.jpg)
The Rock Family Worship Center
Taking The Church Outside The Walls
The Rock Family Worship Center
Rethinking Hell In The Light Of Love
We explore the controversial topic of hell, examining what Jesus actually meant when using the word "Gehenna" versus what church tradition has taught throughout centuries. This message challenges believers to consider context, history, and Jesus' nature when interpreting Scripture.
• The word translated as "hell" in English Bibles is actually "Gehenna" - a physical location outside Jerusalem
• Jesus only mentioned Gehenna when speaking to Jewish audiences, never to Gentiles
• Gehenna (Valley of Hinnom) was a garbage dump where fires burned continuously, not an afterlife destination
• Jesus was prophetically warning of Jerusalem's destruction, which happened 40 years later in 70 AD
• Our modern concept of hell comes largely from Dante's Inferno, not Scripture
• Jesus is the exact image of the Father, making it impossible for God to be more wrathful than Jesus
• Hebrews 12:29 describes God as a "consuming fire" that refines and purifies, not one that tortures
• 2 Corinthians 5:19 states God was "reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their sins against them"
If our theology makes Jesus look more merciful than God, we need to rethink our theology. Come home to a God who gives life rather than takes it, whose fire heals, refines and restores rather than punishes.
Sometimes I feel like I need to give a disclaimer when I preach some things, so I'm going to give a quick one right here. I'm going to say some things this morning that's going to be very controversial to some people. It may be something different than what you've always been taught. I'm almost going to guarantee you it is. I'm not trying to convince you to believe what I'm saying just because I'm saying it, trying to convince you to believe what I'm saying just because I'm saying it. What I'm doing is I'm going to offer you some information so that you can make an educated decision. That's it, so that you can have you know, sometimes we make decisions and we ain't got all the information there, or the information is there but it's been skewed a little bit. We're going to break the information down and we're going to look at what the Bible truly says and you make your decision on things. You decide how you're going to believe, but we're going to provide all that's there in the Bible and everything that Jesus said. Let me start out with one specific verse, and this is Hebrews 1. I want to read verse 1 through 3 just to kind of set the tone and hopefully get you seeing where we're going this morning. Hebrews 1, 1-3 says this God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world, who being the brightness of his glory. And listen to this. This is what I want you to hear the brightness of his glory in the express image of his person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when he had, by Himself, purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. You've got to see right there and this is what I want to bring out first and foremost before I get to talk about anything else is His express image. That's what this verse is talking about. It's saying that Jesus is the exact representation of God's nature, exactly. Another verse says that he is the exact image Use those words the exact image of God. He shows us exactly what God is like. So when we wonder sometimes about the Father and we ask these questions about the Father, and what does the Father look like? What is the Father's nature? Like Jesus said, I only do what I've seen the Father do, and I only say what I've heard the Father say. So if we want to know what God is like, we look at Jesus. And that's why I wanted to pour this verse out first and foremost, so you can see he is the exact image of the Father.
Speaker 1:But we can't read these verses right here without going back to verse 2 just a minute and touching on one thing. And in verse 2 it says In these last days Okay, this is in Hebrews now. And it says In these last days Okay, this is in Hebrews now. And it says In these last days, in these last days, has in these last days. I'm not stuck here, I'm repeating myself because I want you to hear this. The last days they were saying this in Hebrews, they were talking about that. That time period was the last day. Got to see that this is not referring to the end of the world, this is referring to the end of an age. This is referring to the end of an old way that they related to God. That will stop and something else will God. That will stop and something else will begin. That was in the last day. The old covenant, law and exclusion has ended. God has now spoken His final word through Jesus, a word of grace, a word of inclusion and a word of completion. He said it is finished.
Speaker 1:One more verse here, just to lay the foundation. Look at Hebrews, chapter 8, verse 13. This is going to tie in with what I just said, because context matters. I'm going to say that probably a hundred times today. Context matters In that he says A new covenant. He has made the first covenant Obsolete. He done away with the first covenant. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old, is ready to vanish, is ready to pass away. He said I've got something new coming. That's not my words. He said I've got something new coming. That's not my words. He said it's a new covenant. So before I can bring and introduce a new covenant, the old covenant has to be done away with. We can't have two of the same thing One has to be gone and the other one steps in. So I just wanted to show you this verse right here, because he says that it's not my opinion. He actually says the old has to be made obsolete, has to be gone, and then the new is initiated.
