Today we continue to study together the teaching of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 5, verses 27 to 30. I say again and again that we have not come here to listen to the preaching of a man, to listen to human ideas, but to listen to the words of our Lord Jesus Himself.
We read today Matthew chapter 5, the Lord's teaching in verses 27 to 30. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell."
The Lord's teaching in this passage is exceedingly rich. And in the time that we have, we will seek to see what the Lord has to teach us in these words. Now first, let us be clear. Because in studying the teaching of the Lord Jesus, we must look exactly at the words. And then secondly, understand the spiritual principles that the Lord is expounding or instructing us with.
Here the Lord Jesus says, if anybody looks at a woman so as to possess her in a lustful sort of way, that person has already committed adultery with her in his heart. No matter what the seventh commandment says, that you shall not commit adultery — that is true. But what is adultery? Is it only the physical act that is adultery? Or is adultery already commenced in the heart? Now everybody knows that no sin would have been committed if it were not already first in the heart. As James says, it is that which is first conceived in the heart and then brought forth — that then is sin. So sin always starts in the heart.
You must therefore understand that sin is a matter of the heart. Because whether we commit a sin or not is simply a matter of opportunity. We may not have the opportunity to commit a sin. That does not mean that we would not commit that sin. And the Lord Jesus is saying: God looks upon your heart. The fact that you did not commit a sin may only prove that you did not have the occasion, the opportunity, to commit it. But granted the occasion, you would have done so, because the sin is already there in your heart. So we must, as the Lord Jesus says, wipe away the superficial notion that only sin actually committed is sin, that sin of the heart is not sin. The Lord Jesus says not so. God looks on your heart.
And I often think of the Japanese who, when they came to China, committed every manner of sin. Were the Japanese people worse people than anyone else? Not at all. And in their own country they do not commit more sins than anyone else. The crime rate in Japan is not worse than anywhere else. Then why, when they came to China, did they behave like animals? Because now what society had prevented them from doing — the fear of the police, the fear of the law, the fear of society, the fear of other people's criticism, the fear of other people's opinion of you — those prevent a lot of sins from blossoming forth. But take away the restrictions, take away the pressure, and then see what happens. Everybody becomes like wild animals.
The same is true of everybody. There is no exception to this. When I go to England, I see the English people behave decently and in order — a law-abiding people, generally speaking, polite, courteous. But you know what they did when they went to Egypt? You know what they did in 1956? You would hardly dare to contemplate the things that they did, the crime and the evil that was perpetrated. Why? Because now they are in a foreign country. The restrictions of the law have been removed. We all know also how so many American soldiers behaved in Southeast Asia. But are the Americans worse people than anyone else? Not at all. We deceive ourselves if we think so. Because granted that we were in a similar position, with the social norms and restrictions removed, we dare not think what we would be capable of doing.
So the Lord Jesus looks deep, beyond the purely superficial restrictions of society, and He looks into the heart of man and says, "Let me tell you something. Don't think that God waits for you to actually commit adultery before He is going to judge you. The moment the thought of adultery is conceived in your heart, you have sinned before God, and are every bit as guilty of adultery as the person who actually committed it. Because if you were given the opportunity to do it, you would do it. Don't deceive yourself."
But now let us ask a question: Is the Lord Jesus here saying that every time you look at a woman and you happen to like her, you have already committed sin? That would be hard to walk around in the world. You would say, "I would have to go around not only with sunglasses but blindfolded." Because if I look at a girl and I think, "Wow, she's pretty" — there, I've committed sin in my heart already. Is that the Lord Jesus' teaching? If that is the case, then the blind are the most blessed, because the blind cannot sin — they cannot see you. The blind are blessed; those with eyes are not. Is this what the Lord Jesus is teaching? No, let's look carefully.
