Telling the Truth

Guest (Male): Today, Stuart continues his teaching on the reality of both heaven and hell and why it's so important to believe in the existence of both places. Today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of Scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion.

We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of 2 Peter, *Six Things We Must Never Forget*. The *Six Things We Must Never Forget* series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world. So request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org. Now, here's Stuart with his message, "If There's a Heaven, There's a Hell."

Stuart Briscoe: What does the action of God prove? What does it prove? It proves, number one, the inevitability of judgment. And number two, the certainty of God dealing with people in mercy and love and grace. You see, what is giving is something that is sadly lacking in many of our understandings at the present time: a full-orbed understanding of the character and nature of God.

It is a grotesque God who is just loving and kind and merciful. It is a grotesque God who is just holy and righteous and just. It is a true God who is holy and righteous and just and gracious and loving and merciful. If that's a bit of a mouthful for you to remember, let me remind you of what Paul said, writing to the Romans in chapter 11, verse 22. This is what he said. It's a succinct, beautiful statement: "Consider, therefore, the kindness and sternness of God. Consider, therefore, the kindness and sternness of God."

Now, what do we coming to? We coming to this conclusion: that when people teach error and call it truth, and when people teach immorality and call it a new morality, they will be judged. Moreover, those people who buy into the error at the expense of truth, and those people who buy into immorality at the expense of morality, they too will be judged. But that's the bad news. The good news is that God is longing to be loving and kind and merciful to those who come legitimately under His holy, righteous, just judgment. "Consider the kindness and the sternness of God."

Peter says, "I just want to remind you. I just want to remind you." Why does he need to remind them? Because perhaps they're a little bit like us. They major on the love and the grace and the kindness, and conveniently overlook the holiness, the righteousness, and the justice of God. Now, let me just walk you through Peter's argument here. It'll only take us a few minutes.

Notice, first of all, what he says about God's actions against the rebellious angels. Incidentally, if you want a further commentary on this, you need to read Genesis chapter 6, verses 1 through 4. And before you do it, let me tell you, it won't help you much. But that's what he bases it on. However, Peter not only based it on Genesis 6, verses 1 through 4, he also based it on a body of literature that the rabbis had written over the years built on Genesis 6:1-4.

Let me just give you an outline of it. Scripture tells us that God created the angels. He gave them the inexpressible privilege of beholding His glory. Just imagine being created an angel fit for the presence of God to behold His glory, to be party to what is going on in God's presence, unsullied, unhindered, unmared. That was the privilege of the angels. God gave them the freedom to choose to love Him, to honor Him, and to serve Him.

Guess what? Some of them, given that freedom to choose, chose not to love Him, chose not to honor Him, chose not to serve Him. And they came under God's judgment. Now, Peter explains this in very dramatic terms. Verse 4: "If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment." That's his first historic example.

What Peter says is this: that the angels who rebelled came under the judgment of God and were sent to hell. Now, I know that's not a politically correct term, but Peter didn't know about political correctness. And he's simply stating this fact. What is fascinating, however, about this is that he uses a very unusual word for hell. He uses the word Tartarus. Now, Tartarus is a term that comes out of Greek mythology.

Greek mythology taught that there was a place called Tartarus. It was the lowest place in the underworld. And some giants were sent there. The Titans and the Cyclops were sent there, and they were tethered there. They were anchored there. All Greek mythology. It's really fascinating that Peter uses this terminology. In actual fact, he didn't use the noun Tartarus; he verbed the noun. And he said, in effect, these rebellious angels were Tartarized.

Now, he is using terminology with which the people were familiar. That's what a good communicator will do. If you're communicating something unknown, you communicate it in terms that are understood. The people understood about Tartarus. They'd heard of the Titans and the Cyclops. They'd heard about the gloomy dungeons. He takes all these things and he uses them as a picture of what it means to come under the righteous, holy, just judgment of God.

To be put into that place, the lowest place in the underworld, if you like, the furthest place removed from the presence of God. That's hell. Now, the Bible uses a number of other terms for hell. It uses the term Sheol. That has to do with hollowness and emptiness, meaninglessness and aimlessness. Hell is that furthest place from the presence of God, which means that if God is the content of all reality and you're as far removed from Him as you can be, you're totally removed from reality and you're left with nothing but aimlessness, hollowness, and emptiness.

He uses the term Gehenna. Gehenna, of course, was a term that was very familiar to the people in Jesus' day. There was a valley in Jerusalem; the valley is still there. Now it's made into a beautiful park. But in Jesus' day, the Valley of Gehenna was the refuse dump. It was a stinking, horrible, gloomy, smoky, burning place. Awful.

Now, this idea of a stinking, gloomy, burning, horrible place conjures up all kinds of pictures in people's minds concerning hell. We're using graphic terms here to describe something that is indescribable because human experience knows nothing about it. This idea of fire being in hell has led some people to talk as though they're casually about, "Well, I guess I'll just roast in hell." They obviously have not given any careful thought to what it means.