Speaker 1:Okay, we've been told that God is love all through your church years, sunday school, all the way through your adult years. We've been told and we've read in the Bible that God is love, yet also that he will burn people alive forever. We've been told that Jesus is forgiving, but we also say that one day He'll sit by idly as multitudes of people or cast into a lake of fire and tortured without end. I'm just showing you the difference in what we've always said this is Jesus, this is God, but that, but don't work anymore the difference in what we've always said this is Jesus, this is God, but that, but don't work anymore. We're going to take that out today. We're going to show you the truth of what the Word of God said. We were taught that hell is the ultimate justice of a holy God, that right there don't even make sense putting those words together. But we've been taught that hell is the ultimate justice of a holy God, that right there don't even make sense putting those words together. But we've been taught that hell is the ultimate justice of a holy God.
Speaker 1:And there was a time in my life I can't tell you exactly when it was, but it hit me and I said that don't sound like Jesus. I started reading some of this stuff, and the more I read it, the more I studied it, I said that don't sound like Jesus. And maybe you've been at a point somewhere through the Scripture where you looked and said that don't sound like the Jesus. I know, and I want to tell you today that I'm actually going to show you, too, that you would be right in questioning that. You would. You're not crazy for questioning that. You would. You're not crazy for questioning that. You're not some nut job because you're questioning that. You're not a heretic because you're questioning that. I believe you're right.
Speaker 1:I believe we should all question things. We're not questioning God. We're questioning traditional teaching and the way it's been presented to us, and we're questioning the version of God that we've been given. Is it the right God? Is it who His nature really is? So I believe if your theology makes Jesus look more merciful than God, you need to rethink your theology.
Speaker 1:I started with those verses that they are one and the same. I said he is the exact image of the Father. So if we look and we always say that Jesus is forgiving, jesus is love, jesus is this, jesus is that. But God's going to cast you out, god's going to spew you out of His mouth. God's going to throw you into hell, god's going to make you burn. There's a contradiction there, because Jesus is the exact image of the Father. That kind of stuff makes me think. It makes me think, okay, it makes me just look at it and dive a little bit deeper into it and say I've got to figure this out, because something just don't line up with that.
Speaker 1:Jesus never used threats of eternal torment to bring people to the kingdom. He never did so why do we do it? Not only so, why do we do it? Not only that, why do we do it? And then we say we're preaching the gospel Good news. I've said this many times and I'll continue to say it there is no bad news in the good news. We've got to understand what good news is being told. Some of this stuff that we've been told over the years is not good news to people. Now some would argue that, and that's okay, but it's not good news to me. So let's look at what Jesus actually said. But more than that, let's look at what Jesus actually said. But more than that, let's look at what Jesus never said about hell.
Speaker 1:Again, this is going to be. I'm not asking you to agree with everything I say. Actually, I'm going to ask Monica at some point if she needs to. We've got this box back in the back and it says question. And all you've got to do is raise your hand or wiggle your fan and Monica will bring you a little piece of paper and you can write a question on that. And I'm not being funny, I'm being serious.
Speaker 1:If something I say sparks a question in you, I don't care what it is. Maybe you just want to write down. I don't agree with that. Write it down and put it in the box Because I want to write down. I don't agree with that. Write it down and put it in the box Because I want to know. I want to know where you're at in your thinking, because this is what it's about rethinking. How do we transform our mind? How do we repent? We change our thinking. We have to be willing to have an open mind and rethink something.
Speaker 1:I'm not telling you believe this because I said it. Everybody rethink some things. I'm not telling you believe this because I said it. Everybody else is wrong. I'm not saying that. I'm just saying do you have the ability, do you have the maturity level to rethink some things? And I think everybody in this room does. So I'm serious about the papers. Put some questions in that box, if you have some questions. We've had one question put in there so far because we put that box out probably a couple of months ago. One question and we're going to hit on that question later on.