The Lord Jesus is not saying things like this, so that people are left full of guilt complexes. Because after all, if you see a boy or a girl who is good-looking, you can't help saying, "Good-looking." But that does not mean that you have lusted after the person. What the Lord Jesus says — and here, when you study the Word of God, every tense is very important — we have here in the original what is a present participle. That is to say, the present participle means there is a continuous looking, gazing at the person. It is not just one glimpse. It is a continuous gazing at the person. Have you found somebody staring at you, gazing at you, until you feel very uncomfortable? It is this kind of gazing, looking at you all the time, and then with a certain lustful intent. The expression of intention — looking intently, with a view, with the purpose of lusting after her. That is what the Lord Jesus is saying specifically. A continuous looking with the purpose of lusting after her. Now that is more than just a glance. It is an intention which is working and built up. The will is involved in this kind of action. It is not just a fleeting thought.
The Lord Jesus is not saying that if you look at a girl or a girl looks at a boy and likes and desires that person, he or she has already sinned. For as we saw, if that is the case, we can't marry at all, because clearly you're not going to marry somebody that you don't desire. You don't marry somebody that you don't love, that you don't like, that you don't somehow find something desirable in. The Lord Jesus is talking about the attitude of sin.
So having got this very clear in our minds, we see that sin is of the heart. And don't think that because you hide a sin in your heart that you shall not be judged for it. Never get away with this idea. Sin in the heart — and this is the principle that the Lord is teaching here — if you harbor a sin, if you nourish that sin in your heart (not just a passing thought that flashes through your mind, and you say, "Lord, let's stop this, I won't have this," but a thought that you nourish, that you harbor, that you enjoy), the Lord says, "Be careful what you're thinking, because God will hold you to account for your thoughts."
Now here we see the standard of purity, of righteousness, that the Lord requires of His disciples. The purity of heart. Do you remember? The Lord Jesus said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Now He's telling us what purity of heart means. Purity of heart means this: that you do not harbor sin in your heart. Don't nourish the thoughts. Don't nourish the sin in your heart.
Now how important is it? How serious is this matter? The Lord Jesus says: If there is sin in your heart, you've got to act so sternly and severely about it that if you have to take out an eye or chop off a hand, it is better that you do that than that your whole body goes into hell.
Don't think that just because you haven't sinned outwardly, you are fine. Because God examines your heart. On the day of judgment, God will judge you by looking at your heart. You must carefully consider this. So as Christians, don't think, "Well, I haven't committed any outward sin, so it doesn't matter." God will judge you by examining your heart. This is the standard for being a Christian. The standard is very high.
God examines our hearts. He knows what you are thinking right now, and what you think in the evening, what you think in the morning — but especially in the evening when you are tired, when you lie upon your bed and you do not discipline your thoughts, and then your thoughts begin to wander, and adulterous thoughts, thoughts of fornication, begin to pass through your mind. That is the time to do something about it. And don't say, "Nobody sees," because God looks upon the heart.
And now another thing: as a man thinks in his heart, so he is. That means to say, if you nourish those thoughts, one of these days you are going to have the chance to do it, and you are going to do it. And you are going to be sorry for it, because you are going to pay for it with God's holiness and justice. So be careful of what you think. We must purify the heart.
Let us continue to pursue this more carefully and to analyze what the Lord Jesus is saying to us. First, let us study the relationship of the heart to its members. The Lord Jesus goes on to say: Now, if you sin like this, then pluck out your eye. It's better for you to have your eye plucked out than that you should go into hell. Now, what is the Lord Jesus saying? Is He saying literally, take a knife and gouge out your eye? Is He saying, "Okay, this hand of mine is ready to commit sin, to steal, to commit adultery, therefore I'll take a knife and wallop it off"? You chop off the right hand. What about the left hand? The left hand can sin too. So having chopped off the right hand, the left hand is going to sin. So what do you do with that one? Chop that one off too?
What does the Lord Jesus mean? Does He mean literally that we should get a big knife and dispose of our hand? I think we should all be crippled long before we ever got to the end of this life. Christians would be crippled, because after all, which one has never had a sinful thought passing through the mind? Is that what the Lord Jesus is telling us? Now surely, the Lord Jesus has just said that sin is of the heart. Then what's the use of chopping off my hand, or gouging out my eye? Is not the lesson clear to us: that no matter what pain is involved, what cost is involved, whatever you do, see to it that you don't commit sin. Because there is nothing more important in this world. There is nothing more important in this world than that you should be saved.
