Matthew 16:17-19
Some Things Never Change
We are in a world of constant change. Some of it good. Some of it bad.
We know our politics has changed. It is hard for those my age and older to image
an America where some would say national patriotism is bad and socialism is good.
The home has changed. There was actually a time when marriage was between a man
and a woman.
I for one enjoy some of the changes of our day.
Computers have certainly changed our lives.
We "text" instead of call.
We "Google" instead of going to the library.
We program instead of flipping a switch.
The changes in technology never cease. Now a cell phone does more things than a
desktop ever did. Our family was talking last night about how many people don’t
carry a paper Bible anymore but use a digital Bible.
Just like things have changed in the world, so things have changed in religion.
On 9/18/1999, the Tuscaloosa New’s front page, had the title of an article,
"There’s no ‘place’ like hell; now it’s a ‘state.’" The article is relating new
doctrine within the Catholic Church.
In a sentence, the article stated that Catholic Church was now declaring that
"hell ‘ is not a ‘place’ but a person’s ‘state of being,’ in which a person
is deprived of all that is good, hopeful, and loving.
Might I just say, hell is a place. Right now, there is a literal, physical
place called hell. It is just as real as any of the location I might point to
on this atlas.
However, articles like this demonstrate the problem with man’s theology. It
changes. When society decides old teachings are no longer popular, theology and
science, and history are simply altered or discarded.
That is the very reason you and I do not build our beliefs on man’s teaching or
understanding of the Bible but on the Bible itself.
I. Hell hasn’t changed.
A. It is still a place of pain and suffering.
1. Place of torments:
Luke 16:23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
2. A place of fire.
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
3. A place of the worms.
Mark 9:44, 46, 48 Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
4. Some would honestly ask, "Is it not possible that the Bible is
using symbolism to describe hell?" Yes, but if it is , the
symbols are being used to describe a place that is even worse
than our language could describe.
B. One of the reasons people’s view on hell has changed is because
people’s view on God has changed.
1. Few people in a God who would send someone to a place as awful as
hell.
2. People need to remember that hell is a place of PUNISHMENT.
a. God is a just God, and He does punish sin.
b. However, hell is not just the place for those who sin.
(1) It is the place for those who sin and then reject the
payment of Jesus Christ.
(2) The first charge, the charge of sinning, is bad enough.
(3) But to reject what Jesus did not the cross, that is the
crime of all crimes!
c. So hell is the punishment for sinning and rejecting Jesus.
3. People need to remember that those who go to hell did not want God
in their lives.
a. Hell is existence without God.
b. God is Love. God is Mercy. God is Goodness.
c. If you want a life without God, you want a life without love,
mercy, and goodness.
d. That is hell.
C. The duration of damnation has not changed.
Re 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they
have no rest day nor night….
D. The only change there has ever been to hell is that it has been
enlarged.
Isaiah 5:14 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without
measure…
1. God did not built it large enough.
2. Why? Because God never intended for humans to go there.
Matthew 25:41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
II. Heaven hasn’t changed.
A. Heaven is a place of beauty and glory.
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the
first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve
angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the
children of Israel:
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold,
like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of
precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third,
a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth,
beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the
twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl:
and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
B. Heaven is a place for the redeemed.
Re 5:9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to
open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
1. Heaven is an exclusive club. Many shall not be allowed.
Ephesians 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor
covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ
and of God.
Revelation 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and
murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Galatians 5:21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of
the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they
which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
2. I did not say that heaven was for the worthy. I said for the
redeemed.
3. We were all dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, murderers, idolaters
once.
1 Corinthians 6:11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are
sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the
Spirit of our God.
C. Heaven is a place of instant access. (No soul sleep, purgatory, or
second chances)
2 Corinthians 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from
the body, and to be present with the Lord.
D. A place of rewards.
Matthew 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven:
for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
III. Salvation hasn’t changed.
A. Salvation is still through Jesus alone.
Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man
cometh unto the Father, but by me.
B. The problem with humanity is still sin.
Ro 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
Ro 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin;
and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
C. The message is still the death, burial, resurrection of the Jesus.
1Cor 15:1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2 By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you,
unless ye have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that
Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
D. The conditions are still believe and repent.
Mark 1:14 Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15 And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent
ye, and believe the gospel.
E. The means is still grace without a single work on our part.
Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it
is the gift of God:
9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
IV. The mission of the church hasn’t changed.
A. Win the lost.
Matthew 22:9 Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find,
bid to the marriage.
B. Stand for righteousness.
Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill
cannot be hid.
C. Grow the saints.
Ephesians 4:12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry,
for the edifying of the body of Christ:
D. The resistance between God’s power and Satan’s has not changed.
Matt 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I
will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
V. The hesitance of some to accept the message of salvation has not changed.
Mt 19:22 But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he
had great possessions.
John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me
shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
36 But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not.
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