Speaker 1:Whoever wrote it, y'all didn't put a name on it, that's fine. But if you do want to put your name on this, I will email you. I'll email you, I'll text you, I'll talk to you personally if you have a question. I don't mind that. We want you to understand. We want your questions to be answered.
Speaker 1:So again, we're going to look at what Jesus actually said and we're also going to look at what he actually never said. It's been attributed to Him but he never actually said it. So I want to focus on one word this morning and that word is Gehenna. Gehenna that is the word that is most often used as hell in the Bible. Actually, most of the new tests, some of the newer versions of the Bible and some of the old ones I think the King James actually used the word hell and don't use the word Gehenna of the Bible and some of the old ones. I think the King James actually used the word hell and don't use the word Gehenna. But Gehenna was what we translate as the word hell in the Bible. Jesus used this word 11 times when he spoke. That's why I want to key in on this word. He used the word Hades four times. He never used the word Sheol and he never used the words lake of fire. That was something different. He never said that, but he did use this word 11 different times. So I'm not going to worry about what somebody else said. I'm going to worry about what Jesus said. Jesus used this word, so we're going to dive down into it, pick it apart and see what it really means.
Speaker 1:Many pastors use this word a lot. They don't use the word Gehenna. They use the word hell, which is the same thing. I want you to understand. It's one and the same. We have took this word and said it means the burning place of fire that you're going to go to. If you don't know Jesus, that's hell. Gehenna Okay, many pastors use the word Gehenna to support the doctrine of hell, but in doing so, they often ignore the historical and the biblical context, and context matters.
Speaker 1:We have to understand the context of what we're reading. Here's how it happens a lot of times, and then I'm going to tell you why it's a problem. Many people associate Gehenna with an eternal hellfire. Many pastors kind of say it like this Jesus talked more about hell than he did any other thing in the Bible. You ever heard that Lie? Not the truth. We can stop right there with it and just go on. But I'm not. He did not talk about hell more than he talked about anything in the Bible. He talked about kingdom more than he talked about anything in the Bible. So they say that and then they quote verses where Jesus uses this word Gehenna. Okay, but they never explain this. Gehenna was a real earthly location. They interpret it as a spiritual place of eternal torment Sometime in the afterlife and they do not tell you that it was a real place in Jerusalem. But here's the problem with them saying that this confuses a real historical warning that Jesus made during His time when he was talking to the people of Israel. He gave them a warning about judgment and about Jerusalem. It was real, he actually said it to them and it confuses that real thing that happened with a later theological concept that Jesus never mentioned being eternal conscious torment.
Speaker 1:When I use the word eternal conscious torment. That's basically what we believe that hell is going to be. That's what we teach that hell is going to be. If you don't know Him, he's going to look at you when you go up for judgment and he's going to say depart from Me, you, worker of iniquity, for I never knew you. You're going to be cast down into a place of burning fire and you're going to be burned up forever. Now did I get that wrong? That's what we teach people. That's not what Jesus taught. I know that's hard to believe and if you're one of these, like me, when somebody says something and it challenges me a little bit, I want to go in there and I want to prove them wrong. Prove me wrong, because you won't, because it's not in the Bible. He never talked about a place where there was going to be eternal conscious torment, and I used the word conscious. I didn't make that term up, that's a well-known term. But we talk about conscious because you're going to know what's going on. You're going to feel it, it's going to be painful and it's never going to stop. It goes on for eternity.
Speaker 1:Gehenna is also used to preach a fear-based salvation. Sermons often go like this If you don't accept Jesus, you're going to spend eternity in hell, burning forever. If you go to a tent revival or you go to hear somebody speak, that's an evangelist. This is the evangelistic message. Why? Because they're about salvation. So, to get people saved, they tell them what's going to happen to them if they don't get saved, to scare them into getting saved. This is what's going to happen You're going to burn in hell forever. It's going to be hot. There ain't going to be no water. There ain't going to be no ice. It's going to be no ice, it's going to be hot. And if somebody says, oh my God, I don't want that, let me run to the altar. I mean, that's the way it happens.
