“Where God Is Not”
(II Thessalonians 1:3-10)
I. Introduction.
A. The Renaissance Italian writer, Dante Alighieri, in his
long narrative poem, the “Inferno”, describes the “gates
of Hell” as being inscribed with these words:
“I am the Way into the city of Woe
I am the Way to a Forsaken People
I am the Way into Eternal Sorrow. . .
Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.”
1. No creation of man’s imagination, no matter how
graphic, can ever begin to describe, or give a true
picture, of the horror, and hopelessness, that eternal
darkness is what awaits unredeemed souls in the
place where God is not – and will never be.
2. Along with the biblical doctrines of gain and glory
are those of loss and sorrow. The brightness and
peace of eternal life are countered with the darkness
and despair of eternal separation from all that is
good – all that is of God; separation from God
Himself, forever. (II Thessalonians 1:9;
RE-READ).
a. It is not pleasant to think about, nor to talk
about, Hell. But, it is still necessary to
do so.
b. It is utter foolishness to ignore the plain
warnings of the scriptures about this most
undesirable of places.
c. God give us the warnings to be taken
seriously.
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3. If we hear of severe storms in our area, or some
other form of potential disaster, we generally
listen carefully and, if smart, heed the warnings.
To ignore them is to risk danger and, possibly,
death.
4. We confront spiritual disaster – real danger – when
we hear God’s warnings about the reality, and
certainty, of Hell, yet don’t take them seriously.
B. God has balanced such warnings with equally-true
promises.
1. Another Renaissance scholar and writer, the
Englishman Sir Thomas More, wrote a book in
which he described an ideal human community.
For his title, he coined an entirely different word:
“Utopia.” Came up with this word by combining
two Greek words, one meaning “a good place”, and
the other “no place.”
2. Despite some peoples’ efforts to create, in fact,
what More only imagined, no person, no group,
has ever succeeded in building a perfect, ideal
human society. (Quite probably because there are
no perfect, ideal human beings.
3. But, a spiritual equivalent of “Utopia” does exist.
It’s inhabitants are ordinary people who take
seriously God’s call, who obey His Word, and who
become “citizens” of His Kingdom
(Philippians 3:20: “For our citizenship is in heaven,
from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the
Lord Jesus Christ.”)
a. The members of Christ’s body, His church,
are to be a “colony” of Heaven, located on
earth for the present.
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b. This Kingdom is not yet what it will be, but
it is to represent – and point the way to – the
eternal “utopia” – Heaven, the place where
God is, and will be, with His people, forever
(Revelation 21:3: “. . . Behold, the
tabernacle of God is with man, and He will
dwell with them, and they shall be His
people. God Himself will be with them and
be their God.”)
C. God desires that sinful people should turn away from death
to life, turn away from Hell, where He is not, to Heaven,
where He is. But the warnings are clear – if we will not
turn to God in obedience, we face an eternity separated
from Him.
II. The Doctrine of Hell.
A. Jesus taught it’s entirely possible to ignore God’s offer of
grace and salvation and to be eternally condemned. Often,
He spoke on the matter of Hell, definitely and directly.
1. Other than one reference elsewhere in the New
Testament (James 3:6), Jesus was the only inspired
speaker to use the term “Gehenna” to refer to Hell.
a. Term is from the Hebrew, meaning “Valley
of the Sons of Hinnom.” Refers to an actual
place, a valley just outside walls of
Jerusalem which had once been site of
horrible sacrifices to pagan, idol gods.
b. Then, area had been used as city garbage
dump, where smoldering fires were
visible constantly.
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c. To His hearers, Jesus’ use of “Gehenna”
brought up scenes of a grimy, polluted,
place that had a great unpleasant odor about
it. It was a place of refuse – where trash was
discarded to be forever forgotten and
consumed – either by decay, or by fire.
2. What, then, is Hell? It’s an eternal garbage heap – a
wasteland of discarded souls left, and forgotten,
forever.
3. (Luke 12:5: “But I will show you whom you should
fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power
to cast into Hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!”).
B. Jesus also used other terms to describe Hell.
1. He spoke of it as separation from light, describing it
as a place of “outer darkness.” (Matthew 8:12).
(Think of the fear – terror – associated with being in
total darkness; where no light can penetrate).
