3 The Justice of God and the Fate of the Unredeemed
Overview
The Justice of God and the Fate of the Unredeemed
Scripture's most graphic descriptions of hell come from the lips of Jesus himself. To deny that part of his message would be to deny part of the witness of Holy Scripture. The fullest picture of the Day of Judgment is given in Matthew 25:31–46, where the Son of Man gathers all nations and separates the sheep from the goats. Several truths emerge clearly: every person who has ever lived will stand before God; the Lord Jesus himself is the Judge; he came the first time to save and comes the second time to judge; and his judgment takes account of deeds. Revelation 20:12 echoes the same scene, with books opened and the dead judged according to their works.
This judgment by works does not contradict salvation by grace through faith. James and Paul are not at odds—where there is true faith, faith inevitably expresses itself. As Luther said, "Faith is an active and busy thing." The works named in Matthew 25 are simply the natural overflow of trust in Christ; the righteous are even surprised to hear them recounted. The wrong response to this passage is to descend into bondage, anxiously wondering whether we have done enough. The right response is to rest in what God has done for us in baptism, knowing that the faith he gives will bear fruit.
Hell, Jesus says, was "prepared for the devil and his angels" Matthew 25:41—it was not made for human beings. God desires all to be saved, and Christ is "the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world" 1 John 2:2. This refutes any notion of a limited atonement; Christ died for all. Yet Scripture is sober that humans will be in hell—those who reject the gospel will "suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord" 2 Thessalonians 1:7–10. Scripture pictures hell as fire Revelation 21:8, torment without rest Revelation 14:11, the wrath of God against sin Hebrews 10:31, unending suffering Mark 9:48, and outer darkness Jude 1:13. There are also degrees of punishment: those who hear the gospel and reject it face a more severe judgment than those who never heard Matthew 10:14–15.
How can a loving God send anyone to hell? Because the God who is loving is also just—and he cannot violate his own justice without ceasing to be God. The honest question is not "Who deserves heaven?" but "Who deserves hell?" The answer, apart from Christ, is all of us. To demand "fairness" is to ask for what we deserve; mercy is something else entirely. This sober truth is not for scaring people into faith, but for awakening us to our genuine need for a Savior. The pattern is simple: God's holiness, our sin, Christ our substitute. Clothed in his righteousness through baptism and faith, the believer has nothing to fear at the judgment—God has already made his decision about us in Christ. That is the gospel we are sent to proclaim Romans 10:13–15, with feet made beautiful by the good news we carry.
Transcript
Today I want to talk with you about the justice of God and the fate of the unbeliever, the 0s
justice of God and the fate of the unbeliever. 7s
Of all of the seven sessions that we're going to have around this topic, this is probably 13s
the most challenging because what I want to do today is I want to paint a scriptural 19s
picture of hell itself. 26s
And the most graphic pictures that we get with regard to hell come from Jesus himself. 29s
And it is an undeniable part of Jesus' message. 39s
So to deny that part of Jesus' message would be to deny a part of what we have in Holy 44s
Scriptures. 51s
So I want to explore with you what happens on judgment day. 52s
I want to examine the topic of the justice of God and I want to examine a common question 55s
with regard to this subject. 62s
The question being, if God is merciful and loving, how can he send people to hell? 65s
You will probably get that question as you share the good news with people and they can 73s
ask that question or later on in terms of their maturation, they can wrestle with that 81s
question. 85s
And so I think it's good to have a scripture lancer with regard to that. 86s
The most descriptive, most comprehensive description of judgment day is recorded for us in the 91s
25th chapter of Matthew. 98s
So let's turn there, please. 100s
Very first book in the New Testament. 101s
Matthew chapter 25 verse 31. 104s
Matthew chapter 25 verse 31. 110s
And again the most comprehensive picture I think of judgment day as we study. 116s
These are the words of Jesus and Jesus says beginning with verse 31. 127s
When the Son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on 132s
the throne of his glory. 139s
All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people one from another 142s
as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 147s