Speaker 1:The goal becomes getting people to escape hell rather than know God's love, peace and inclusion. Here's the problem. This makes fear, not grace, the foundation of faith. Most people's faith is built on fear. Why do they get saved? Because they don't want to burn. So their foundation of who they are, the foundation of their salvation, is not based on grace, it's based on fear, and it turns Jesus into a threat know him, or you're going to go somewhere else. It takes away the love and the peace and everything that he is and turns him into a threat. The other thing they do a lot of times is they ignore the audience and the context.
Speaker 1:Jesus only spoke of Gehenna. Listen to this now. He only spoke of Gehenna to Jewish people. I'm going to pause right here because you need to think about that. He only spoke this word. Now I went back and researched this to see if there's anywhere in the Bible that he spoke to the non-Jewish people, which were the Gentiles. Did he ever use the word Gehenna when he was speaking to Gentile people? Answer is no, nowhere in the Bible. Will you find it?
Speaker 1:He only used this word all 11 times when he was speaking to Jewish people. He was warning them about the destruction of Jerusalem, not afterlife punishment for individuals. He was telling them that if you don't turn away from where you're at and what you're believing, that you're going to destroy yourself. I'm not going to destroy you, you're going to destroy yourself. He was talking to a group of people who were Jewish. If we ignore the audience and the context, then what we do is we falsely include everyone, including you, 2,000 years later. We include you in this, but the fact is, his words were very specific, very prophetic. It was a prophetic warning for a very specific first century audience. You're not Jewish. As much as we have some pastors that's flying the Jewish flag on the pulpit and everything else, we're not Jewish as much as we have some pastors that's flying the Jewish flag on the pulpit and everything else, we're not Jewish. These people back here were Jewish people. That he was speaking to the audience matters. Who was he speaking to?
Speaker 1:All through Scripture, gehenna is merged together with other words I mentioned, like Hades and Sheol and Lake of Fire. Those are all words that we've attributed to hell and many teachings lump them together, these different biblical terms, and they say each one represents hell. They'll take whatever verse it is if it says Hades, it's hell. If it says Sheol, it's hell. If it says Sheol, it's hell. If it says, you know, lake of fire, all might hell. And we use those verses to scare people when the reality is, each of these words have a very different meaning, but yet we put them together and we all say this word, this word, this word and this word means hell, and it don't.
Speaker 1:Gehenna means valley of Hinnom. It was an actual place. It was a valley. Hades, the Greek word, is underworld. You might say well, that's hell, that's the underworld. You've got to know where the underworld comes from and we're going to get into that in just a few minutes. Where did these words originate from? Sheol in Hebrew means grave or realm of the dead Lake of Fire in Revelation. The only place that it was was in Revelation. It was symbolism for judgment and destruction.
Speaker 1:We got to understand these words. Each of these words have been used to describe hell. The problem is, this is not what Jesus taught and it's not what Scripture actually said when you read it in context. So let's take a step further and get a better understanding of the word Gehenna. I want you to see this because this is the word Jesus used.
Speaker 1:Okay, instead of using Gehenna to scare people into believing, we could just teach context, educate people and let them come to their own conclusion with understanding. So let me say this again Gehenna was a real place with a real warning to real people in real time. It actually happened, but it happened in the first century Israel, way, way back then. Jesus used it to say he used this word to pretty much tell people to turn away. Okay, turn away from that thinking that you have right now that law. Turn from that path of violence and exclusion and pride, or this path that you're on is going to destroy you. It's going to destroy your nation, the nation of Israel. That's why he only spoke to the people of Israel. That's why he only spoke to the people of Israel. It wasn't about burning people forever, but about avoiding the collapse of a nation that refused peace.
