, what is your topic? And I said, I've been asked to speak four times on the doctrine of hell. And he said, isn't that absolutely typical of Reformed Baptists? when they meet together for a relaxing, enjoyable holiday? What subject do they choose to consider together but the topic of hell? What a morbid people they must be. Why should we think about hell? And perhaps we are put off the subject further by the way throughout history that Christian zealously but unwisely have caricatured and distorted and misrepresented the biblical doctrine. Let me give you some quotations. One preacher speaks of the wicked hanging by their tongues from hooks while the flaming fire torments them from beneath. Another says of someone in hell, the flames of fire gushed from his ears and eyes and nostrils and out of every pore. Another describes the damned eating each other, tearing each other with their teeth. One preacher, and I quote, sounds almost gloating or joyful about hell. He says, the little child is in this red hot oven. It beats its little head against the roof of the oven and stamps its little feet on the floor. Hear how it screams to come out. See how it turns and twists itself in the fire. Now much of those statements go far beyond the sober, measured, restrained statements of Scripture. They owe more to a vivid imagination than to the teaching of the Holy Spirit. They are crude. They are inaccurate. They are unbiblical. And they have brought the whole subject into disrepute. And we have a reluctance to be classed with that sort of representation of the doctrine of hell. And then there's a personal reluctance in dealing with the doctrine. A friend who I esteem highly warned me before I began to study, and he said, this study will cost you, it will mark you, it will be a burden upon you, and I have to say that it has. And at times I've sometimes thought of my friends in Lebanon and said to myself, why did they assign me such a topic? There are so many truths in Scripture which thrill us and excite us and as we think about them we're filled with joy and gladness and we're moved to worship and gratitude over these glorious truths It is a joy to study them and to prepare them. It is a foretaste of heaven. But to sit and to ponder on the fate of the damned brings a heaviness on the spirit. And in my human weakness, I want to be liked. I want to be popular. I want you to think of me with gratitude as a friend. And there is that in my flesh that was saying, but these people will not remember my messages with anything but a sense of dread. How I wish I could speak on something else, such a somber and terrible thing. And so I've asked myself this question, why should we think about hell? And we all need to ask, we're going to spend four evenings studying it, we need to be convinced, convinced in our hearts and souls that it is mandatory that we should study it. That it is of the utmost importance for our souls and the souls of a generation to come. That this is a key doctrine which we cannot and dare not neglect and only if we do so Will we come with appropriate seriousness and expectation? Why should we think about hell? I want to suggest three reasons this evening. We should think about hell in the first place because of its intrinsic importance. Its intrinsic importance. Now of course everything in the Bible is important, but it is nonetheless true that there are some truths which have proportionately a greater and more vital importance than others. If we are ignorant of the fine points of the doctrine of angels, or of some of the details of the Old Testament food laws, we will be the poorer. That is to be regretted, but we will not be damned. We will not be lost. We will survive. Other doctrines, however, are indispensable. In his great book, The Reformed Pastor Richard Baxter urges pastors to preach on these doctrines more than others. He says, other things may be known but these must be known or else men are undone forever and hell is such a doctrine. It must be known. Let me adduce four lines of evidence to emphasize its intrinsic importance. The first is the massive weight of biblical testimony. The massive weight of biblical testimony. Hell is not something that is referred to occasionally, now and then, here and there, in one or two obscure, disputed passages of scripture. No. Huge sections of the Word of God bear on this doctrine. There are more references in the Bible to the wrath of God than to the love of God. The Old Testament is full in every book of our Lord's fierce judgment on his enemies, foreshadowings of hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ had far more to say about hell than he did about heaven. That surprises some people, but it's true. One scholar says that there are approximately 1870 verses in the New Testament which record words of Christ. 13 percent of these deal with judgment and hell. For an eighth of what he says he speaks of judgment and hell more than any other topic. The key word for hell in the New Testament is Gehenna and on every single occasion except once that word is spoken by Jesus. The one exception is James chapter 3 verse 6 with reference to the tongue. We call him the Savior and even that very blessed name draws attention to the dreadful fate from which he saves us. There is a massive weight of biblical testimony. Now my friends, if God has chosen in His wisdom to provide us in His Holy Word with so much information about hell. Is it not patently obvious that it is something which is hugely important? And that alone would be reason enough for studying it. We cannot neglect it if the Holy Spirit has given us such a weight of information about But then secondly, it's intrinsically important, not only because of the proportion of scripture given to the doctrine, but to the actual content of the doctrine itself. It tells us of a