And he will put the sheep at his right hand in the goats at the left. 152s
Then the king will say to those at his right hand, come, you that are blessed by my father 157s
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 162s
For I was hungry, you gave me food, I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink, I was 168s
a stranger and you welcomed me. 172s
I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison 175s
and you visited me. 180s
Then the righteous will answer, Lord, when was it? 182s
We saw you hungry and gave you food or thirsty and gave you something to drink. 185s
When was it? 189s
We saw you, a stranger and welcomed you or naked and gave you clothing. 190s
When was it? 195s
We saw you sick or in prison and visited you. 195s
And the king will answer them, truly I tell you just as you did it to one of the least 199s
of these who are members of my family, you did it to me. 203s
Then he will say to those at his right hand, you that are accursed, depart from me into 210s
the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 215s
For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 219s
I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. 224s
Naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. 227s
Then they also will answer, Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or 234s
stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not care for you? 240s
Then he will answer them, truly I tell you just as you did it not to me, just as you did 245s
not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. 254s
And these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal fire. 258s
This is a judgment on works, you'll notice, but remember, these are the works or the absence 266s
of works with regard to faith. 273s
Where there is faith, faith cannot help but express itself. 276s
This is not a eradication here of justification by grace through faith, not at all. 283s
This is simply pointing at the outpouring of what happens when there is faith. 292s
Sometimes this portion of Scripture can be misused, it can be misinterpreted and people 299s
will say, well here you see the good people go to heaven and the bad people don't and 304s
I'm a good person because I do good things. 310s
It's the wrong focus. 313s
It's like the book of James does not contradict the book of Romans. 314s
You're talking about the same issue, you're just looking at it from two different angles. 319s
In the book of James you have faith without works is dead. 324s
You see there's the emphasis. 328s
That's not a, you're saved by what you do. 329s
Nope, it's just relating to what Paul says with regard to faith that where there's faith, 332s
it will act out. 338s
It will naturally manifest itself. 340s
The wrong way to interpret this portion of Scripture is to put yourself under a bondage 344s
that says, I'm not doing enough good things. 349s
No. 355s
Just keep focusing on what God has done for you and the waters of baptism and God has 356s
made you his own and live in the grace that where there is faith that God has given you. 361s
That faith will express itself. 366s
And as the righteous here say, when we do this, you see there's so much of our faith that expresses itself, 369s
that we won't even have a conscious awareness of the fact that that faith is expressing itself. 377s
There's a couple of points I want to highlight on this. 385s
First, all the nations will be gathered before Him. 388s
That is, every man, woman or child that ever lived, ever lives, or if the Lord terraces, 392s
as I mentioned in my sermon this morning, will ever live after us. 399s
Everyone will stand before the judgment seat of God. 404s
Let's go to Revelation chapter 20, please. 409s
Very last book, Revelation chapter 20. 413s
And we'll pick up in verse 12, Revelation 20 verse 12. 418s
And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. 436s
Also another book was opened, the book of life. 443s
And the dead were judged according to their works as recorded in the books. 447s
Once again, that's echoing what we hear in the 25th chapter. 454s
We are still saved by grace through faith. 459s
It's not our own doing, it is the gift of God, and the works are the expression of faith. 462s
Secondly, our Lord will really be the one who judges. 470s
Our Lord will be the one who judges. 475s
He comes the first time to say, he comes the second time to judge. 479s
A passage you might want to put on that is simply Matthew 25 verses 32. 485s
Matthew 25 verse 32. 492s
The forgiveness then that Christ won does not imply then the abolition of hell. 495s
Hell is a reality, and we all have only one of two destinies, either heaven or hell. 505s
Here's a third thing. 514s
Jesus judges on the basis of deeds. 516s
Jesus judges on the basis of deeds. 519s
In Ephesians 2, you have salvation by grace through faith. 523s