Speaker 1:Using Gehenna to teach about hell, the way we've been taught, it doesn't just twist Scripture, it actually distorts the heart of God. We want to teach Bible and we want to teach truth and we want to teach gospel. But using these kind of words out of context distorts truth. It distorts the gospel. Most of our English Bibles translate to henna as hell. You'll see it in your Bible. But that's very, very misleading. And you might say well, how can you say the Bible is misleading? Because the Bible is a book. It's a book. Jesus is the Word, the Bible through the years.
Speaker 1:We won't get into the biblical history and Bible history, but you can go and study it out. There's a lot of messed up stuff that happened If you study it out and look at it. We ain't got time to go into that. So why not just keep it simple? Keep it simple, stay within context, tell the truth and keep it simple. Ronnie, can you pull that picture up If maybe one of you guys don't like what I'm saying, and maybe at the end of this service you might look at me and you've probably been told this before if somebody ever told you, go to hell. If you tell me that today I'm going to jump on a plane, I'm going to fly to Jerusalem and this is where I'm going to end up at. This is the Valley of Hinnom Today, 2025, in Jerusalem.
Speaker 1:What's neat is the Hinnom Valley, as it's called today, is a green, developed park with trails and playgrounds and picnic areas. I looked at this picture for a long time when I pulled it up because I was trying to find the flames and the torment. It's just landscaping and archaeology and kids playing on playgrounds. You know why? Because it's just landscaping and archaeology and kids playing on playgrounds. You know why? Because it's a real place. You can actually go there. You can buy a plane ticket, fly over there and actually go stand under that little waterfall right there. It's a real place, but we've turned it into something different, to be even more clear, because it would be really really easy for you to say well, that's just Pastor Brown's interpretation, that's how we disagree, that's how we disagree. Nicely, well, that's just his interpretation. I have mine. We're going to make it more clear than that, because you could look at me and say that's how we disagree. Nicely, well, that's just his interpretation. I have mine. We're going to make it more clear than that, because you could look at me and say that's just the way he sees it. So what we're going to do is we're going to look at how Jesus sees it.
Speaker 1:What did Jesus say about Gehenna? But first let me give you some context. That's really important. Jesus, again, never warned the Gentiles about Gehenna, only the Jews. Now, if Jesus was on a mission to tell about what was coming, I would think he would tell the Gentiles about this place that you could possibly end up in. But he never did. He only talked to the Jews. So when I seen that, I love to question stuff. So my first question was why didn't he tell the Gentiles about it? Why did he just talk to the Jews? That was the kind of questions I asked. And I dug around and dug around until I found the answer Gehenna was a part of Jewish history. It's in Jerusalem. I mean like really, really in Jerusalem. So it was a part of Jewish history. Gentiles and non-Jews would not have understood the historical and the prophetic framework If Jesus were to talk to them about Gehenna. They would have had no idea what he was talking about Because they didn't know the history of this Jewish place that was really real. They would have had no idea. Jesus wasn't talking about a universal cosmic hell. He was speaking in the context of Jewish history.
Speaker 1:This is really important because if Gehenna were a place of eternal conscious torment for all of humanity who did not know Christ, jesus had every opportunity to warn people about it. He didn't do it. That's another thing that just makes me say come on, jesus, why didn't you tell people about this place? I mean, if more people was going to end up there than end up in heaven, why wouldn't he tell people about this place? I mean, if more people was going to end up there than end up in heaven, why wouldn't he tell us about it? Why wouldn't he keep us from it? Why wouldn't he say listen, you don't want to go there? He never said a word. So that makes me question.
Speaker 1:It makes me say there's some importance in why he didn't do it or that he was just a bad dude. He could have saved people and he did, and we know that's not the case. So I look at it now and I say there had to be a reason. And when I studied that out, they never would have understood what he was talking about. Anyway, just like I've said before, if you had the disciples walk in here right now and stand before me and listen to me talk about the doctrine of hell, they would look at me like I was crazy, because they didn't teach that and the one that they walked with Jesus. They never heard it from Him either. So they would look at me and say where in the world did you get this stuff from? And I'm going to share with you in a few minutes where we get it from.
Speaker 1:So what does this tell us? Jesus wasn't warning people about eternal torment and I'm going to answer a big question in just a few minutes because I know what's on some of y'all's minds right now. But what about hell? I mean, if you're saying this, then what about hell? We're going to answer that in a few minutes. There is a hell.
