As we spend a moment or two considering the question, a couple of things pop into mind. First, there is the implication that there are some things in God’s Word which are difficult to grasp. It doesn’t matter if you are a disciple, a teacher of the law, or a babe in Christ, there are doctrines and principles which are extremely difficult. And what might be difficult for one disciple to understand, might be easier for another. But another lesson here is that the Lord Jesus appears to want us to understand. No matter what our position might be, we are under the obligation to pray, apply ourselves, and seek to learn all that we can learn of the things of God. Through our knowledge and the application of what we learn, we bring glory to our Saviour. Since that is our appointed task in life, then we need to grasp and to share the great gifts of God. When the disciples replied that they did understand these parables, they were being honest as far as they knew their own hearts. But that doesn’t mean that they fully understood or that there wasn’t more to learn on these subjects.
The Lord Jesus then replied with one final parable – a kind of addendum to the day. “Then said he unto them, Therefore every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old.” When the Lord used the word “scribe” in this case, He was not talking about the scribes and Pharisees. This time he was speaking about His own disciples – or you might say – He was talking about you and me. In chapter 23 the Lord will tell the multitude: “Wherefore, behold I send unto prophets, and wise men, and scribes” – talking about His disciples and apostles. Sadly, Jesus went on, “and some them ye shall kill and crucify, and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city.” Here the King was saying that the messengers of the Kingdom of Heaven – His scribes – would bring with them both old things and new. That takes us back to our message from a week ago – God’s prophets – may bring something brand new to our attention, or it may be the reiteration of something old and well-known. With either old or new, he is still the prophet of God, if he is disseminating the message of Jehovah.
That, my friend, is my job, your job – our job – to open up our jewelry boxes and share with our neighbors the treasure which we have found hidden in the field. We are to let the world see the pearl beyond price which the Lord has given to us. We are to share the abundant harvest of fish that has been caught. Some things will be relatively new to many ears – while other things will be older than the hills. Using that as incentive to go back to an often preached subject – but one which has come up again in this chapter. Other than just to mention it, we have not spent more than a couple moments on it thus far, but I can’t leave the chapter without addressing it once again.
Last Wednesday we sang an old Christian song, which wasn’t found in our recently retired hymnals. The hymn is called “The Old Fashioned Way,” and it fits into the two verses of our scripture quite well. The Lord’s scribes are to carry both new treasure and old. The lyrics of that hymn go like this: “They call me old-fashioned because I believe – That the Bible is God’s holy Word, That Jesus, who lived among men long ago – Is divine, and the Christ of God. My sin was old-fashioned – My guilt was old-fashioned – God’s love was old-fashioned, I know. And the way I was saved was the old-fashioned way – Through the blood that makes whiter than snow. Old-fashioned, because I believe and accept – Only what has been spoken from Heavn; Old-fashioned because at the cross I was saved – At the cross had my sins forgivn. Old-fashioned, because I am bound to do right – To walk in the straight narrow way; Because I have given my whole life to God – Old-fashioned because I pray. Old-fashioned, because I am looking above – To Jesus, my glorified Lord; Because I believe He is coming again – Fulfilling His holy Word.” As I suggested four days ago, there is at least one thing missing from that hymn, so I’ve added a verse of my own. I am – “old-fashioned, because I believe what Christ said – There’s a terrible place that’s called Hell; Old-fashioned because knowing sinners without grace – will spend forever in pain unquelled.”
If there is anything which defines me as an “old fashioned” scribe of God – it is the doctrine of Hell. It is a doctrine and subject which is foreign to a great many so-called “modern Christian ministries.” But that is not the way it ought to be – Hell is as Christian as Heaven. The word “hell” is not to be found anywhere in this chapter of parables, but the principle is there. And once again, if the doctrine was not taught elsewhere in the scriptures, then perhaps we shouldn’t be on this subject this morning as we look at Matthew 13. Bible doctrines should never be built on what is gleaned from parables. But the truth is – these parables make sense only because the doctrine is clearly taught elsewhere.
Verse 24 – “The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. The servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.”
Jesus said to His disciples in verse 37 – “He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind: Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
Let me describe once again, in very simple terms, the ABCs of divine punishment.
Christ AFFIRMS – reaffirms – that rebellion in the Kingdom of Heaven will not go unpunished.
The Bible teaches that there will be personal judgment against all who rebel against the Lord. “Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” Jesus Christ shall come “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The Bible affirms judgment against sin, and it affirms the existence of Hell and the Lake of Fire as the place where the final stages of that judgment will be executed. “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” To forget or ignore God – is a part of mans’ rebellion within the Kingdom of God. “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” “And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” The Bible with absolute clarity affirms the reality of eternal punishment for sin in the Lake of Fire.
Laying aside what He has us by way of these parables, the One who was most intimately acquainted with Heaven, warned us most emphatically about Hell. Not even six months ago, I preached a message on Hell from Matthew 10:28 – “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” And months before that I preached from our Lord’s Sermon on the Mount – “And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.” It is better to go through life severely crippled than to spend sixty-seconds in Hell. I could read Christ’s warnings about Hell of from Matthew 18 and Matthew 23 and Matthew 24. The Lord Jesus spends a great deal of time affirming the reality of Hell. Don’t for a moment permit the lies of Satan to rob you of the truth that God has reserved eternal judgment for those who die outside the Lord’s saving grace.
That is the affirmation of Hell, but let me move on to its BREADTH – it is bad – very, very bad.
