Hellfire and Brimstone

 Hellfire and Brimstone

Sunday, October 31, 2021

The title, “Hellfire and Brimstone,” may be regarded by most as definitely not seeker-sensitive. But where did this teaching come from? And, where did it go?

I heard my share of judgment preaching as a child. Others have told me about being scared to death by such sermons. And, I’m not sure fear is the best reason to come to Christ. Love and wonder of who He is and what He has done are better. But fear was a factor for me, providing an urgency to come to Christ.

The phrase, “hellfire and brimstone,” probably comes primarily from the account of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: Gen. 19:24 “Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.” Jesus Himself uses similar language: Mark 9:43 “If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.”  And, not surprisingly, we find it in the final book of the Bible: Rev. 20:10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

So the important point is: it’s in the Bible. It’s not just in the past. It is predicted regarding the future. My other point is this: Preachers today aren’t supposed to talk about it. “Hellfire and brimstone” preaching is said to be out-dated and out-of-bounds. 

But I have another observation: there are many preachers preaching today, espousing their own kind of “hellfire and brimstone,” and they are followed by many of the same people who don’t want their preachers in church to talk about it. What am I talking about? I’m talking about political preachers who talk at length about the end of the world, or, the world as we know it. These (mostly) guys sound more like preachers than preachers do. They boldly catechize (rudimentary teaching). They repeat the same things over and over. And they paint the contemporary situation in the most dire of terms. “If this guy or that woman gets elected, we are doomed.”

I’m not saying elections don’t matter. I’m just saying that the real end is more to be feared than the one that has been predicted time and again on TV and hasn’t happened, no matter who got elected. But somehow, one group of preachers captivates listeners with their bluster, and the other group of Bible preachers is told to be nice.

Submerged in Grace

 Submerged in Grace

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Last Sunday, we thought about “the transformed life” spoken of in Romans 12:2 and described in that chapter. Being immersed or submerged in grace is a part of that transformation. In my Bible reading, I came across a verse that aligns with the outline I used to talk about grace (listen to the message here). The points are, the grace of life; the grace of salvation; and the grace of service.

God speaks to Jeremiah, perhaps when he was just a young adult, and spoke to him about God’s involvement in his life, past, present and future: “Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”” (Jeremiah 1:4–5 NAS95). The highlighted phrases correspond, at least in measure, to the three graces mentioned.

Regarding the grace of life, Psalm 139 says the same thing with different words: 

Psa. 139:13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.¹⁴ I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.

We tend to think that we are in charge of our lives, but apart from God’s grace, we would have no life at all. There is the story of the young man in England who sued his parents for bringing him into the world without his permission. Along those lines, we could all line up to sue God, - or thank Him, as the case may be, - for the time and place and circumstances in which we were born, along with the many blessings that have attended our lives.

Secondly, God tells Jeremiah, “and before you were born, I consecrated you.” That is, God had ordained Jeremiah to walk in a particular role in association with God. Jeremiah would know God, and respond to God, and love God. Of course Jeremiah had a part in this, though not a-part from God’s grace.

And then God has something else in mind: “I have appointed you.” And He has appointed you and me as well. No, not as a prophet, but as a servant in a particular place and time with particular gifts and opportunities and responsibilities - to fulfill the will of God in ways that no one else would or could - made possible by the grace of God, those graces which cover our lives as the waters cover the sea.

The ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome

 The ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome

Sunday, October 17, 2021

Hezekiah, reigning during the later years of Judah’s existence before Babylonian captivity, was one of the good kings, mostly. We would do well to follow several of Hezzie’s actions, especially earlier in life. But later, after God’s staggering deliverance from the hoard of Assyrian soldiers camped just outside the walls of Jerusalem; and after God delivered him from imminent death, a death certified by the word of the prophet until God over-ruled - Hezekiah made a serious mistake. It betrays an even more sinful attitude.

The Babylonians came to visit. You know, just one of those nice, neighborly visits from 500 miles away. Hezekiah thought they wanted to be friends. Isaiah, the prophet, knew that they were checking out where he hid the good silverware.

Isaiah asked what the visit was about. Hezekiah told him how wonderful it was. They even brought him a gift, you know, for getting better from his illness. Isaiah responded with, not a warning, but a prophecy. They’re coming back, and it’s all going to be carried away to Babylon - the riches, the people. Your own sons will be slaves of the Babylonian king.

And then this, what I call the ‘Hezekiah’ Syndrome: “Then Hezekiah said to Isaiah, ‘The word of the LORD that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’” (Isaiah 39:8). 