You hold that together with other portions that talk about the judgment based upon works. 527s
Again, the works are simply the expression of the faith that is there. 533s
Luther's line is absolutely perfect. 539s
Faith is an active and a busy thing. 540s
When you have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you cannot help yourself. 542s
But it works. 547s
They simply come. 549s
That is simply the evidence of indeed the existence of faith. 552s
Here's the fourth aspect. 559s
Hell was not created for human beings. 562s
Hell was not created for human beings. 565s
Let's go to Matthew 25 verse 41. 570s
Matthew 25 verse 41. 574s
Matthew 25 verse 41. 593s
And there we read. 598s
Then he will say to those at his left hand, 601s
you that are accursed depart from me into the eternal fire, catch this, 604s
prepared for the devil and his angels. 612s
Was hell created for human beings? 616s
No, it was created for the devil and his angels. 619s
Let's go to 1 John chapter 2. 627s
A good way to find 1 John is to go to the book of Revelation and then move slightly backwards. 630s
And you'll bump quickly into the John's 1 John chapter 2 verse 2. 639s
God desires all to be saved. 652s
And we hear this echoed in 1 John chapter 2. 657s
And he, speaking of Jesus, is the atoning sacrifice for our sins and not for ours only, 662s
but also for the sins of the whole world. 669s
That goes right at, by the way, Calvinist thought, which says that there was a limited atonement. 675s
That's what Calvin maintained. 682s
Calvin maintained that when Jesus Christ came, Jesus Christ came and died only for the elect. 684s
This verse goes right at that it's a mistake on Calvin's part of limited atonement. 692s
So you get into, for example, the manifestation of Calvin's theology in the Presbyterian church. 701s
One of the aspects that they will have is limited atonement, whereas Lutherans would have a problem with that, 707s
with regard to our Presbyterian brother and sisters and their understanding of that. 715s
Let's go to Romans, the 10th chapter. 723s
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and then Romans. 725s
Romans, Romans, chapter 10, verse 13. 734s
For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. 746s
But how are they to call on one in whom they've not believed? 751s
And how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? 755s
And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim Him? 760s
And how are they to proclaim Him unless they are sent? 765s
As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news. 770s
So every person will stand before God. 778s
Our Lord is the one that will really judge. 781s
The judgment is based upon deeds, which is simply an expression of the existence of faith. 784s
Hell was not created for human beings, but although it was not created for human beings, 790s
there still will be humans in hell. 798s
There still will be humans in hell. 801s
Let's go to 2 Thessalonians. 803s
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, and Romans, 1st and 2nd Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and then Colossians. 808s
Then you hit the T-books, 1st and 2nd Thessalonians. 817s
2nd Thessalonians, chapter 1, verse 7. 823s
We're going to start halfway through, verse 7, 833s
when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, 837s
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 843s
These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated. 852s
Now this goes back to our first class, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might. 858s
When He comes to be glorified by His saints and to be marveled at on the day among all who have believed, 867s
because our testimony to you was believed. 876s
All people will stand before God. 883s
The Lord is the judge. The judgment on the basis of deeds, expression of faith. 885s
Hell was not created for human beings. 890s
However, there will still be humans in hell. 892s
Scripture paints a picture of hell for us. 899s
It is interesting that oftentimes the description of hell is glossed over by the church. 904s
And remember, Jesus had the most graphic images with regard to hell. 915s
And so we need to enter into this to understand the description of hell. 923s
When I describe for you, I think I'm going to get to it next week. 928s
When I describe to you heaven, that's a lot more fun. 932s
It's a lot more fun, all right? 936s
We need to have an understanding of hell. 939s
The proper use of this is really important. 946s
There are some that one author says that he heard a sermon one time and he left in the hair on the top of his head felt like it had been singed off. 951s
One can preach a sermon and they abound in which the preacher is trying to scare someone into salvation, to terrify someone into salvation. 964s
That's not the approach. 979s