Speaker 1:Please don't walk out of here and say my pastor don't believe in hell. I believe in hell. I don't believe in eternal conscious torment. That we've always been taught, because that ain't the God I worship. You can worship that God. You can believe that. I'm not telling you not to. I told you this is going to come up against what we've always. I've always been taught that I have two choices Go to heaven or go to hell. That was it. That was your only option. Come to find out.
Speaker 1:Nowhere in the Bible does it say that. It don't talk about it. But please understand, this is not my opinion. I'm not taking these Scriptures and turning them and twisting them to try to make them fit what I want you to hear. I'm reading Scripture and the Scripture never says it. And the man who was the Word himself never said it, never, ever said it.
Speaker 1:So he was not talking, talking warning people about eternal torment. He was warning Israel, at the time of destruction, of a destructive path that they were on. Gehenna was not a universal concept, which means it was worldwide. Everybody knew about. It was not a universal concept. It was a cultural symbol within Jerusalem. It was a cultural thing of a coming destruction, not damnation, destruction, damnation and destruction is different.
Speaker 1:Jesus wasn't introducing a new doctrine of hell. He was calling Israel to repent and embrace the kingdom and he said or face tragic consequences in real time, not one day at the end of the world. Soon, he told them many times. Soon, if you don't turn from this thinking that you've got, if you don't turn away and let go of this, you're going to face consequences. That's all he was doing. That's why he talked directly to them, because they were the ones that was going to be impacted. The non-Jewish people were not going to be impacted by this, only the Jews. The traditional view of hell as an afterlife torture chamber it didn't come from Jesus Then and it don't come from Jesus today. Also, keep this in mind. 40 years after Jesus taught this, 40 years after he stood there and he said turn from your ways or you're going to bring destruction on yourself.
Speaker 1:40 years after this, what happened? The temple was destroyed. You know what happened to. The temple was destroyed. You know what happened to the people who were killed in the temple. They were thrown into the valley of Hinnom, because in the Old Testament times it was a pit of burning fire that bodies were thrown into, that sacrifices when they made sacrifices, and then, after the sacrifice, the animals were thrown into the pit of fire. They were thrown into this place, so a lot.
Speaker 1:You ever heard the saying that you know something, we know, we found out. Something's a lie, but it always starts somewhere in some truth. There's something there that gets it going. There was something that got it going. That was a real place where real bodies were thrown into. It really did happen. It don't look like dead bodies burning here now happened. It don't look like dead bodies burning here now. So what changed?
Speaker 1:In 70 AD, the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. History records that thousands of bodies were thrown into the valleys outside the city, including Gehenna. This was the very thing Jesus was warning them about. It actually happened. It wasn't a lie. He was warning them and said you're going to bring destruction upon yourself and upon this nation. He wasn't saying if you sin, you'll go to hell and burn forever. He was saying if you reject the way of peace, if you reject the kingdom, you're going to be bringing destruction upon yourself. So why was gehenna and sheol and hades and the lake of fire all called hell to begin with? That's a question that that we have to ask ourselves, and there's really three main reasons. It was because mistranslations in the early English Bible it was the blending of Jewish and pagan ideas in later theology and church tradition.
Speaker 1:Listen to this one because it's still happening today Church tradition overriding biblical context. Church tradition, that's what it is, because that's what granddaddy said it was, and granddaddy before him said that, and that pastor before him said that. So it's a tradition. There's nothing wrong with tradition. There's great tradition. But just because it's tradition don't mean it's truth. But these traditions, church traditions, have been passed down and they have overridden biblical context. Just like today it still happens. There's a lot of church traditions.