place of torment where millions of human beings will be enclosed forever. I'm told that 95 million human beings die every year. I haven't checked the math of this, so please don't correct me, but I think it's approximately right. That means that every second, three human beings are entering hell or heaven. By the time I have finished this address, 11,000 of our fellow human beings will have gone forever to a place of everlasting joy or a place of everlasting torment. And as you sit here, imagine them dying, even now as I speak, one And another, and another, and another, and every time my hand falls, another human being, think of it, another human being is entering heaven or hell forever. If there had been a plane crash this morning, if two or three hundred people had suddenly been snatched into eternity, we'd all be talking about it this evening. We'd be grief-stricken. Our minds would be full of it. We could think of nothing else. And yet 11,000 of our fellow human beings, every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year, are entering their eternal destination. Surely this is a reason why such a doctrine is intrinsically important. And thirdly, it's important because we are not remote from this catastrophe. I remember the phrase of Sam Waldron and something he wrote where he said, death is not a spectator sport. When we're at a spectator sport, we're not involved. We don't feel involved. We're indifferent. It doesn't touch us. I'm looking forward with immense interest and eagerness to the volleyball match on Wednesday evening between the elders and the deacons. And I will be able to see just how sanctified some of my fellow elders are. And I do so with a greater pleasure because I know that nothing on earth would persuade me to stand on that volleyball court and participate. I will be a spectator. I am not involved. I say that officially now. We feel uninvolved. It doesn't really matter what happens. It doesn't concern us. But friends, that is not true of this doctrine. For every one of us in this room, by nature, is headed to that very place. It is not something that doesn't concern us. We have all sinned, and we fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. and it is appointed for men to die once, and after death, the judgment. Every one of us is intimately involved. Some of you may think that there are some Bible doctrines that don't involve you. You would be unwise to think that, but you may think that nonetheless. Some of you who are not parents may feel that the biblical instruction to parents is of no immediate concern to you. Some of you who are not employers may skip lightly over the teaching of the Word of God to employers, or to the rich, or to so on. Now that would be a mistake on your part, but it would be understandable. You would say, well, it's interesting, it's true, but it doesn't immediately concern me. but none of us, none of us can ever dare to say that of the doctrine of hell. It is the certain destiny of every unsaved sinner and we are born sinners. And then fourthly and lastly, it is intrinsically important, not only because of the massive weight of biblical testimony, the content of the doctrine, the way in which we are involved in it, but because there is only one way of escape from hell. It is not the case that there is a whole range of options open to us, various possibilities to lessen our anxiety, all sorts of categories of people who won't go there. We can't say to ourselves, well, hell is dreadful, Hell is a reality, but after all, there are many, many ways of avoiding Hell, so I don't need to be unduly concerned. The Scripture is clear. Only one way, through faith in Jesus Christ. He who does not believe the Son, says the Savior, shall not see life, but the wrath of God. abides on Him. Everyone else is damned. If you do not believe on Christ as your Savior, you are damned. You are headed straight for hell. Why should we think about hell? Because we're going there unless we find the one way of escape. So here is our answer to those who would speak of those morbid people who at a holiday conference think about hell. And I would say to them, would you bring that same charge against a conference of physicians who met to discuss cancer? Would you say, what a morbid group, what an unhealthy type of men they must be. They meet together and all they can discuss is the sickness. We wouldn't say that, would we? We would be thankful that there were men who were studying it. We would be grateful that there were people who were giving their skill and their insight and their knowledge to dealing with this dreadful reality, that they might help us, that they might bring us healing, that they might be a blessing to us. We would thank God for those people who were studying that disease. We would pray that they would be helped and blessed. And we would say they're not studying cancer because they like to, but because it is a reality. Thank God for men and women who are honest enough to face reality. But hell is a reality, a dreadful reality. And the most positive, the most loving, the most responsible thing that we can do is to study that doctrine that we may be used to deliver men and women from that dreadful place. That is our reason and our purpose, its intrinsic importance. Why should we think about hell? The second reason because of the pervasiveness of unbelief about hell. Because of the pervasiveness of unbelief. If hell was something which was universally accepted, which all people believed and agreed on, something on which everyone was accurately informed, if everyone knew about hell and believed in hell, then we might not need to spend so much time studying it together. But the truth of the matter is that in our generation belief in hell has declined almost to the point of disappearance. Let me just very briefly illustrate