You see, our eye — many people say, "I would give my right eye for it." What do they mean by this? They mean that their eye is something very precious to them. There is nothing more precious to you in your possession. But the Lord Jesus is saying that salvation is more precious still. So let us not be too literalistically minded. When the Lord Jesus said of the Pharisees that they strain out the mosquito and they swallow a camel, you don't say, "Wow, the Pharisees have a great big mouth. They can swallow a camel." No. The Lord is saying: so important is it that if you had to do it, then even so, it would be worth doing. That is to say, there is nothing more important. No matter the suffering — can you think of the pain that would be involved to take out an eye, to gouge it out? In those days there were no anesthetics. Incredible. But the Lord is saying, no matter what the pain, no matter what the cost — and the cost is very high. Because look, if you chop off your right hand, you can't work anymore. You are finished. How is the nurse going to work in the hospital with one hand? You have become maimed, you are crippled. Your livelihood is gone. But the Lord says, it is better to even endure all that than to lose your salvation.
Now, consider this. Because when I look at Christians, I do not see that there is this understanding of salvation. I see Christians who still put many things — their profession, their work, everything else — as being somehow more important than salvation. So we must come to understand that there is simply nothing more important than the gospel. And yet I find people, when you speak to them about the gospel, what do they say? They say, "I haven't got time. I will come if I have time." What kind of a concept is this? Do you think that there is something more important than salvation? You see, the error of this thinking is due to the fact that we think only of the temporal and we have failed to see the importance of the eternal.
These words are addressed to Christians. And those who simply do not see spiritual values — there is no need to gouge out their eye, because they simply don't see the value of eternal things. They are blind already.
But now I would like to touch on one other important point. Does the Lord Jesus mean it so figuratively that there is no particular meaning to the cutting off of the hand and the gouging out of the eye, apart from saying that we must understand the importance of being saved? Not at all. We must understand that for a Christian, the whole body must be brought under subjugation. This is a teaching that many Christians don't seem to understand: the discipline of the body. Did you know that salvation is closely tied up with the discipline of the body? That this body and its feelings, its lusts, its desires, must be firmly controlled. One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, as we have seen before. Why? Because self-control is essential to salvation.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9, verse 27, "I bring my body under slavery, lest having preached to others, I myself should be cast away." I subjugate my body. I give my body a black eye. Why does Paul do that? Is he just somebody who likes to beat himself? Is he an ascetic who likes to punish himself? Not at all. Paul is no ascetic. There are some monks, for example, who sleep on hard beds because they think that this earns them merit with God. That's wrong. We don't earn any merit. But salvation has to do with the control, the subjugation of the body.
And one of the very good ways of disciplining the body is fasting. Did you know that too? Fasting is little understood today, but it is still an important element in the teaching of the Lord and in the teaching of the church, very much practiced in the early church — not to earn salvation, but to discipline the body, to bring the body under subjugation.
The Lord Jesus' teaching about cutting off the hand and gouging out the eye is not only about seeing the importance of salvation — how important salvation is, to the point that even gouging out an eye or cutting off a hand is worth it. There is also another meaning: Paul clearly understood this — that our limbs, our flesh, must be trained and subdued. So Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27 that we must subdue the body, overcome the lusts and desires of the flesh. He strikes his own body. This is not like monks or Eastern holy men who use such methods hoping to gain blessings in the next life. We must understand that being a Christian involves a battle, and the enemy is often our own flesh. To overcome oneself is a crucial task — to subdue the lusts and passions of the flesh so that we can win in the spiritual battle. If we cannot even overcome our own flesh, how can we win any spiritual battles? The victory in spiritual battle begins with the victory over self and over the flesh.
That is why Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, "I bring my body into slavery." He says the same thing in many other places — Galatians 5:24, 6:14, Romans 8:13. In all these places he speaks of mortifying the deeds of the flesh. What does that mean? It means bring the deeds of the flesh to death. Do not allow them to find any expression. It is strange that today in the teaching of the church, this kind of important teaching finds virtually no expression. There is the battle, the spiritual warfare that we are engaged in, and the first step is the victory in ourselves. That is why it is said in Proverbs: he who overcomes himself, who brings himself under control, is greater than he who conquers cities. There are people who conquer the whole world and can't conquer themselves, and they end up being defeated, ruined, destroyed.