Speaker 1:People don't want to hear context because context disrupts their tradition. That's why people don't want to hear this message right here, the verses I'm reading. They don't want to hear because when they say, well, god said it. No, he didn't. He did not. He did not say that to you. He did not say that to humanity. He did not say that to humanity. He said that to a group of people in Israel in the first century Context. We have to look at it Much of the theology during the 14th century.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to give you a really, really quick. You could dive into this and get lost for a week. So I'm going to just narrow it down really quick. Much of the theology during the 14th century was shaped by Dante's Inferno. If you don't know what that is, study it. Dante's Inferno. Okay, what this was? It was the first part of a long poem called the Divine Comedy. You probably heard about this in school and history class, but you probably didn't think much about it when it comes to the Bible. But if you look it up and you look up Dante's Inferno and you look up the Divine Comedy I'm only just touching on a piece of it there is so much in there. It talks about purgatory. It talks about all these different words, biblical words. So much in there. He talks about purgatory. He talks about all these different words, biblical words. It's not really biblical that they come from Him and we turn them into theology. They're not theology.
Speaker 1:Even though the Inferno is fiction, it heavily, heavily influenced Roman Catholic teaching in the Middle Ages. This is history. You have to go back and study some of this. When you look at the Roman Catholic Church in the 14th century, their whole theology was messed up and a lot of it comes from this literature, this fiction poem that was written. It influenced art and literature. Pictures were drawn of a little red man with a pitchfork Stuff like that. There's literature out there that was written, the different levels that you go to. There's all kinds of stuff that you can get into. If you go back and just read the first part of Dante's Inferno, you'll see where a lot of this stuff comes from. Look at how many Christians today picture hell as fire and torture and demons. This is where it comes from. It's not in the Bible. It's not in the Bible. It's nowhere in the Bible. It comes from this teaching that was fiction in the 14th century. Study that on your own. Look at it, read it.
Speaker 1:Let me get back to Gehenna and Sheol and Hades and the lake of firemen I've got to finish this. Taught in here Over time these terms got smashed together into one frightening idea. But again, this doctrine of hell, where God tortures unbelievers forever, was never, ever taught by Jesus. That is a shock to some people and I know that. I believe that I see why, because 40 and 50 and 60 years of church tradition has told you otherwise. Jesus never used Gehenna Well. He actually used it as a wake-up call to the first century people. He never used it as a threat, never. That's what I love about the finished work. It makes fear obsolete. We're not trying to scare people.
Speaker 1:Another verse right here. I want you to see this 2 Corinthians 5 and 19. Did I tell you 1 Corinthians? I think I wrote 1 Corinthians. 2 Corinthians 5 and 19. God was in Christ reconciling we've read this so much reconciling the world to himself, not counting their sins against them. I would just love to go talk to some people who are so hellfire and brimstone led and just said can you explain this verse to me? Let's just talk about this one verse. It's not debate, let's not fight. Let's just talk about this one verse. It's not debate, let's not fight. Let's just talk about this one verse. He was in Christ. He was not separated from Christ. He was in Christ reconciling the world, everybody to Himself, not holding their sins against them.
Speaker 1:The cross did not postpone punishment, it absolutely removed it. It's not postponed until one day when we go and leave this earth. It's removed, according to the Word of God. The blood of Jesus didn't just appease the wrath of God. It revealed a love willing to forgive, no matter what. You ain't done nothing bad enough that what happened on the cross cannot forgive it.
Speaker 1:The resurrection wasn't God threatening judgment on us. It was God launching new creation and saying and not just for some, but for all. This is where it gets sticky at, this is where it gets problematic at, because people hear this and people hear about what you taught about and they say, wait a minute. He's saying all, oh no, I don't know about that. Jesus didn't rise from hell, rise from the grave to tell us now behave or burn. That wasn't his plan. He rose to say peace, it is finished, it's complete. Come home In Christ. All we use that word, come home in Christ All we use that word. Again, all are included.
Speaker 1:But not everyone has awakened to that. You can't change the words of the Bible. When it says all, it means all. You can't say that. Pastor, you're looking too much like a universalist. You ain't preaching the gospel. Well, I guess Paul didn't either, because in 1 Corinthians, 15 and 22, he says as in Adam all died, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Speaker 1:See, the gospel is not an ultimatum. It's an announcement that your sins are not being held against you. I just read the verse that God's wrath being held against you. I just read the verse that God's wrath was never against you, that love has conquered death and that you are included in the life of God, now and forever. That's the good news, that's the gospel. This is the message that burns away hell, because when perfect love is revealed, what does perfect love cast out? Fear. When perfect love is revealed, fear has no other place left. It's got to go, just like when it's dark in here and we light a light, darkness has to go. So let me end with this. We're talking about hell.