2. He stressed the inexpressible pain as “the fire
that shall never be quenched” (Mark 9:43). These
are the “everlasting fires” of Matthew 18:8
and 25:41. (Again, graphic terms that associates
such condemnation with torment and terrible pain.)
3. He warned that Hell is where the evil would
“perish” or “be destroyed.” (Matthew 7:13;
John 3:16).
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C. Eternal Hell is not a myth; not a figment of someone’s
imagination. Jesus said it’s a reality. His purpose for such
teaching was not to frighten, but to implore. Not to scare,
but to save. To lead people to idea of the real danger,
spiritually, of reckless living in sin. (Matthew 5:29: “If
your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it
from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your
members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into
hell.”).
1. The problem of sin requires drastic action. No half-
hearted measures are going to resolve the problem
and spare us eternal separation from God.
2. When we continue in sin, we risk that total
rejection. God will declare to us: “Depart from me,
you who practice lawlessness.” It will be as though
we never existed: “I never knew you.”
(Matthew 7:23).
III. Avoiding Hell.
A. How can we avoid such an eternity? In addition to our
repentance, our confession of Jesus as God’s Son, our
immersion for the remission of our sins, how can we
“. . . make [our] call and election sure, . . . ?”
(II Peter 1:10). Let me suggest four things.
B. We can avoid Hell by being sensitive to the needs of others.
1. Hell’s inhabitants will be those who maintained a
cold indifference to other peoples’ welfare. Jesus
used the story of a rich man to illustrate how such
indifference would be dealt with after death
(Luke 16:19-24, READ).
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2. What a complete reversal Hell will bring to people
who live self-indulgent, self-satisfied lives.
3. That same theme is part of scene of judgment given
in Matthew 25 (READ vs. 41-46). Those people
who appear insignificant to us are not at all
unimportant to God.
C. Second, we can avoid Hell, as well, by taking the more
difficult route and foregoing the easy route.
1. It’s generally true that people look for the easier
path to eternal life – but, it’s the path that doesn’t
exist. (READ Matthew 7:13-14).
2. To go to Heaven, and avoid Hell, we must be
serious about our goal.
a. The “destruction” of verse 13 doesn’t mean
total annihilation, but, rather, “waste” or
“hopelessly lost.” Idea connects back to
II Thessalonians 1:9: “These shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from
the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of His power.”
b. The spiritually unprepared waste both their
present and future. Hell is a lost blighted,
hopeless wasteland of lost souls.
D. We avoid Hell, number three, by not giving up.
1. Hell represents the loss of everything worth having.
In life, we get discouraged; we’re tempted to
abandon our faith and leave God – but, consider
what “giving up” means.
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2. The Hebrew writer expresses this. Giving up is
total loss. (Hebrews 10:35-36: “Therefore do not
cast away your confidence, which has great reward.
For you have need of endurance, so that after you
have done the will of God, you may receive the
promise :). And, then, verse 39: “But we are not
those who draw back to perdition, but those who
believe to the saving of the soul.”
E. Finally, we can avoid Hell by appreciating life.
1. In Revelation we find the most graphic language
about Hell – such as, “lake of fire”
(Revelation 20:14). Spiritual death is called the
“second death” – separation from God eternally.
2. By grasping a real appreciation of life, and its true
meaning and purpose, we defeat the power of that
“second death” over us (Revelation 2:11: “. . . He
who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second
death.”).
IV. Conclusion.
A. Peoples’ reactions to the subject of eternal Hell vary from
recoiling at the very thought of such a place, to offering
rationalizations to explain away the biblical message about
it, to saying we “have our hell on earth.”
B. For many people, it’s difficult, if not, impossible, to think
of a gracious, loving God along with something so terrible
as Hell.
1. But, God’s love, boundless as it is, does not negate
the consequences of sin.
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2. Hell is our choice when we refuse the grace, and
love, of God. That love is not cheap – it cost God
His Son.
C. Add one more point to those we made about avoiding Hell:
we can avoid Hell by living so as to gain Heaven – where
God is.
D. Avoiding Hell means choosing Heaven, claiming an eternal
inheritance, becoming “joining heirs” with Christ. This
inheritance is a new quality of life, that begins now.