But here there are other questions when we meditate on the words of the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus says here that so important it is that we must win the victory in ourselves. Why? So that we do not go down into hell. You see, if you commit the sin of adultery, whether in your heart or in actual practice, the Old Testament sentence upon adultery is death. It is a mortal sin, a sin punishable by death. For that kind of sin, there was no sacrifice in the temple. For that kind of sin, the sentence was death. How to get forgiveness for such a sin? There is no discussion here of forgiveness.
So let us ask the question: If this is so, then when you were not a Christian, did you not commit that kind of sin sometime or other? Maybe you actually committed adultery and fornication — never mind in your hearts. But if that is the standard of justice, then even if you only committed it in your heart, you are already, by the standard of God, sentenced to hell. You have committed mortal sin, sin punishable by death, for which there is no sacrifice in the temple. You see, in the Old Testament, in the temple, the only sacrifice that was available was sacrifice for sins of ignorance — sins unwittingly committed — not for deliberate sin, sin that is planned, coolly calculated, worked out until it was conceived and executed. For that kind of sin, there was no temple sacrifice.
So then what happens to all of us who committed sins before we came to know the Lord, let alone those we commit after becoming Christians? What's going to happen to us? Are we not all already condemned to hell? Is it not clear then that there is no living person who can avoid the disaster of hell? How then shall we be saved?
You see, this very teaching of the Lord brings out the whole question of salvation. It sets a standard such that no living man, no flesh, can be justified before God. How then shall we escape the disaster of hell? Don't you see that the Lord Jesus is saying exactly what Paul says: that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? We are all condemned men, condemned to die.
Now if you are not a Christian, then you best attend carefully to the words of the Lord Jesus here. The Lord is saying categorically to you: you have got only one future awaiting you, and that future is hell. How are we going to be saved? Now you can see that the Lord's teaching presupposes, implies, establishes the need for salvation, establishes the need for the forgiveness of sins which we are unable for ourselves to achieve. Because here it says, "Don't commit it," but it doesn't tell us what to do if we have already committed it.
Well, the Lord Jesus, thanks be to God, has told us elsewhere what we are to do. We are to repent. Remember, we started all our teaching on the Lord Jesus — He started with the words, "Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand." That was the first word in the teaching of the Lord Jesus: be totally changed, change the whole direction of your life.
But is repentance enough? Because the sin of adultery in the Old Testament — the judgment is death. There is no sacrifice in the temple that can cleanse your sin. In the Old Testament, the sin of adultery was a capital offense. There was no hope. Going to the temple to offer a sacrifice was useless — there was no sacrifice to offer. Under the Old Testament system, anyone who committed adultery was sentenced to death. So if repentance is not enough, what then? Why is repentance not enough? Because, as I just said, there was no sacrifice in the temple that could cover your sin. But thanks be to God, in the Lord Jesus' teaching, we learn that He came precisely to save sinners. So His teaching, on the one hand, lets us see the terror of sin. On the other hand, when we see the terror of sin, we come to understand how great God's salvation is. When you have not seen the horror of sin, you do not understand the greatness of God's salvation.
Now we begin to see this in the Lord Jesus' teaching. For example, in Mark 10:45, He says, "The Son of Man came to give His life as a ransom for many." Now we begin to see, when we see God's view of sin and its terrible consequences, we begin to understand the greatness of His salvation.
Understand this: if you are not a Christian, understand it clearly, that God in His holiness will have nothing else to do with you than to consign you to hell if you persist in sin. This universe of God is meant to be sinless, and He is going to remove every stain of sin. You can be sure of that. There are some people who say, "Why doesn't God do something about the problems of the world?" He is doing something about it every minute. He is going to remove every bit and every stain of sin that is in this world. Now if you hang on to sin, He will have to remove you with all the sin.