Speaker 1:I can't leave out fire. Hebrews 12 and 29. You've got to see this verse Powerful, for our God is a consuming fire. This is the only fire you need to worry about. He is a consuming fire, but he doesn't just consume people. As a matter of fact, he don't consume people. I don't worship a God who takes life. I worship a God who gives life. I worship a God who gives life. He says I've given life in a more abundant. He don't take life. He consumes everything that isn't love. This is the only fire that you need to focus on the fire of God that heals, that refines and that restores. That's what the fire is about. Fires are not about punishment. It's about refinement and restoration.
Speaker 1:Remember the title of today's message Rethinking Hell in Light of Love. So this is just a thought right here. Just a thought. Maybe the real hell is holding on to a lie, that you've been separated when you've really been included all along. That could be hell. Living a life like that. Maybe the only torment Really been included all along that could be hell. Living a life like that. Maybe the only torment is living outside, not realizing that you're already in. And maybe, just maybe, salvation isn't about escaping flames, but awakening to the truth of your identity, Truly seeing yourself, the truth of your identity, truly seeing yourself the way God sees you. Maybe, instead of trying to instill fear in people, we just need to simply look at them and say come home, come home, come back to who you are.
Speaker 1:If God is exactly like Jesus and we read the verses, so it's either the Bible lied or it's telling the truth. I believe it's telling the truth. If God is like Jesus and Jesus forgave and Jesus embraced and Jesus restored, then your seat at the table is already set. Hell is not your destiny. Fear is not your invitation. Love is Because God is love. Therefore, jesus, because he's just like me. He's the image of God. He is love. Last verse Matthew 11 and 28. I promised you last week, I'm at the end here. Come to me, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. I will give you rest, I will give you rest, thank you. That's the real gospel, that's the finished work, that's the finished work, that's Jesus and that's what God has always, always been like.
Speaker 1:So I did something a little weird. But after I read that, I said man, that's so good. It wasn't because I wrote it. I didn't actually write it. I took all the verses that I looked at. I'm man, that's so good. It wasn't because I wrote it. I didn't actually write it. I took all the verses that I looked at and I took all the.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, I've been studying on this for months, trying to figure out how to put this together, and I took all the verses and different things that I've been looking at and I said I put it in the chat GPT, and I said tell me, if Jesus were standing before us right now, what would he say about the doctrine of hell that we teach? Listen to this. This is what Jesus would say. You've created a theology of torment that I never taught. You've turned a warning about an earthly event into a threat of eternal wrath. But I came to heal, to restore and to awaken you to the kingdom within.
Speaker 1:Hell has no place in the lives of those who walk in love. Hell is fueled by fear, but love drives out fear. We've taken a warning that was meant to wake people up and we've turned it into a weapon that drives people away. We've made hell the center of our message, when God's message was always love. The good news isn't about escaping hell or escaping punishment. It's about waking up, remembering your true identity in Christ, understanding your union with Him and realizing that being separated from Him was always a lie. It was never truth. You've never been separated.
Speaker 1:Me and Ronnie talked about this this morning the only separation is when I walk away. I'm still not separated because he's hidden, but mentally I can distance myself from the things that I know, kind of like the prodigal son did. He knew who he was, but he started being somebody else. He distanced himself from what he really was. We can do that, but God never left us. He's one with us, he's in us. He said I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you. But we have turned this thing around and messed it up to scare people, and we do it. I'm not saying we're being mean by doing it and we do it. I'm not saying we're being mean by doing it. We do it with good conscience Because we think we're saving them. So we do it with a good intent. But good intent ain't always right. I can do some really bad things with good intention. I've done that in my whole life and, man, I'm telling you, I've justified it too. We do that. That's what we're doing with this word right here. We turn it around