that on three levels, three levels of unbelief. There's first of all what we might call popular mockery. popular mockery. Some time ago, I think it must have been about ten years ago, my wife and I attended the Christmas pageant in the local school and all the children were doing little skits and plays. Quite a pleasant evening until, to our horror, a number of children appeared on the stage dressed as devils. Their mothers had made paper horns and tails And they circled round the platform and they sang a song about hell, where people frizzled and fried. This was children. And the audience laughed uproariously at the humour of the thing. And we sat with our flesh crawling with horror. And we could almost hear the words of Christ, whoever offends one of these little ones, it were better that a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast in the depths of the sea. Hell is a joke. We all know how heaven and hell are themes in advertising, whether it be a candy bar or a perfume or anything else. This very day as we crossed the border into Tennessee we stopped at the visitor center with friends. My wife picked up this advertisement for a restaurant. It's in a building which used to be a church. It has now become an eating place. The brochure begins regarding the food, so heavenly it must be sinful. Our chef uses the freshest ingredients available to produce soul satisfying cuisine. Just as Eve tempted Adam, we're going to tempt you with today's dessert creations. Imagine our devilish chocolate ecstasy. And so on. And then it ends. Good cheer and God bless. It's a joke. I'll not pollute your ears with further examples. There are many of them. We've no wish to repeat these blasphemies. People regard hell as a joke. Hellfire preachers are a figure of fun. And people who believe in hell are either laughed at or pitied. You know that for yourselves. It's a matter of popular mockery. Secondly, it's a matter of serious unbelief. Serious unbelief. We must not underestimate the degree to which some unbelievers do think seriously. They're dead, yes. They're blind, yes. They hate God, yes. Their thinking is distorted, yes. But they are serious people. They do reflect deeply on important issues. They're wrong. But they do think, and it is a simple fact, that to many 20th century people the idea of hell is morally disgusting. To them it is a primitive superstition. They are genuinely offended by it. They think of it as a crude bogeyman used by a tyrant church to terrify and manipulate simple uneducated people. The philosopher Bertrand Russell wrote, I do not myself feel that any person who is profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment. It is a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world generations of torture. And we need to realize that many of the people we live among and work with and meet on a daily basis will despise us for believing in hell. That's true. I say that to you young people as you go out into the intellectual world of the university and the workplace. Face up to the fact that intelligent people whom you meet and work with and know will think your belief in hell contemptible or wicked. We'll see later why they think this way. There is serious unbelief. But then thirdly, as we think of pervasive unbelief, there is most tragically and surprisingly of all what we might call evangelical questioning. And by this I mean those who profess to be born again, those who profess belief in Christ as Savior, and in many cases may have belief in Christ as Savior. I do not wish to pass judgment on the spiritual condition of these men. For a long time the liberals have disbelieved hell. We expect that. But what has happened in our generation is that many leading evangelicals have begun to question, and worse than question, that doctrine which was the unanimous faith of the Church for over 1800 years. And in many leading evangelical centers of influence, you will find now not the orthodox teaching of hell, but the teaching of what is called annihilationism or conditional immortality. The belief that God at some stage will simply allow the wicked to pass into nothingness. And certainly in the United Kingdom, I don't know the position here, that belief is on the verge of becoming the majority belief among evangelicals. men as eminent as John Stott, a man who has written so wisely and helpfully on many topics. Stott has gone on record as dissenting from the doctrine, the orthodox doctrine of hell. Philip Edgecombe Hughes, once a friend of Dr. Martin Lloyd-Jones, the author of a marvelous commentary on Hebrews, has come out very strongly against the doctrine of eternal punishment. Other writers suggest what they call post-mortem evangelism, the idea that somehow after death there will be another chance or a first chance for those who did not hear the gospel during their lifetime. Clark Pinnock has moved to what he calls inclusivism. The belief that God will forgive and receive to himself followers of other religions if they have lived up to the light which they have received. A good Buddhist will go to heaven. A good member of Islam will go to heaven if they have been faithful They thought you thought you could trust them and depend on them and then you find out they were using you. They never laughed. They laughed at you behind your back. They took what they could get and they sneered at you. That's what people are doing with God. That's how they think they can treat the God of heaven and earth. No holiness, no majesty, no awesomeness. He's a little puppet who stays on a box until we press the switch to let him out. But friends, the doctrine of hell confronts us with a God who is far, far different. A God who is overwhelming in His anger, terrifying in His power. awesome in His justice, a mighty sovereign who holds the whole earth in His hand like a pinch of dust, high as the heavens above the earth. