Why Hell Exists
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | Why has God determined it appropriate
00:00:08.680 | to establish an eternal unending judgment?
00:00:12.560 | And what is the one main sin it is designed to punish?
00:00:16.360 | And how are we all made so guilty
00:00:18.920 | that this punishment is appropriate
00:00:20.800 | and fitting for every human being
00:00:23.400 | who is separated from Christ?
00:00:25.040 | It's into this very heavy but essential question
00:00:28.180 | we find the answer in Romans chapter one.
00:00:30.880 | The following clip is from a sermon John Piper delivered
00:00:32.960 | last year in England at Revive,
00:00:35.120 | a weekend conference
00:00:35.960 | of the Commission Church Planning Network.
00:00:38.240 | Here's what Pastor John had to say.
00:00:40.000 | - We never, we never leave God
00:00:45.600 | because we value him little.
00:00:47.600 | We also exchange God because we value something else more.
00:00:55.600 | Let me say that again, nobody leaves God,
00:01:00.600 | forsakes God, abandons God, suppresses God,
00:01:03.520 | turns away from God simply because they value him little.
00:01:08.520 | We always turn away from God
00:01:13.040 | because we value something else more,
00:01:15.280 | which is why it is such a cosmic insult
00:01:20.280 | and infinite outrage.
00:01:23.320 | This is the infinite outrage in the universe
00:01:28.200 | that human beings prefer something else to God.
00:01:33.200 | So here we are at verse 22,
00:01:36.200 | claiming to be wise, they became fools, and here it comes.
00:01:41.200 | They exchanged the glory of God,
00:01:45.680 | the immortal God, for images.
00:01:49.520 | They became fools and exchanged the glory of God for images.
00:01:54.520 | Now just think that through 'cause you've all done it
00:01:59.280 | and we're tempted to do it every day.
00:02:01.560 | To exchange something for something
00:02:05.200 | means to express a preference, right?
00:02:09.320 | You don't exchange something you value supremely
00:02:12.360 | for something you value less, never.
00:02:16.880 | You always exchange something
00:02:20.180 | for something that you want instead of it.
00:02:22.540 | You don't want that, you want the other thing.
00:02:25.080 | That's what exchange means, I want the other thing.
00:02:28.080 | And everybody does that with God.
00:02:30.480 | We look at his glory, we look at his power,
00:02:34.440 | we look at his wisdom, we look at his beneficence,
00:02:37.840 | and we don't say thank you, we don't say you're great,
00:02:40.160 | we say I am going to trade you
00:02:43.040 | for something that I really want.
00:02:46.160 | That is why hell exists, because it is an infinite sin.
00:02:51.160 | You can't do anything worse.
00:02:55.360 | There's nothing worse that can be done.
00:02:58.580 | Sins are simply expressions of that.
00:03:03.460 | Sins get all of their evil from that, that's evil.
00:03:07.560 | What we call evil, hurting each other,
00:03:09.960 | that's just little, little expressions of that.
00:03:15.400 | All the rottenness that we do to each other
00:03:19.440 | is deriving its rottenness from the ultimate rot
00:03:22.880 | of exchanging God, saying that the infinite creator
00:03:27.880 | and the most beautiful reality in the universe,
00:03:31.320 | I don't want you, I don't prefer you,
00:03:34.000 | you're not attractive to me, you're not satisfying to me,
00:03:37.120 | I get no pleasure from you, this is my desire,
00:03:40.920 | this is my treasure.
00:03:42.940 | That is evil, that's the meaning of evil.
00:03:46.360 | And all other evils get their evil from that,
00:03:49.640 | including the evils of money, sex, and power,
00:03:52.580 | which Paul is going to make crystal clear.
00:03:57.480 | The deepest problem that we're dealing with
00:03:59.860 | behind money, behind sex, and behind power
00:04:03.720 | is that we all know the supreme value of God.
00:04:08.560 | We do, everybody does.
00:04:11.200 | Everybody you'll ever talk to, atheist, skeptic, agnostic,
00:04:16.200 | secularist, new age, whatever religion,
00:04:21.120 | everybody knows the truth, namely,
00:04:24.800 | God is supremely valuable,
00:04:29.000 | and everybody prefers something to God.
00:04:32.680 | Adam and Eve thought they were doing a wise thing
00:04:38.000 | when they preferred their way and this fruit
00:04:42.680 | over God and His way, and they became fools
00:04:47.680 | and were darkened in their understanding,
00:04:50.560 | and we've inherited that all the way
00:04:54.200 | down to the roots of our being.
00:04:57.740 | There are two kinds of heart condition in the world,
00:05:00.680 | the one that values God overall,
00:05:04.160 | and the one that values something else overall.
00:05:07.120 | The main issue you're gonna be facing
00:05:08.720 | as we are meeting together here
00:05:11.400 | is whether your hearts are treasuring God supremely
00:05:16.400 | above everything else.
00:05:19.160 | I mean everything evil and everything good.
00:05:22.280 | All the good things God has given you,
00:05:24.400 | all the evil things the devil is tempting you with,
00:05:28.120 | and I'm saying that more than the good things
00:05:31.120 | and more than the evil things, is God your treasure?
00:05:34.740 | Is God your satisfaction?
00:05:36.640 | Is God your delight?
00:05:39.240 | Because if He is, money, sex, and power
00:05:43.440 | will turn into remarkable potentials in your life.
00:05:47.260 | And if He's not, money, sex, and power
00:05:50.880 | will become unbelievably destructive in your hands.
00:05:55.880 | - Wow, that is powerful.
00:05:58.100 | This message was delivered last summer
00:06:00.160 | in a series titled Living in the Light
00:06:02.120 | with Money, Sex, and Power,
00:06:03.320 | four-part series, three messages, and a Q&A.
00:06:06.080 | This clip was taken from the first message,
00:06:08.040 | and they are all on our site at DesiringGod.org.
00:06:11.880 | Those messages, of course, became the new book,
00:06:14.200 | Living in the Light, Money, Sex, and Power,
00:06:16.520 | a nice little hardcover available now at Amazon
00:06:19.400 | and downloadable free of charge
00:06:21.000 | at DesiringGod.org/books.
00:06:24.320 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:06:25.440 | Thanks for listening to the Ask Pastor John podcast
00:06:27.480 | with author and longtime pastor, John Piper.
00:06:30.200 | We'll see you tomorrow.
00:06:31.300 | (upbeat music)
00:06:33.880 | (upbeat music)
00:06:36.460 | [BLANK_AUDIO]