Why Would a Loving God Send People to Hell?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching
Scripture: Matthew 10:40-42, Luke 12:47-48, Titus 2:11, Romans 1, Romans 2, Acts 10

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--why-would-a-loving-god-send-people-to-hell
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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let's take a look at this uh from the context of faith so i'm not going to be talking to atheists i'm although what i have to say may be helpful but we're going to start for the premise it's not our job to judge god he's the one who judges us so we're going to humbly submit to god now to understand god you have to look at the whole of scripture no don't just pick a few places and don't just pick a few places in the old testament you have to read the whole bible and especially ending with the new testament and of course jesus christ is the supreme revelation of god and when you look at jesus christ in the gospels he does actually talk about judgment to come but we do get the distinct understanding he is a god of love mercy compassion he reaches out to the sinners to the hurting and so forth so we're going to start with the understanding number one god is love that's his fundamental identity and character that god is a god of mercy which means that even though somebody might deserve punishment he's willing to extend a second chance or hope forgiveness and but also he's a god of justice in the end he's going to do what's right and what's fair he can't ignore sin or excuse sin because it's contrary to his nature so let's look at from this perspective god is the source of life he's the source of all goodness james says every good gift every perfect gift comes from the father he's the source of all grace he created us as humans to have fellowship with him he did not create us with sin but he created us in in his image which means we have the ability to choose we have the ability to think for ourselves we have a moral nature and unlike the plants and animals and all the rest of his creation humans and i would also say angels although we really know very little about them but he created us in his image meaning his spiritual moral intellectual likeness so that we have the ability to choose now in god's plan he wanted people who would be in a relationship of mutual love well in order to have love there must be choice if love is forced it's not love so you can have a puppet that you can pull the strings and the puppet will hug you and if you want to call that love that's fine but that's not love in order for us to have a loving relationship with god he had to give us free will power to choose as we see the story of adam and eve now here's the problem if you have power to choose that means you have the power to make a wrong choice you have the power to go against god's will by definition that's sin now god when we talk about sin it's not that just god arbitrarily says you know what i'm going to put some things off limit some nice things there will be a lot of fun i'm going to put them off limits and just punish you no sin is sin because it's contrary to god's will which means it's destructive it's bad for us so sin destroys us the reason why god hates sin is it's contrary to his nature and it's destructive of his creation god is holy just as he is love he is also holy and that means he cannot love sin he cannot love something that's contrary to himself you know god you know god can do all things in the sense of miracles but god can't deny himself god can't be contrary to himself god cannot be a sinner because that's contrary to his own nature so that means god cannot have fellowship with sin so here we are in in a loving relation with god so because god is our source of life we have life love joy peace grace every good and perfect gift but when we choose sin we break the fellowship of the holy god well that means we no longer are connected to the source of life love joy peace grace so it's like you've got electricity in the room but you turn off the switch or you unplug the cord now you don't have access to the power god is not the one who chose that we chose that but think of it if god is a source of life and we unplug for the source of life what are we left with death now death by definition separation so anatomy and eve's sin they broke fellowship with god which you can see that in the garden of eden they didn't immediately die physically but they did die spiritually and the process of decay began in their bodies it would eventually lead to physical death so the consequence of sin it's separation from god so you're separated from the source of life you're going to face the loss of fellowship spiritual death you're going to eventually face physical death and then after that eternal death eternal separation from the presence of god now the bible describes that variously as the lake of fire as outer darkness it uses other illustrations or analogies i don't think we can truly comprehend it i believe hell is a real place but it's not a place where god tortures people and all the little images of of demons poking people with pitchforks and roasting them over a spit you know let's banish that it's hell or the lake of fire means the absence of god so what's going to make hell hell is for the first time we'll be cut off from the source of all life and all goodness i would argue that today even an atheist enjoys the goodness of god the grace of god because every joy every love every part of life that we participate in it's it's because of god so what will happen in the lake of fire is for the first time we we as humans will be cut off from all of that we don't know what that's like i think that's what jesus experienced on the cross when he cried out my god my god why have you forsaken me the spirit of god did not actually leave him until the moment of death because he was god manifest in the flesh but the spirit of god did not shield his human self his human body and human identity so he actually felt like a sinner would feel in the lake of fire so my point in all of this is god does not send anybody to hell but a person's choice of sin puts them outside relationship with god and that's all that's left when you cut yourself off from life what you have is death now it's an eternal death so the first thing is god does not send anyone to hell people's choice puts them there god does not torture anyone but people's choice puts them outside of grace and goodness and life will they have whatever's left now that still may seem horrible to us to imagine and it is which is why we need to trust in jesus christ as our savior but if we feel it's unjust we we must remember god is the definition of justice we have no right to question god i will say however i do believe our sense of justice ultimately derives from god so if we feel uncomfortable with something there that may be an indication there's more to the story now i'll just say over history many different churches have tried to find some ways to mitigate what seems to be the awfulness of eternity without god