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing. He does according to His will. In the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, no one can restrain His hand or say to Him, What have you done? Hell speaks to us of a God who is terrifying, a God who is sovereign, a God who is uncontrollable, a God who takes us and does with us as He pleases, a God whom we can't manipulate or ignore or marginalize or use. Who wants a God like that? People today don't want Him and they will banish any doctrine which brings him frighteningly before us. And that is why it is so vital that we think seriously about hell, because it brings us every one face to face with the living God. And it is a litmus test for our souls. Am I God-centered or am I man-centered? Hell will test you. Hell will test you. And I believe there will be no belief in Hell until there's a recovery of a belief in God. And I believe, although I won't take time to expand on it now, that that is why our Reformed churches are so, so vital. Who will tell of the great God? Who will tell of the great God? People must hear until they hear of this God. They'll not believe in hell. I don't think you could teach the doctrine as an isolated thing on its own. You have to see God. You have to understand God, His holiness, His majesty, His power, His infinity. Hell doesn't make sense until you see God. You can't grasp it. You can't get hold of it. Once you see God, once you're confronted by God, the living God, the true God, once you and I gaze into the face of that holy, majestic, powerful being, then we are ready to understand, to believe all that God says. When the day of judgment comes, no one will be laughing. No one will be producing little flippant brochures about heaven and hell. No one will be questioning the morality of eternal punishment. No broad-minded preachers will be saying, I don't believe a God of love could send anyone to hell. We'll all be in our faces. We'll all be in our faces. We'll be overwhelmed before the majesty the intense reality of the living and true God. And that's why this week I've decided not to spend time refuting the errors of these men. I hope you're not disappointed by that. At first I was going to. And then I thought, why should we let these men set our agenda? Why should we spend time answering their silly little objections when we know that that's not the real problem? The real problem is they haven't seen God. They don't know God. Why should we think about hell? Because it brings us face to face with the overwhelming reality of God. God. That's our greatest need. That's why the devil has attacked this doctrine so persistently. Some of you here tonight are unconverted. You need to meet God. We're not playing games here. We're not spinning words. You need to face up to the reality of the God who made you. The God who gives you breath as you sit here. the God against whom you have sinned, the God to whom you are accountable, the God who will judge you, the God who will condemn you, certainly, if you do not cry for mercy to His Son. Some of us, as believers, have been influenced by the world, become man-centered. The vision of God has become dim, And our view of Christianity is becoming a little bit selfish. We've come to this conference thinking, what's in it for me? What will I enjoy? What practical lessons will I learn? There's nothing wrong with that. But more than anything else, we need as believers, again, to meet our God in His glory and in His majesty. May He use this doctrine to bring it before us. Some of you, dear saints, have a sorrow deeper than tears for loved ones who are now gone from this earth with, as far as you know, no interest in Christ. And they were bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh, and you loved them. And you were right to love them. And the thought that they are now lost, that they are now damned, is unbearably painful to you. I cannot comfort you, but I can bring you to God by His grace and strength. I know that if you will come into His presence with your tears and your questions and your anguish, then He'll put His Father's arms around you and He'll hold you and He'll comfort you. You may not have the answers, but you'll feel around you the God of love who does all things well, whose ways are all righteousness and truth, who cannot hurt any of His children, but who is to be praised and honored in all that He does, and you will be comforted. Remember the words of the redeemed in heaven. We give you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, because you have taken your great power and reigned. The nations were angry, and your wrath has come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. Who shall not fear you, O Lord, and glorify your name? For you alone are holy, for your judgments have been manifested." That's the only answer to our hearts, to see God. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. Amen. Let us bow in prayer. Father in heaven, we are terribly afraid of this truth. It scares us. It overwhelms us. To my own ears, my voice has been like the babbling of a little child on the surface of things. But it is your truth. Hell is your hell. And you are our God. And you are righteous and holy and perfect. We do not need to fear your truth if we are in Christ. Lord, we pray for any here still in their sins. Great God, touch them by your Spirit and do in them what none of us can do. Enable them to see the pit of hell over which they now stand. And there is nothing holding them up but the hand of a God who is angry with them. Lord, lead them to flee from the wrath to come. Help us, we pray, in this study and in all our meditation on your word throughout this week, that you alone may be glorified through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.