But thanks be to God also that He has given us an alternative. Having caused us to see the terribleness of sin, the Lord Jesus shows us now why He came into the world. He started His teaching, as we saw, with the words "Repent." But you say, "There is no use to repent, because this sin has no forgiveness under the Old Testament law. Adultery is punishable by death. There is no sacrifice to cover it." True, the Old Testament could not save you. But thanks be to God, the Lord Jesus says, for example in Mark 10:45, "The Son of Man has come to give His life a ransom for many." He came precisely to save you. That is what He came for. And when we partake of communion, when we take communion, it is reminding us again that if it were not for His body and for His blood, all of us would be ending up in hell. Not one of us would avoid the disaster of hell. Take that thought with you to communion every time you come. Think about it: if it were not for this body, Lord, if it were not for this blood, I would be going right down there and spending all eternity in destruction.
But then shall we say, therefore, because the body and blood of Christ has redeemed me, therefore I am free to continue in sin? This thinking is too common among Christians. But remember, if these words are not addressed to the disciples, then who are they addressed to? The Lord Jesus is here talking to His disciples, and He warns them: "Be careful how you think." And this same teaching is repeated in Matthew 18:8-9. It's also repeated again in Mark 9:43-48, to emphasize the importance of His words. The important sayings of the Lord Jesus are repeated so that we may remember them.
If these words are not addressed to the disciples, then who are they addressed to? For to speak to a non-Christian about cutting his hand and gouging his eye out — that is not even a possibility that he would consider. You would be throwing your pearls before swine. The Lord is warning His disciples: "Don't think that because I have redeemed you with My blood, don't think that because I have come to lay down My life as a ransom for you, that therefore you can think of going on in sin. Don't dream of it." Paul says, "God forbid!" Don't let the thought even cross your mind. Don't deceive yourself. God is not deceived.
# You Shall Not Commit Adultery (Part 2) — Matthew 5:27-30
If these words are not addressed to the disciples, then who are they addressed to? The Lord Jesus is here talking to His disciples, and He warns them: "Be careful how you think." And this same teaching is repeated in Matthew chapter 18, verses 8 and 9. It's also repeated again in Mark chapter 9, verses 43 to 48, to emphasize the importance of His words. The important sayings of the Lord Jesus are repeated again to emphasize their importance — we are slow to learn, often we hear a thing once and we don't remember it. The Lord repeats it that we may remember it, that it may enter into our dull spiritual understanding.
For to speak to a non-Christian about cutting his hand or gouging his eye out — that is not a possibility that he would even consider. You would be throwing your pearls before swine. The Lord is warning His disciples: "Don't think that because I have redeemed you with My blood, don't think that because I have come to lay down My life as a ransom for you, that therefore you can think of going on in sin. Don't dream of it." Paul says, "God forbid!" Don't let the thought even cross your mind. Don't deceive yourself — God is not deceived. And He goes on to say, as we saw the other time, that no fornicators, no sinners, no adulterers — and He has cited a whole list — none of these will enter the kingdom of God, no matter what they call themselves. Consider carefully the word of God. Make sure that you live a holy life. Salvation is not an excuse to sin.
The Lord Jesus' words here — who are they addressed to? If they were addressed to non-Christians or non-believers, such words would be meaningless, because if you tell them to cut off their hand or gouge out their eye, they would absolutely not do it. The words spoken here, the demands made, the teaching given — all are directed at His own disciples. So never think that now that you are saved, you no longer need to fear the danger of hell. Christians who continue in sin must be careful.
Don't let any human notions, traditions, or doctrines blind your eyes to the dangers that are ahead, even for Christians. Look at the teaching of Jesus. Don't look at the teaching of men, and see what He says to you — not what I say to you.
But our time is going quickly, and I have to touch on one or two other things. First, it says that your body — notice carefully the words of the Lord Jesus, there is so much in it — "Pluck out your eye or chop off your hand, so that your whole body may not be thrown into hell." You say, "But what about those guys who got cremated? What about those guys in Northern Ireland who got blown up by the bombs? There is no body to throw into hell. They have long since been blown into dust." Some people think the best way to escape judgment is to get cremated after you die, because there is no body to throw into hell. Well, don't be deceived, and don't be naive. Because if you look carefully at the Lord's teaching, the teaching of the resurrection is immediately implied. And of course, He goes on specifically to speak about the resurrection later.