So it's not the approach to say to someone, you don't want to wind up in hell, do you? 983s
And let me describe for you hell. 989s
And you don't want to wind up there, right? 992s
You can reduce someone to someone who's just kind of shaking their head and really all shook up. 996s
It's easy to do if you want to do that. 1003s
Proclaim just what Peter says today are need, who's Jesus? 1009s
How does Jesus address that? 1016s
When you share with someone, you have to proclaim the law. 1019s
Absolutely you do. 1022s
Because if you don't understand your sinfulness, then you don't understand the need for Jesus, right? 1024s
If we're not sinners, if we're just good people in the process of just becoming better people while we're here, and God will look at us and say, 1030s
yeah, you arrived. 1041s
You see, I mean, that's just false teaching on that. 1043s
So you got to proclaim the law every Sunday. 1048s
You'll hear it. 1051s
Listen for it in the sermon from Pastor Maloneck or myself. 1051s
You will hear the law. 1055s
Because if we don't understand our sinfulness, we don't understand our need for the Savior. 1057s
When it comes to hell then, you don't want to scare someone into salvation. 1064s
Where they convert, because simply they're afraid of, they don't want to go there. 1071s
They don't then have an understanding of the graciousness and the love of who their Savior is. 1077s
That being said, is this part of Scripture? 1084s
Absolutely. 1087s
That being said is important for us to have an understanding with regard to hell itself, absolutely. 1088s
So let's paint the picture here. 1096s
And for the sake of time, I'm just going to refer in a lot of these cases to some Bible passages. 1099s
The first, hell is a place of fire. 1107s
It is a place of fire. 1111s
Matthew 25, 41 again, depart from me, you who are cursed into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. 1115s
Revelation 21, verse 8. 1125s
The cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters, and all liars. 1128s
Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. 1136s
This is the second death. 1141s
That is not an all-inclusive list there. 1144s
Those are just examples of sin that when one appears before the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1148s
and by God's grace we are wrapped in the righteous garment of the Lord Jesus Christ. 1158s
We have absolutely nothing to fear. 1163s
We have claimed in the waters of baptism wrapped in the righteous garment, you belong to God. 1165s
God has made his decision about you for the unbeliever that appears before God's seat, before the Lord Jesus Christ. 1170s
The unbeliever, they stand. 1178s
I'll quote myself from the sermon again in the nakedness of their own sinfulness. 1182s
That is a terrifying prospect. 1187s
It is a terrifying prospect to stand before God Almighty, and you are simply cloaked in whatever supposed righteousness you think you have, but you are simply cloaked in the reality of your own sinfulness. 1189s
I heard the fellow talking about witnessing this past week, and he uses in even simpler form than what I am going to explore with you in the sermon today. 1209s
He uses holiness sin substitute. 1220s
That is even briefer than what I am talking to you about, but I am following Peter's outline there, but this is a good outline and he is giving. 1225s
The holiness of God, we can't stand before God in our unrighteousness, our sinfulness. 1233s
Indeed, we sin against him in the thought word. 1241s
Indeed, we need a substitute, substitute the Lord Jesus Christ, and then you talk about what Jesus has done on the cross. 1243s
It is very, very simple, isn't it? 1249s
You start with the holiness of God. 1251s
You look at our sinfulness and what it is that we deserve, and then you go to the substitute. 1253s
Second aspect with regard to hell is a place of torment. 1261s
It is a place of torment. 1265s
A passage that can be used is the parable of the rich man in Luke chapter 16. 1270s
You have to be really careful, though, because parables are not given to communicate doctrine. 1277s
But this parable gives a picture here that is consistent with other pictures that we get with regard to the torment in hell. 1283s
But I wouldn't use Luke 16 as a primary source. 1292s
Revelation 14-11 is a better passage, and that says there in that passage, the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. 1297s
There is no rest, day or night. 1309s
Another picture that we have of hell is deprivation. 1315s
Again, the passage that can be so often used is that parable in Luke 16. 1323s
Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire. 1329s
Again, it is better not to establish your doctrine based upon parables. 1339s
You shouldn't do that, but here the parable is reflecting what we see elsewhere in Holy Scripture. 1344s
Rath and anger. 1352s
Rath and anger. 1355s
