Larry Ray Hafley
"Daddy," the little boy whispered, "he said the 'H' word!" The word was
"hell," and the preacher was the one who said it--from the pulpit.
It is good that a young child realizes that the word "hell" may be used as a
"bad word." It is sad that many people rarely hear the word "hell" properly used
in a sermon. Unfortunately, "hell" is better known to the world as an adjective
than as a noun! Or, if it is used as a noun, it is used when people are angry
and want to curse the destiny of another.
Hell is not, in its true sense, a curse word. It is, as Cled Wallace once
described it, "a lake of fire and brimstone and without modern conveniences."
The Lord Jesus spoke more about hell than any other person in the New Testament.
Not once did he speak of it in a "positive" way (Matt. 5:22; 23:33; Mk.
9:42-50). He always employed it in a "negative" manner, which surely must offend
the gentle senses of snobbish religionists and sneering modernists in every
age.
Today, silk suited sermonizers sweetly intone the tender mercy and gentle
grace of God. With an actor's dramatic tears, (never mentioning damnation's
deepest fears), they weepingly speak the soothing words of salvation. But
salvation from what?!
They never tell us. If men reject the wooing word of eternal salvation, there
is the withering word of everlasting damnation (Matt. 10:32, 33; Mk. 8:38; Lk.
13:3, 5; Jn. 8:24; 12:48; Acts 13:46; 24:25). Somehow, though, some finely
tailored and well manicured men avoid the topic of "hell fire." However, nearly
twenty centuries ago a certain uncouth and crude preacher and prophet did not
ignore the consequences of unbelief and disobedience (Isa. 53:2, 3). He plainly
spoke of the reward of unrighteousness, the pain and penalty of sin. Dare we do
any less?
It is past time that pulpits of today were aflame with the shame of hell
(Dan. 12:2). Assuredly, we must tell men of God's goodness, kindness, mercy, and
grace, but we must also tell them that "our God is a consuming fire," and that
"it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb. 10:31;
12:29). The man who is devoid of either one or the other is not a preacher of
love, grace, and mercy as defined by the word of God. "Good words and fair
speeches" were not words used to describe the work of preachers sent of God
(Rom. 16:18)! Therefore, let pulpits glow with the splendor and soft hues of the
love of God, but let them also be ablaze with the harsh horrors of the doomed
and the damned "in the fire that never shall be quenched" (Mk. 9:45). True love
impels and compels both sides of the eternal equation.
When the hope of heaven and the horror of hell are both revered and feared,
perhaps then children will not think the preacher has "cussed" when he speaks of
hell and earnestly encourages sinful men to accept the love and grace of
God.
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