You see how in a simple passage like this, so many doctrines are involved — the doctrine of redemption, the doctrine of the resurrection, the doctrine of sanctification, the doctrine of salvation. Everything is in these simple words. They look simple, but now you can see what is the depth and the riches of the teaching of Jesus. For the unseeing eye, there is nothing to see. For the seeing eye, there is so much to see that you hardly know where to begin. Such is the riches. So there is already presupposed the doctrine of the resurrection, before the doctrine of the judgment, as well as the doctrine of the last things, the doctrine of hell. That is exactly what Paul says in Acts chapter 24, verse 15, which last Sunday we read together, and maybe many didn't notice. What does Acts 24:15 say? Paul says there that we shall be raised, both the just and the unjust, unto the resurrection — the resurrection to judgment. Don't think there is any way of escaping the judgment of God. Otherwise, why has God in His wisdom given us the doctrine of the resurrection? Because many evil people will say to themselves, "So long as I die and I get my body blown up and burnt and scatter my ashes in the sea, then I can escape the judgment of God." No such luck. No such hope. That is why the doctrine of the resurrection is there. The Lord has warned us: you will in no way escape His judgment. You will never outwit God. He will bring together your dust and your ashes and see to it that you stand there in His judgment.
Now I must conclude on this point of the doctrine of hell. The Lord Jesus has spoken here several times about hell, and it's time for us briefly to look at it. And so important is this doctrine that I shall come back to it again. We saw the Lord Jesus' teaching: pluck out your eye, cut off your hand, otherwise your body will be thrown into hell. Now some evil people might say, "If my body is to be thrown into hell, how can that happen if I die and get cremated, or get blown up by a bomb? There is no body left to throw into hell." Some wicked people hear God's word and get a little scared, so they quickly arrange to have their bodies burned after death — thinking that without a body, they can escape. They think they are smarter than God. Such foolish thinking — God cannot be deceived by anyone. So the Bible's teaching has already anticipated this point — the doctrine of the resurrection. God will gather even the ashes and raise the dead. As Paul says in Acts 24:15, God will raise the dead before the judgment. He will not let the wicked escape. He will not let them deceive Him. Everyone will stand before Him to be judged.
Now anyone who relishes in the doctrine of hell, I think that person had better keep his mouth shut and leave the church in peace. Nobody is entitled to preach about hell who cannot preach with a sense of the pain, the horror, the fearfulness of hell and the reality of hell. You know, there was a girl in Shanghai who was not a Christian. She was in one of the colleges in Shanghai. And she died. And she was dead for several hours as they left her body there. Some hours later — I forgot whether it was eight or nine hours later — she came back to life. And when she came back to life, she was wet with perspiration and trembling with fear. And people asked her, "What happened to you?" They said, "Do you know that you have died?" She said, "I know I have died." She said, "I want to tell you something. I had the most horrible and frightening experience in my life." They said, "What happened to you?" She said, "I have been granted a vision of hell. I was taken down to have a look at hell." She was not a Christian, remember that. And she said, "When I saw hell, when I saw this fearful and terrifying place, God allowed me to return, to tell you all what hell is like, that you may — if you are not afraid of God — you may be afraid of hell."
You know, there are some sinners who are not afraid of anything. You tell them of the love of God — love has no impression on them. But the only language they seem to understand is the language of fear. And God in His wisdom gives us both languages: the language of love and the language of fear. This girl — and this is absolutely true what I am telling you about — was not a Christian. She became a Christian after this experience. And the whole college, as a result of this, there was a revival in that whole college in Shanghai. And hundreds of them came to the Lord upon her testimony, because they knew that she spoke the truth and they knew she was no Christian.
The reality of hell is something fearful if only one can grasp it. And don't deceive yourself by saying, "Well, I don't believe in this." Believing a thing or not believing a thing changes no facts whatsoever. Always remember clearly in your mind that belief changes nothing as far as the facts are concerned. You don't believe it, it doesn't make any difference. If you don't believe there is a place in the world called Australia, what difference does it make? Does Australia disappear because you don't believe it? If you tell the ancient people that there would be planes flying in the air and they say, "I don't believe it," what difference does it make? Facts don't change because you believe it or don't believe it. It only changes you. Faith changes you. It doesn't change the facts.