It is God's just punishment for sin. 1360s
Hebrews 10 verse 31 says, 1364s
it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 1367s
It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 1373s
God does not wink at sin. 1379s
God of horse sin. His wrath is poured out upon Jesus. 1381s
But when that sacrifice for sin is spurned, then the person has no protection. 1387s
That person has no garment of righteousness around them in that is God's full wrath and anger with regard to sin. 1395s
Another picture that we get is the enduring nature of hell itself. 1405s
There is never a time when the suffering stops. 1413s
Mark the 9th chapter where their worm never dies and the fire is never quenched. 1416s
And lastly, you get the picture of darkness. 1425s
In Matthew 8, outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 1433s
Take a look if you would at Jude chapter or verse 3, rather. 1442s
Go to Revelation and then Jude is tucked in right before Revelation. 1446s
Jude verse 3. 1454s
Beloved while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, 1469s
I find it necessary to write an appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 1473s
Certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, 1481s
who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ, 1488s
then jumping down into the second part of verse 12. 1498s
Their waterless clouds carried about by the winds, autumn trees without fruit, twice dead uprooted, 1504s
wild waves of the sea casting upon the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved for ever. 1511s
That is a picture then that we get of the reality of hell. 1527s
We also see that there will be degrees of punishment in hell. 1533s
All the suffering in hell is terrible. 1540s
When you hear phrases of people, of non-believers, that will say, I don't care if I go to hell because all my friends are going to be there. 1543s
I mean, you hear that and then you compare it to the scriptural witness, 1555s
to put a label of such an absurd comment, it is ignorant, it is mocking of the reality of hell itself that Jesus gives. 1565s
There will be degrees of punishment. Again, all of it is, the suffering is terrible. 1581s
But those who maliciously reject the gospel will have greater punishment in hell. 1589s
This is not saying that if someone is ignorant of the gospel and therefore is in hell, 1597s
that because they didn't hear the gospel, then therefore it will be easier for them. 1606s
No, hell is hell. 1615s
It is even worse for those. Scripture says that have rejected the gospel. 1617s
Let's go to Matthew 10, Matthew 10, verse 14. 1623s
Matthew 10, verse 14. 1632s
If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. 1646s
Here it comes, truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town. 1654s
You see, so for those that have been presented the gospel, we see degree and has been spurned, there is a greater degree of punishment. 1665s
Why would a loving God then ever send anyone to hell? 1681s
Why would a loving God ever send anyone to hell? 1688s
Because God who is loving is also just. 1692s
Because God who is loving is also just. 1698s
Remember in the full it was the sentence of death. 1701s
As the fallen to sin, God says, you die for that. 1705s
You die for it. 1709s
It's spiritual death, it's physical death, it's eternal death. 1711s
Out of his grace he sends his son, the Lord Jesus, to redeem us. 1715s
But death in all of its threefold component is a result of the fall. 1721s
Each one of us deserves to go to hell. 1728s
So when someone says, how can a loving God send someone to hell? 1733s
The question must be asked, well, who deserves to go to hell? 1742s
And the answer to that is all of us, right? 1749s
So if someone says it is not fair, if someone says, if God says some to hell, that's not fair. 1755s
Do we want fairness? 1764s
Because what we deserve is hell. 1768s
So if we make the mandate and say, well, that's not fair for God to send some to hell. 1773s
Wait a minute here. 1784s
If we were going to maintain fairness, then we're all on that boat. 1787s
We're all on that boat. 1792s
That's exactly where God should send us. 1793s
God sends us some people to hell because he is a just God. 1799s
He is giving them no more than they deserve because there has been a spurning of the Savior. 1803s
Why then does a loving and merciful God send some people to hell? 1814s
It is because God is not only loving. 1822s
He is also just. 1827s
And God cannot violate his own justice. 1830s
If God violates his justice, then God cannot be God. 1836s
If God violates his own justice. 1844s
Okay. 1849s
I told you, class number three was the toughest, right? 1851s
Next week, we get to talk about the fate of the mercy of God and the fate of the redeemed. 1857s
The mercy of God and the fate of the redeemed. 1868s
We'll continue next week. 1872s
You 1892s