i don't think we can mitigate it but just so you'll know you know the roman catholic church teaches you must be baptized to be saved even infants must be baptized well what if an infant's not baptized well they came up with this idea of limbo where there's neither pleasure nor pain and then what about people that are believers in some sense yet they live a sinful life well the catholic church came up with purgatory well they may have to spend thousands of years in purgatory but eventually they can be saved other people have come up with a doctor of annihilation uh which means uh once you're judged and then after the judgment you're just wiped out you don't exist anymore or maybe soul sleep where you're not you're not saved not the presence of god but you're just kind of not experiencing anything or some will say well well some people go to the new jerusalem or the new heaven others will go to the new earth and so there are different ways of trying to say could there be some mitigation well the problem with all these is there's no clear scriptural teaching so my personal view is i would rather say this god is merciful god is just he will always do what's right if there are any special or unusual circumstances i just trust god so what happens to small children that die without being born again i personally believe god has a plan for them which is is gracious but and i do see some indications in scripture but there's no clear teaching so rather than come up with a comprehensive doctrine well all these little kids that die will go to the new earth or or they go to limbo or they go i would just rather say you know what i trust god i'm not going to judge god there's more i don't know than i do know about heaven hell and eternal life and god's plan but i do trust now there's some interesting indications i'd like to read this to you just to show you there's more that we don't know than what we do know so let's not stand in judgment over god when we don't really know what we're talking about uh not only do we not have the right to judge him we don't have enough knowledge in matthew 10 verse 40 through 42 he that receiveth you receiveth me he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me he that receiveth the prophet the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward he that receiveth the righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward and whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of disciple verily i say unto you he shall in no wise lose his reward so i i do believe there are going to be different rewards for people there's scripture for that and maybe it will be in the millennial kingdom i don't know but i believe the save will be saved but here he goes to the point of even if you give a cup of cold water to a child just in the name of disciple you won't lose a reward well there are a lot of good people who've done a lot of good things for for humanity for the church but to our understanding they're not saved is there an eternity will everyone just be thrown in the same exact category or will there be different types of judgment and severity of judgment for instance when the nazis threw jews into concentration camps death camps many of these people didn't know jesus christ didn't believe in jesus christ they did cry out to the one god of israel and then they were killed they were thrown into the incinerator do i have to say that the nazi who deliberately killed thousands of jews is going to have exactly the same eternal um experience as the jew who in their dying moments cried out hero israel the lord i got is one lord i'm not prepared to say that either one is saved without the gospel of jesus christ without the new birth but can there be a different type of experience although not considered salvation although considered eternity without god what's it going to be like is it going to be the same exactly well this scripture seems to indicate if you did some good things that you can't be saved by your works but god can take into account everyone's individual life and response how he's going to do that i really don't know but i'm prepared to say i think god is fair i just trust god here's another example luke 12 47-48 and that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself neither did according his will shall be beaten with many stripes but he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes for whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more so there indicates that there will be a judgment based on knowledge and response i don't think that means people get saved without knowing jesus without obeying the gospel but i do think god takes all these things into account in the judgment and for some knowing the truth and deliberately rejecting it that itself the mental agony will be an additional punishment but is that the only way that takes place i don't really know but i do think we're wise not to accuse god of torturing people or being unfair to people being unjust to people if anything he's going to be more fair than we are i'd rather fall like david said don't let me fall in the hands of men and let me fall in the hands of god right so i'd rather god figure out my eternity than you or somebody else uh so i do think uh it's please understand in in no way am i undermining the gospel or the new birth but i'm i am suggesting that eternity is going to be is such an awful reality without god but it goes so far beyond our comprehension that i think we can just safely say everybody who's saved is going to be by the grace of god and everybody who's lost is because they rejected the grace of god and they put themselves outside the source of life and so god ultimately gives them what they chose god respects their will and he gives them what they have chosen ultimately so god is being fair and god has extended mercy in fact titus 2 11 says the grace of god that brings salvation has appeared to everyone and i believe that's very true in romans 1 everyone has a witness in creation romans 2 everyone has a witness and conscience if they would follow that witness god would lead them to a place where they could be saved like as we find the story of cornelius in acts chapter 10.

so that's a brief uh summary of my understanding uh that we at the end of the day we trust that god is gracious just and merciful i will say one more thing while it's awful to complete contemplate judgment really if we believe in right and wrong there has to be this concept because people do evil and get away with it and rewarded in this life if this life is the ultimate then there are many injustices of the most serious nature that are never righted there has to be a judgment to come in order for justice to prevail throughout the universe talk about the nazis talk about the communists well they're they were defeated but many of them lived life of lives of luxury and died in their beds peaceably and they were responsible for killing millions of people they're child molesters and you just go on and on but they got away with murder literally and so if there's not a judgment then there's no justice