Hell-fire preaching?

Today I am going to answer another question regarding evangelism.

 

 

I would begin by noting that having a culture oversaturated with ‘religion’ has very little to do with the preaching of the true Gospel. The vast majority of people have never heard a clear presentation (directed at them!) of why they need a Savior. They have never been made to look into the mirror of the Law of God to see their diseased state and their need of forgiveness. And without an understanding of their sin and their helpless state before God, they will never rightly understand the Gospel. As Charles Spurgeon so aptly stated, “They will never accept grace until they tremble before a just and holy law.”

 

Second, I would say that it not only “feels useless to warn people of hell-fire”, but it is useless!

 

Let me explain by quoting Ray Comfort,

 

“Now saints, I’m not talking about hell-fire preaching. Hell-fire preaching will produce fear-filled converts. Using God’s law will produce tear-filled converts. This one comes because why? He wants to escape the fires of hell. But in his heart, he thinks God is harsh and unjust, because the law hasn’t been used to show him the exceeding sinful nature of sin. He doesn’t see hell as being his just desert, that he deserves hell. Therefore, he doesn’t understand mercy or grace; and, therefore, he lacks gratitude to God for His mercy.”

 

We shouldn’t be preaching a message of hell-fire to sinners. We should be helping them to come to understand “the exceeding sinful nature of sin” (Rom 7:13) so that they see hell as being what they deserve. Then, and only then, will they be able to truly appreciate the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross! If I don’t think that I have done anything bad enough to deserve hell, then Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for me will seem foolishness and superfluous.

 

As far as the idea that preaching hell-fire “has often pushed (people) further away from the gospel”, that may or may not be true, depending on how you look at it.

 

If a person is warned about hell, without an explanation of why they deserve to go there, then they might rightly be offended and pushed farther away from the person that shared that with them. However, they are not being pushed further away from the actual gospel, only from the misreprentation of it; ie, “you’re going to hell”.

 

When the true Gospel does come to them (along with the necessary explanations about sin and judgement), it will make hell and Jesus’ sacrifice make sense, and hopefully lead the person to a godly sorrow for sins that leads to repentance and faith in Christ, who “died to redeem us from every lawless deed”.