Catholics, of course, have said that fire is for purging, so they've developed a doctrine of purgatory, which a Protestant would say has more to do with tradition than the Bible. Some people would say the burning has to do with annihilation; therefore, hell is not conscious experience for all eternity of the judgment of God. And other people would say that fire is that burning, pricking sense of shame that would come.

We have to work through what all this graphic terminology means. But one thing we do accept is this: that if a person is made by God for God, they reject God and dismiss God, God will not foist Himself upon them, and their eternal experience will be without God, without Christ, without hope. It will be hellish. But the interesting thing about it is this: that there were angels who did not rebel. And this reminds us, of course, of the fact that we don't have to rebel.

Look at the second example here, the example of the people in Noah's time. If you read in Genesis 6 again, you'll read what was going in God's heart when He looked at the human race He'd made. It says He was grieved and His heart was filled with pain. Now, we're very much concerned about our hearts being filled with pain. And when we really want to comfort each other, we say, "I feel your pain." Did you ever try to feel God's pain?

When God looked at the human race, His heart was filled with pain. He saw such corruption that He determined that if that corruption was allowed to continue, it would have only a continued negative effect. And so, like a surgeon taking a scalpel to a cancer, God speaks to His servant Noah and He says, "Noah, the corruption is such it's causing Me such pain. Everything is so unglued, everything is so wrong. I'm going to bring My righteous, holy judgment to bear upon this cancerous human race."

But, make an ark. And in telling Noah to make an ark, God showed His kindness as well as His sternness. For decade after decade after decade after decade, Noah built his ark in his backyard with nowhere to sail it. And we're told that for decade after decade after decade, Noah was a preacher of righteousness. When they saw that man and saw what he was doing and knew that he walked with God, guess what God was doing?

God in His kindness was delaying the judgment and giving them an example of what life is all about. And He was giving through Noah's life and through Noah's testimony the opportunity for them to repent. Behold the kindness and the sternness of God.

Guest (Male): Don't go anywhere. There's more life-giving truth from the Briscoes headed your way. Tellingthetruth.org and the Telling the Truth app are great resources to help you grow in your spiritual life. Packed with videos like *Ask the Briscoes*, articles from Stuart and Jill, and encouraging audio teaching content, you'll find a treasure trove of resources to encourage you and others in your faith. And while you're there, you can also request this month's featured resource when you give a gift to help more people around the world experience life in Christ. So visit us online or download the app today. We look forward to connecting with you. Now, here's Stuart with the conclusion of his message, "If There's a Heaven, There's a Hell."

Stuart Briscoe: And then, of course, there's the case of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah are bywords. Whenever Hollywood wants to produce an X-rated, titillating, sex, drugs, etc., movie that will pull in the crowds, they know they should insert Sodom and or Gomorrah in the title. There was nothing titillating about Sodom and Gomorrah. When we read about it in Scripture, there's nothing good to be said about it, and it comes under the judgment of God.

It's rather interesting to notice that Sodom and Gomorrah, which we're told about by Peter here, was burned to ashes. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned to ashes. The Greek term used here is the same word that is used in the historical record of what happened to the Roman city of Pompeii when Vesuvius erupted. Those of you know anything about Pompeii and Vesuvius know that there was a sudden eruption, that the lava and the ash from the volcano instantaneously covered the city.

Excavations have shown Roman life frozen. People were just going about their ordinary lives when suddenly it was covered with lava and ash and everything was stopped just at that moment. That's the term that is used for Sodom and Gomorrah. If you go to the region of Sodom and Gomorrah today, you won't find either of them, but you will find volcanic ash and you'll find lava fields. And the whole area is known as the Land of Ashes.

There was a Sodom, there was a Gomorrah. It was reprobate, it was an eyesore, it caused great pain, and it deserved the just and righteous, holy judgment of God. And it got it. The amazing thing, however, is this: that in that city was a man called Lot. And outside that city was a man called Abraham. And Abraham was praying for the city and he was praying for Lot, and in the midst of this disaster, guess what happened? God saved Lot and his family. Behold the kindness and the sternness of God.

What is Peter trying to tell us? Peter is trying to tell us this: there is a certain inevitability to the judgment of a just and a righteous and a holy God, who longs to be loving and gracious and kind and merciful to those who will heed His word. This is just a summary of what we've been talking about. First of all, be aware that heresy contradicts the way of truth. That there is such a thing as truth, there is such a thing as error. There is such a thing as right, there is such a thing as wrong. There is such a thing as good, there is such a thing as evil.

And our culture may be busy blurring the differences, and God says, "Don't buy into it." That which is error will contradict the way of truth and will lead inevitably to destruction. Secondly, be aware that ungodliness conditions the attitudes of the unwary. If you look at the story of Lot here—and I don't have time to get into it—we are told that he, claiming to be a righteous man, nevertheless chose to live in Sodom and Gomorrah. Why in the world would a godly man want to live in Sodom and Gomorrah? You tell me.

