Why Do People Deserve Hell?

As we discussed 2 Timothy 2:1-7 on Wednesday night, someone asked, "Why do people deserve hell?" We were talking about 2 Timothy 2:1 where Paul tells Timothy to, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," (NIV) and we examined the process of Reflecting on the gospel, Repenting of our sins, Reconciling with God and others, and Reaching Out to pass the Truth on. Confusion about God's justice inevitably comes up when we are confronted with the Truth from Scripture that we cannot earn God's favor but only receive His grace and mercy through acknowledging our sin and repenting of our rebellion.

Well, that is probably just about as clear as mud for those who do not know that much about the Doctrine of Total Depravity. The term total depravity is a big Bible word which means, most simply, that we are not Jesus. Let us look at Romans for a minute. Paul wrote Romans, a letter to the church at Rome, and if anyone knew why men cannot be good without Jesus' help, he did. Paul used to be named Saul, and he killed Christians for a living before Jesus saved him (Acts 9). Paul writes in his letter to the church in Rome, "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23, NIV). Because we are sinners (rebels against God's authority in our lives), Paul writes again, "the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23, NIV). In the next chapter, Paul writes about his own issues with sin in his life, "I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do...I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it" (excerpts from Romans 7:14-20, NIV).

Basically, all those quotes from Paul are pointing us to the same Truth from Scripture about man: we are not morally neutral. We are born into a rebellious attitude, and even if we try to do good things, the good is stained like ink in water by our natural tendency to want independence from God. God, therefore, is just when He rejects us, because we first reject Him and His love by our rebellious lifestyles.

Tomorrow, I will write more about this question of why people deserve hell, and why God is absolutely right when He condemns people to an eternity of suffering if they do not repent of sin and trust in Jesus in this life.

A final story from the International Mission Board (IMB) magazine:

Article: "Through Christ, young women find way off the street"

When Maria was a young girl, she moved to Guayaquil - the largest city in Ecuador. There she was forced to grow up quickly.

Her father was an abusive alcoholic, so she left home, intending to live with her grandmother in another city. By the time she was in her early teens, she was lost to a world of drugs, alcohol, jail and prostitution.

Then, someone invited her to church. Not interested at first, she held on to her worldly lifestyle. Some believers continued to invite her to church and told her about God's love and forgiveness through Jesus Christ. She eventually gave her life to Christ.

Maria says, "Jesus filled the emptiness of my heart and changed my life completely. My old life is in the past."

Now she is married and works in a vegetable market. She also helps local mission workers tell young women on the street about Jesus.

One of the local missionaries says, "For most, no one has ever told them they love them or told them God loves them."
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For questions about today's devotion or for prayer requests, please e-mail us @ wfbcyouth@gmail.com.