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February 5, 2016
Matthew 25:46
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
New International Version (NIV)
               “I don’t believe in hell,” explained one of my young preacher friends, a while back.  I was taken aback.  I know gifted communicator Rob Bell wrote a persuasive book called Love Wins, in which he explains that God always gets what he wants, and he wants people to be saved, so nobody will experience eternal punishment.  I understand the appeal, even though I disagree.  If God doesn’t want anyone to perish, I sure don’t want anyone to perish. 
                As Jesus drew closer to the cross, he told parables about the destiny of the righteous and the unrighteous.  First, he told of foolish and wise bridesmaids.  The unwise ran out of oil and were locked out of the wedding.  Remember the Sunday School song, “Give me oil in my lamp . . .”  I think of it every time I get locked out of something.  The grooms response to the ones left out is simple:  “I do not know you” (25:13).  In the second parable, Jesus tells of a servant who did not invest his Master’s wealth wisely.  He thought he knew his Master, but he didn’t and he is thrown outside into the darkness.  The last story is close to my heart.  Sheep and goats are divided.  Unfortunately the goats do not survive in this story.  They go away to eternal punishment.  We will not read this story as a devotional to our daughter who is about to take her goat Nash to the show and sale. 
                How are we to read these stories?  The major obstacle with just ignoring or eliminating the idea of hell is that Jesus apparently believed in it and taught about it.  I concluded a long time ago that I am not smarter than Jesus (you already knew that).  The point of hell, though, is that God never wanted people to go there.  So when we preach and teach about it, we do it with a broken heart.  A well known genre of jokes about hell have emerged in my lifetime.  One pastor explained, “I never joke about hell.  People are going there.”  Everyone who trusts in Christ is released from the prospect of hell forever.  God does not send people to hell willingly, but if people choose to go there, he will not keep them out.  Those who go are not singled out for some particular sin.  We are all sinners and without Christ, we would be separated from God forever.  This is why we need to let people know the good news:  God wants us to live with him forever.  He has made provision for our forgiveness through Jesus.  Why would we ever reject his love?  Don’t reject his love.
Pray with me: 
Father, thank you for offering us the gift of life.  Help us not only to receive it but to share it with others.  We pray that something we do today might keep someone away from eternal punishment.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.    
Scripture reading for today: 
Matthew 25

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