If this house were on fire and somebody said, "The house is on fire," and you say, "I don't believe it" — you think the fire will go out? It would be so convenient. I wish it could be put out just by saying, "I don't believe it," and the fire goes out. Oh, that would be marvelous. Quick solution to every problem. Unfortunately, believing a thing or not believing a thing changes absolutely nothing as far as the facts are concerned. It only changes you. So if the doctor tells you one day you have cancer and you say, "I don't believe it. I don't feel anything. I have no pain in my body. I feel perfectly normal" — you think your cancer disappears? That's exactly what a doctor said to my father: "You have cancer in your neck." He didn't feel anything. No pain, nothing. Two months later, he was dead. He still didn't feel any pain, but he was dead.
Now when we come to this matter of hell, I want to share just a few points. First: Why is hell necessary? I think about it and I ponder the matter, and I say, thanks be to God that there is a hell. You say, "What did you say?" I say, I thank God that there is a hell. And I say this in all humility, with fear and trembling. "How can you say a thing like that?" Well, I'll tell you why. If there is no hell, there will be no justice in this world.
I think, for example, of the things that happened in this century. I think of the horrors of the Second World War. I think of those people who put six million Jews and other people — Poles, Dutch, and the like — in the gas chambers. Women and children as well as men, who didn't even know what the war was about, and gassed them mercilessly to death. I think of the kind of evil that can do this kind of thing. I think of the evil of people who can take delight in torturing people slowly to death. I would think that there must be some way to settle the accounts.
I think of people like Hitler, who, having caused the death not only of the six million people in the gas chambers, but twenty million people in Europe alone who died — bombed to death, shot to death, burned to death — all because of this man, this megalomaniac. And he went to disaster, having brought the world down in flames and ruins around him, just put a bullet through his own head and burned himself up to escape the judgment of men. I would say to myself, should this man, who had caused the death of twenty million people — fathers and sons, mothers and sisters, daughters and grandmothers — who caused the misery and the pain and the suffering of countless millions, just get away with one shot in the head? I'd say that's not justice. Do you say it's justice? He must be made to account for the death of those multitudes. His suffering must be at least twenty million times what they suffered, otherwise I don't see that there is justice.
So I thank God that there is a place of justice, that God will settle the account. Every man will have his share. So we can see that God intends to wipe out evil and sin in this world. If I, a sinful man, can be indignant about sin, then what must be the holy God's attitude about sin? Sin must be dealt with. It must be judged. Evil must not be allowed to exist forever. It must be eradicated. That is why hell exists — to deal with these evil things. So I thank God.
But here we must distinguish a number of things. Some people have the notion that everybody is going to roast in hell for the same length of time — that hell is some kind of a grand barbecue. Not at all. Hell is there for the eradication, extermination of evil. Remember that.
Here I want to correct some wrong notions about hell. First, remember this: No one will be readily sent to hell by God. God is a compassionate and merciful God. He has no delight whatsoever in the death of the sinner. The Bible says God takes no pleasure in the death of the sinner. Let's get away from the sadistic idea that God somehow enjoys seeing the sinner roasting. Hell has only one practical function: the eradication of evil. It is not meant for any pleasure of torturing people.
Secondly, what we read in the Bible about hell is that it is a place of extermination of evil. It is not a place where people sit there forever and ever. Now, the Bible does say that the fire of hell is forever. It does not say that the destruction of the sinner is forever. These two must be carefully distinguished. The fact that the fire of hell is eternal does not mean that the punishment of the sinner is eternal.
Take for example Jude verse 7. It says that Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed by eternal fire. Think carefully what it means: eternal fire. Is Sodom and Gomorrah still burning today? No, it's gone. Then how can the fire be eternal? Eternal fire signifies God's fire. The fire of God is always eternal. It does not mean that Sodom and Gomorrah are still burning today. They are finished. They are burnt out. They ceased to exist. They were annihilated by the fire. God has no pleasure in putting sinners there to roast for eternity. But He has the sad duty of wiping out sinners who refuse to repent. What alternative has He got? You don't want to repent. He has done everything for your salvation. What more can He do? His very Son hung on the cross to die, to pour out His blood to its last drop. What more can He do to save you? On that day of judgment, what can you say against God? He has done everything.