Not just in the different accounts of Jesus’ one message, but actually in several messages, Christ declared that a MAIMED BODY is infinitely better than a few moments in Hell. One of my few cousins, Judy McDermit, has a terrible, terrible disease called “myelitis gravis.” Judy is crippled up in a great many different ways – hands, back, internal organs, fingers, tongue, just about every part of her body. But I believe that my tiny, crippled up cousin is a child of God. And I wouldn’t be a bit surprised to hear her mechanically assisted voice say that she would endure her myelitis a second time if it would end in God’s glory through salvation by grace. Christ Jesus and cousin Judy would both say that hell is infinitely worse than a maimed and crippled body. The God-ordained retribution for sin cannot be compared to any pain or disease experienced in this life.
And hell is infinitely worse than living in the most wicked or terrible place on earth. When Judy, my wife, and I were on missionary deputation we traveled across the United States visiting a great many towns and cities. I have to be honest, there were a few places which seemed to be so evil and dangerous, we couldn’t get out of them quickly enough. I am sure that the Lord can change people’s hearts and minds, but He would have to do that to make me live in some of those places that I’ve visited – and some others about which I have heard. And yet there is no place on earth to be compared to the godlessness of Hell. Jehovah can make the desert bloom and turn the Arctic into a warm and wonderful paradise. But He can also turn a paradise into a hell. He can cause a volcano to grow up under a major city, or create a sink hole that can swallow a wicked man’s house and send that man into eternity. How would you like to live among murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers and perpetual liars – the denizens of the Lake of Fire as described in Revelation 21:8. Would you enjoy your neighborhood if you know that next door there lived, a covetous, thieving, adulterous homosexual – as described in I Corinthians 6:9?
Hell is worse than being drowned with a millstone tied to your feet. It is worse than being buried alive or slowly burned alive. No man-made torture, holocaust or drug-caused malady can even come close to what God has prepared for them who reject Him. The Lake of Fire is the ultimate place of misery, pan, anguish and insanity. The Bible says that the misery of Hell is so severe that a single drop of water would ease its pain.
The severity of Hell is to be seen in its CAUSE – its CREATOR.
Jehovah is not the horrific monster that are to be seen in the Greek tragedies and myths. The God of the Bible is not to be compared to the deities of the South Pacific, or Central American demanding the sacrifice of children to volcanos or torture. When God acts on His own spontaneity, it is with holiness and love – creation, His covenants, the incarnation – salvation. But when the holy God views the sin and rebellion of His creation – He deals in wrath, anger and holy judgment. Sin makes God show His might. “Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are not gods? Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The Lord.” The Lake of Fire is God’s demonstration of righteous indignation. “He that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.”
Hell was created by the omnipotent and righteous God for the Satan and his devils. Although God is its creator, in a sense the responsibility for our internment, or interment, is our own. In three separate books by three different penmen God has prophesied – “Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.” “According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.” “For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.”
What is your relationship to Jehovah at this moment. We come into this world as children of rebels, and with the seeds rebellion already in our hearts. Your birth was in trespasses and sins. Even David confessed, “I was born in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me.” By way of your natural birth you are an alien in God’s kingdom, and the situation hasn’t improved unless the Lord improved it Himself. You may sin often or seldom, but the fact remains that you are sinner – a tare, a rotten fish. You shall be cast into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. How shall you escape if you escape the Lord’s so great salvation. “The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” “So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”
The AB – C of the Hell is its Creator – Jehovah.
The D of the Lake of Fire is to be seen in its DURATION.
Without trying to get to technical, “hades” or “hell” are of a relatively short duration. I’m not an heretic – the Bible clearly teaches that Hell will be consumed by the Lake of Fire. Revelation 20:14 – “Death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” The meaning is that all of those who are dead and residing in hell at the end of Revelation 20 shall be cast into the Lake of Fire for all of eternity. That will be the end of Hell, but not the end God’s eternal judgment.
Hades is temporary, but hell as it is commonly pictured – the lake of fire is eternal. The fowl, the tares, the garbage fish of Jesus’ parables will be punished forever. I know that one of these parables speaks of a “furnace” of fire, but remember that this is a parable. I can’t think of an illustration which can speak of the eternality of fiery punishment. But the Bible says that the wicked shall go away into everlasting punishment – Matthew 25:46. That punishment is as eternal as God or as Christ – the same word is used to describe hell as to describe the eternal God.
It would require the death of God in order to douse the flames of the Lake of Fire.
Stretching my ABC as far as E – think for a moment about ESCAPE.
I said that it would require the death of God before the flames of that Lake could be doused. The death of God is an impossibility – deity cannot die – life is defined by the existence of God. The death of God would mean the end of all things. There will never be any escape from the Lake of Fire – not by flight nor by consumption.
But there is another sense in which the death of God CAN mean escape from Hell. The same One who was teaching about the flames and pains of the furnace of fire, a few months later died. Christ Jesus, God the Son, the incarnate Son of God, was taken by the permission of His Father and was nailed to a cross. That crucifixion was by the design and permission of Jehovah in order to create a few treasures, pearls and yellow-fin tuna. By the sacrificial death of Christ some of the sinful garbage in God’s kingdom has been transformed – transfigured; born again into treasure in the sight of the Lord. “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Are you listening? Do you have ears to hear the whole story? Escape from Hell and from the punishment that your sins deserve is a possibility. How can you know that you are one of the Lord’s exquisite pearls? Repent and turn to the Lord, acknowledging and confessing that you are worth of Hell. And reach out in faith to Christ Jesus – the One who gave His life as a ransom for many. Christ has redeemed many of us from the curse (of Hell) being made a curse for us – on our behalf. And whosoever believeth on Him, clinging to His mercy, shall be saved from the eternal wrath of God. Escape – pre-escape – from Hell is possible by the grace and mercy of God. Once entered, no one will ever be released from God’ eternal judgment. But there is a way to avoid entering that judgment in the first place. Repent before God and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.