But if you can answer that, you can answer why a lot of people who claim to be God's people live the way they live now. What we're told, however, about him is this: that choosing to live in Sodom and Gomorrah as he did, he was distressed by the filthy lives of the lawless men and tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds. In other words, he's a righteous man, he knows better, he chooses to live in the pigpen, and it is disgusting to him and it bothers him, but there's a fatal attraction to it anyway.

And the third thing is this: we are to be aware that God controls the destiny of the unrighteous. Notice this verse where Peter pulls it all together, verse 9: "If this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment while continuing their punishment." What this means in effect is this: there's a very real sense in which men and women as they go about their daily lives live with the consequences of their bad choices. Romans 1 tells us that's the judgment of God.

But there's another sense in which one day we will die and we'll stand before God and give an account for the life that we have lived. And those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be welcomed into His presence, and those who are not, we're told, will be cast into the lake of fire created for the devil and his angels. You say, "Wow, that's old-fashioned stuff." Yes, it's as old-fashioned as Jesus.

And finally, be aware that God is competent to rescue the godly. Behold the kindness and the sternness of God. The sternness of God reminds us that God is able to hold the unrighteous for judgment. The kindness of God is God is competent to rescue the ungodly from trials. Some manuscripts say not "trials" plural, but "trial" singular, the ultimate evaluation.

Let me tell you what's going to happen to me. Do you like to know what's going to happen to me? Anybody like to know what's going to happen to me? One day I'll die. It's considerably nearer than my birth. So I think about it. And I'll stand before God. And God will take down the records. And He'll take a look at what I did that I shouldn't have done, and He'll take a look at what I didn't do that I should have done.

He will check the records of my motivations. He will look very carefully into the sheer hypocrisy of my life. He'll identify the damage that I've done to my family and the damage that I've done to other people. And He'll look up from His records and He'll say to me, "What on earth makes you think you have the right to come into My presence? What were you thinking about? How dare you? If I were to let somebody like you into My heaven, you'd ruin it instantaneously. Depart from Me."

And at that moment, a friend of mine will come. And He will stretch out His hands, and they'll have the print of the nails in them. And He'll say, "Father, what You say about Briscoe is absolutely true. But he admits it, he agrees with it. He knows he deserves Your judgment, for You're holy and righteous and just. He, knowing that, one day heard that I had borne Your just, holy, righteous judgment for his sin. That I had accepted his sin, borne Your judgment, accepted the consequences, and died his death."

"And when Briscoe heard that, he trusted himself to Me rather than trusting his own merits. Father, he is not trying to get in here on the basis of what he is. He's trying to get in here on the basis of who I am. Father, for My sake, receive him." And the Father will smile and say, "Come in, Briscoe, you rascal." Behold the sternness and the kindness of God.

Who would be interested in the kindness of God if they didn't really understand His sternness? Who would be interested in the salvation of God if they didn't understand their sin? Who would be interested in heaven if they didn't really understand hell? I just wanted to remind you that if there's a heaven, there's a hell, and every one of us will finish up in one of them. I just wanted to remind you.

Guest (Male): Stuart, what's the best way to guard our hearts against contradicting the way of truth that you talked about in your message today?

Stuart Briscoe: The way of truth is an expression that we find in that wonderful Psalm, Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, every verse of which has some statement or other concerning what God has said to us. You should spend time in Psalm 119. And here, not only does it talk about the way of truth, but it gives us some clues how to continue in the way of truth.

For instance, in verse 30 of Psalm 119, it says, "I run in the path of Your commands, for You have set my heart free." All right, now, two things here. First of all, I recognize that God has given me certain commands, certain instructions. What is my response to that? He says, "I run in the path of Your commands." Not "I run away from them," "I run to obey You."

And why does he do that? Because he says, "You have set my heart free." My heart has been set free from what? My heart has been set free from those things that I recognize are contrary to God's will and are self-destructive. Lord, You set me free from these things. I recognize Your way is the way to go. I am enthusiastically eager to run in the path of Your commands. That's the way to make sure you walk in the way of truth.

Guest (Male): Thanks for listening to Telling the Truth today. We're so glad you've joined us, and we pray this message has helped you experience more of the abundant life Jesus promised. Today's culture is a revolving door of ever-shifting views and beliefs. That's why it's so important to test new ideas against the timeless truth of Scripture. It's the best defense against the world's confusion.

We want to help ground you in the foundations of your faith by sending you Stuart Briscoe's six-message series on the book of 2 Peter, *Six Things We Must Never Forget*. This series will anchor you in six time-tested truths from God's word so you can stand strong in your beliefs as you remember the deep spiritual truths that are foundational to your faith.

The *Six Things We Must Never Forget* series is our thanks for your gift to help keep Telling the Truth going strong, sharing life-giving teaching from Stuart and Jill with more people all over the world. So request your copy when you give today and get help staying grounded in truth in today's shifting culture. Call 1-800-889-5388. That's 1-800-889-5388, or you can give online at tellingthetruth.org.

We're so glad you listened today. Be sure to come back next time for more encouraging biblical truths with the Briscoes. Experience life right here on Telling the Truth.