The Lord Jesus came into the world to save us. We have heard it so often that our ears have become calloused and we no longer hear. On that day, God will say to you, "What more could I have done to save you? Everything that could be done, I have done. Can you tell Me what I have not yet done? I not only would have gouged out My eye, I not only would have cut off My hand — I gave My own beloved Son for you. I would rather have gouged out My eye. That is less painful than sending My Son to die. Any of you who are fathers or mothers will know that." On that day, standing before God, what can you say? Can you accuse God of not coming to save you? He did everything to save you. And when you face the reality of hell, God will say, "I am sorry. I have done everything for you, My friend. You yourself chose this. Today you choose life or you choose destruction — that is the path you yourself must walk."
Now regarding hell, we must see clearly: the Bible does not teach that a sinner simply roasts in fire forever, like baking bread. Hell's fire, as we have seen, is for the destruction of evil. But if you refuse to repent, then you face destruction. Repent or be destroyed — you must choose one. Destruction means this: the Bible teaches that in hell, it is not burning forever and ever. But there is destruction. Of course, there is a period of suffering before the destruction, before the judgment. A person will go through a very painful period. The Lord Jesus calls this "the outer darkness." This outer darkness is a very painful period. After that comes destruction.
But the period of destruction differs for each person. This we must make clear. Some people will be in the fire of hell for a long time. For example, the devil — he burns in the fire forever and ever. Because he must pay his debt; the accounts must be settled, and since his sin is so great, he is in hell forever. Along with him are the false prophet and the beast — these also burn in the fire forever. So through careful study of the Bible's teaching concerning hell, we see that it depends on the nature of your sin — how much time is needed in the fire for destruction. In the case of the devil, he is in the lake of fire forever. But for ordinary sinners, as in Luke 3:17 or Matthew 3:12, they are consumed by the fire — destroyed. Matthew 10:28 also speaks this way.
Matthew 3:12 says these sinners will be "burned up" — consumed completely, nothing left. The Chinese Bible translates it correctly: "shao jing" — nothing left of it. It is exactly the word used in Exodus 3:2, where God appears to Moses in the burning bush. The bush was on fire, but it was not consumed. That is the word — not burnt up, not destroyed. But of the chaff, it says they will be consumed, burned up, nothing left. The word always means total destruction in the Greek. And the same thing in Luke 3:17, where John the Baptist says exactly the same thing.
Never deceive yourself into thinking that you will escape it, because the God of all holiness and justice will see that in His universe not one stain of evil and sin will remain. It will all be confined to the destruction of hell. We have seen also that the sinner will be destroyed in hell, body and soul. But we also saw that there are some people — such as Hitler and the like — who will be in hell for a very long time. They will not be allowed to escape so quickly. They will be made to suffer the torment that they inflicted upon others. Such people will be in hell fire for a very long time — not because God takes any pleasure in it, remember, but because it is necessary to carry out justice. And so we find in Revelation 20:10 that the devil, the beast, and the false prophet will be in the fire of hell forever. So great is their evil that it will take all eternity to settle the accounts with them. But of the others, we read that they will be destroyed in hell.
We have dealt with a very important aspect of the Lord's teaching. Everything the Lord teaches is important. But in the time we have together, I try to share with you as much as possible of the riches, the profound importance of God's teaching. Take it deeply to heart, because otherwise you will have all eternity to regret that you did not take it to heart. Be careful how you hear the word of God. Realize that in this world there is nothing more important than that we may be saved, that we may get right with God and enter into the life that He wants to give us, that He longs to impart to us. That's why He says, "Ask, and you will receive." He is waiting to give it to us, waiting for us to ask.
The Lord Jesus' teaching is of utmost importance, speaking of eternal truth. We know this is eternal truth — God's word will never pass away. So when you hear this word, you must take it to heart. Otherwise, you will have all eternity to think about and regret that you did not take God's word to heart. Today, let us realize that receiving God's life is the most important thing in this world. There is nothing more important. This life is temporary; the life to come is eternal. Which one will you choose? Choose clearly. Don't confuse what is important with what is not. You must know that receiving Jesus is more precious than anything else.
Let us now be quiet before God in prayer.