… Have you noticed or read there is a theological movement taking place in America today to water down hell?
Apparently many people don’t think hell is as hot as it used to be. In fact, I’ve met people today who don’t even believe hell exists as we see it described in the bible! If I were the devil, guess what I’d want as many people as I could possibly get to believe? THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HELL. THAT A LOVING GOD WOULD NEVER BRING JUDGMENT UPON ANYONE.
Listen, hell is real and I don’t like to talk about it but I do because I don’t want anyone to go there. When the hand of God appeared on the wall the king was shocked because he didn’t believe something like that could happen to him. Hell is full of people who felt the same way. If you could get a 10-second look into hell you’d run to the altar to get right with God! Don’t listen to people who are trying to “cool down” hell. As Belshazzar learned, the judgment of God is serious business.
C. LOOK AT GOD’S PAST JUDGMENTS AND REMEMBER NOT TO LET HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF. (Verse 30)
“That very night Belshazzar, king of the Babylonians, was slain…”
I have often heard people say, “God would never send someone to a place as awful as hell.” To say God will not judge sin is to deny history. He has always judged sin. In this instance, his finger of judgment wrote death and destruction for one man. In the case of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Genesis 18&19) it wrote destruction for an entire city that was living in sin. In the case of Noah and the Ark, (Genesis 6) it wrote destruction for the entire planet when the world was described as a place where man’s every thought “was only evil all the time.”
Jesus said hell is a place where there is, “weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.” He said if your eye causes you to sin you’d be better of to gouge it out or if your hand causes you to sin to cut it off – better to go through life with one eye or one hand than to go into hell with both. No one talked about the realities of hell more than Christ. This is serious stuff. Eternity is forever. You cannot afford to be wrong.
THE FIRST FINGER WROTE THE LAW.
THE SECOND FINGER WROTE JUDGMENT.
- 3. THE THIRD FINGER OF GOD WROTE GRACE. – John 8:1-11 (READ)
Now, no one really knows just what it was that Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger that day, but I can tell you what he wrote onto the heart of a hurting woman standing naked and ashamed because of her obvious sin. Through His Son, Jesus Christ, the same God who wrote the LAW defining sin, the same God that wrote certain JUDGMENT for all those who willfully crossed over that line into sin now wrote a third time –and this time he wrote GRACE! And oh how beautifully he wrote!
Romans 6:23 – “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
I John 1:9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just…”
She had broken God’s LAW. Crossed over the line. Missed the mark. She deserved JUDGMENT – and the religious leaders were ready and willing to oblige. But Jesus’ message to her and to every one of us who would follow was clear: As long as you are living and breathing in this life my GRACE extends to you one more chance.
I’m so thankful for the GRACE of God! May God Bless You.!
