Fear and the Gospel
May 14, 2008 6:32 pm Blogs
So last Sunday’s sermon was probably the gnarliest sermon, subject matter wise, I have ever preached. No matter how you put it, “vessels of wrath, prepared for destruction (Romans 9:22),” just doesn’t sit well in your stomach. When it comes to this subject, hell, either preachers tend to seize it like its candy and they yell and scream and treat it like it gives them some sort of right to be jerks to people…or preachers tend to totally avoid it and reason it away with things like universalism, annhilationism, or arminianism. What is the proper biblical view of the use of fear and hell in preaching the gospel? To that question I offer the following answers.
Some would say it is manipulative and wrong to try and scare people into believing in Jesus. Interestingly, John H. Gerstner wrote a chapter called “Justifying a Scare Theology” in his book, Jonathan Edwards, Evangelist. In it he makes several four great points. Here they are:
1. There is a natural uneasiness with the subject of hell (Pr.29:25). One of the principle things which makes one lost is thinking there will be no punishment (Gen.3:4). The consideration of hell is actually one of the first things which tends to rouse sleeping sinners. Gerstner quotes Edwards here, “Natural men cannot see anything of God’s loveliness, his amiable and glorious grace, or any thing which should attract their love, but they may see his terrible greatness to excite their terror…and be made sensible of the terrible majesty of God.”
2. Some talk of it as an unreasonable thing to fright persons to heaven, but I think it is a reasonable thing to endeavor to fright persons away from hell. They stand upon its brink, and are just ready to fall into it, and are senseless of their danger. Is it not a reasonable thing to fright a person out of a house of fire? Or is it not the duty of a parent to warn their child running toward the edge of a cliff?
3. There are two varieties of fear, a right and a wrong fear of God. Gerstner quotes Edwards again, “Those that have a sinful fear of God fear God as evil but a right fear fears him as great and excellent. A sinful fear makes men afraid to come to God. A right fear makes men afraid to go [away] from him. A right fear of God fears not experiencing the love of Jesus and being close to him.
4. All men want to avoid pain and cultivate pleasure. The gospel does not deny us pleasures but on the contrary brings legitimate ones which heighten pleasure rather than destroy it because it comes with reason and conscience in harmony. On the contrary the wicked man enjoys his pleasure at war with himself. True faith in Christ is not a mere desperate or nominal acceptance of him as a ticket out of hell, but a genuine, affectionate trust in him for the very loveliness and excellency of his being.
It is these guiding principles that despite the difficulty of the topic, have given me great confidence as a preacher preaching God’s Holy Word. Jonathan Edwards is best known for his sermon, “Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God.” Because of that sermon many caricature him as an angry, hellfire and brimstone, people hating, sourpuss. Few have ever actually read the sermon or anything else Edwards wrote. I’d encourage you to give it a read, CLICK HERE and notice how much the subjects of joy and mercy is constantly woven in-between its lines.
It has been a great goal of mine to learn much from Edwards the Evangelist. When you read him and really read him, two things have stuck out to me. One, his puritan practice of estimating what is going to be hard for his hearers to hear, knowing what the knee jerk reactions to God’s word will be from people. I have learned from Edwards that sometimes, just acknowledging that a passage is difficult and that some people may think such and such when they hear it, actually goes a long way. Once you have identified where a person is at in their thinking, then you have a beginning point to try and take them from. In many ways, you’ve already won them over, so that even if they have difficulty with your conclusion, they will follow you because you were concerned for what they were thinking. In addition, it help teach people to believe the Bible no matter what it says, even when it is hard.
Second, I have learned grace and compassion from Edwards. He longed for people to see and know the love of Christ. In the entire body of his works he probably talks more about heaven and joy and pleasure than he does hell. And the grace of the gospel was always his conclusion. He never said anything out of spite or meanness or an attempt to misuse the Bible or manipulate people, he spoke of out a genuine care. I have learned that if you tell someone a hard thing but tell them you only say it because you love them, that too goes a long way and they will stop and think whether they really ought to then listen to you. The love and pleasure of God is always the goal, Edwards wrote a whole book on that! “The End for Which God Created the World.”
So is it right to preach about hell. Hell yes it is. Is it wrong to avoid it or to use it to mistreat people. Yes, and painfully so. Let us as followers of Jesus not shy away from the topic of hell but present it lovingly and fearfully so that sinners might flee to the redemption provided for in the gospel.
- Pastor Duane
Here is a link to the complete works of Jonathan Edwards. He is difficult to read at times, but is well worth the mining. Works 1 and Works 2
I would suggest the following books contained in the collected works:
- Concerning the Divine Decrees (The most solid thing I have ever read on theodicy [the problem of evil].)
- Religious Affections (The joy and pleasure of the true Christian)
- The End for Which God Created the World (How and why it is important that God does everything for his own glory.)