It goes like this: people will suffer and die, but I’m going to be just fine. And we see that attitude in our own day. Many people died in the pandemic, but I’m fine, so no worries. Lots of people lost their jobs or were side-lined, but I actually came out ahead, so it’s good. Churches and ministries have closed, but if I can listen to a cheery sermon and have a good cup of coffee, we’re good. Millions of people around the world are dead in their sins and headed to a Christ-less eternity, but I’m saved, so nothing to worry about.

It’s a bad thing to have a selfish king, or a self-centered parent. Both are addressed in Isaiah’s prophecy. Nations and children will suffer and die, but ‘so what?’ so long as I am able to die in peace and comfort. And, we are kings - over our own lives, and we fall into the ‘Hezekiah’ syndrome when we live only for ourselves.

King Jesus did no such thing. “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (Jn 10:11 ESV)

 “and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf.” (2 Corinthians 5:15 NAS95)

In the Flesh

 In the Flesh

Sunday, October 10, 2021

There’s a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time: “I saw him in the flesh.” Perhaps it is someone you haven’t seen for a long time, or that you didn’t expect to see. Maybe it was someone famous. The phrase means the you physically saw the person.

But the Bible talks about flesh in another way. It is an (un)spiritual principle of living independently from God. It’s the idea “I’ll do it my way,” and it started with Eve and has continued on through the generations. Now our physical flesh in the Bible is described as being weak and temporary. (Un)spiritual flesh, on the other hand, seeks to prove this wrong. It is anxious to assert itself, and to live as though there are no consequences.

So let’s describe this flesh-principle that we live with, even as we seek to learn to walk according to the Spirit. As I said, flesh wants to assert itself. It wants to accumulate for itself. This is the lust-function of flesh. You have what you have, but you want more. You see what your neighbor has, and you want his. This flesh takes over your desires and makes them to be bad things. Remember, the Spirit leads us to love, not lust. It leads us to give, not take. There is a radical difference.

Flesh over-compensates. Flesh leads the person who is insecure to over-compensate by being loud and arrogant. He is compelled to present himself as bigger and better than he actually is. Whereas the Spirit would produce humility and meekness, these are not found in the one who acts “according to the flesh.”

Flesh makes excuses and blames. It is never your fault. There is always a good reason for your failings; someone else’s screw-up. Even Flip’s old phrase, “the devil made me do it” can be used by this person. But it is the flesh excusing the flesh. In this sense, you can see how the flesh is self-justifying. And that’s a real problem. Because if the only true justification is by grace through faith in the Person and Work of Jesus, then the person “according to the flesh” remains unjustified before God, and dead-set against confession and repentance. 

The flesh lies and lies again. It lies to others. It lies to one’s own self. It can’t face the truth, that it is weak and temporary, and that its only hope is to be “crucified with Christ” so that Christ’s Spirit can now “guide you into all truth.”

Resilience

 Resilience

Sunday, October 3, 2021

“Resilience” is a word that can be found in almost every issue of “Psychology Today” for the last couple of years. It is not, however, found in my King James Bible, nor in NASB, or ESV.

I would have thought that resilience is just another word for some perfectly good Bible words, like endurance, or perseverance. Those Bible words speak of keeping on in the midst of difficulty. One’s faith persists in the face of opposition; one’s commitment remains true, though tested. Like Jesus, who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever; so is our faith, even as we mature and grow.

But resilience is not defined that way. Key features of current usage of this term are adaptability and flexibility. Is that something we missed when we thought about endurance or perseverance? That we were supposed to adapt and be flexible? When Paul faced persecution or prison, did he then adapt and flex? It seems that there is a key difference here. Paul endured. That is, he stayed the same, true to his faith and commitment, rather than adapt and flex.

Some might say that the person who refuses to be adaptable or flexible is simply stubborn. He is stuck in the mud and imprisoned by the past. I’m not trying to argue for stubbornness or being old-fashioned. But if today’s resilience has something to do with adapting and flexing so as to be fashionable and attractive to a culture that is in rebellion against God, as if by such methods we could win them over - I think that is wrong-headed, and worse, unBiblical.

I have always been intrigued by Jonathan Edwards own testimony concerning the Great Awakening that began with his ministry in Northampton. He said that he preached as he had always preached, when, in God’s timing, the Spirit was poured out on his congregation and the surrounding communities, and the “light shown in the darkness.” Many people who were unmoved by similar ministry in former days were now converted to Christ. Their lives were changed, and so were their towns. Why? Because Christians prayed and preachers preached and Christ was honored by individuals and families. How? Through the endurance and persistence of their faith. By persevering in the face of the ups and downs of life.

The world elevates old words in new ways, like resilience. What they may mean by them is often different from what the Bible teaches.