“Preach Hell”
By Trevin Wax on Feb 8, 2010 in Preaching | 
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How do you perform deeds of mercy and keep a strong emphasis on proclaiming the gospel?
D.A. Carson offers one suggestion:
Ideally, the place to start is with ministers themselves who know what the gospel is and who are faithful to it in their preaching and teaching.
In our day and age, we get a lot more credit in the press if we work with a whole lot of people to overcome poverty or open a pantry. But if we preach the gospel and say that only in Christ can men and women be reconciled to God, then the popular press views us as right-wing bigots and narrow-minded fundamentalists and all the rest. So obviously there is social pressure on us to emphasize the first and not the latter.
I will not soon forget a Gospel Coalition member who said, “I’ll tell you how to fix the problem. Preach hell.”
We looked at him. This particular chap is known for his bluntness. We wondered: How does that answer the question? How do you preserve gospel faithfulness while doing deeds of social mercy? We knew this chap. He is into racial integration in his church. He is very concerned about these things. How do you keep those things from swamping the whole direction of the church?
“Preach hell!”
So we asked him to explain. He said, “In the first instance, as long as you are still preaching the wrath of God against all rebellion and all sin, then you are preserving in your own mind and in the consciousness of believers in the church, that you are interested in the relief of suffering both in time and eternity. You start fudging on that corner and you lose that eternal dimension.”
“Preach hell.”
Then he said, “At the practical level, as long as you are preaching hell and the way to escape hell through responding by the strength that God gives through the Spirit to the gospel, to what God has done in the person of his Son, in repentance and faith… As long as you are still preaching hell and the need to be saved from hell, then a lot of the broader, quasi-liberal social justice crowd don’t want anything to do with you. And that preserves you as well.”
Preach hell.
- from “Proclaiming the Gospel and Performing Deeds of Mercy”
© Copyright by Trevin Wax | Print This Post | Share (Twitter, Email, Facebook)
How often should one “Preach Hell.”
Tom Parker | Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
I wonder how Carson feels about C.S. Lewis’ attempt to understand hell in “The Great Divorce”. I have a strong feeling that this is not the kind of hell he would like us to preach!
Josh | Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
Great post, as usual! It occurs to me that for some people in this world, the consequences of sin (either their own or someone else’s) have already become hellish enough, that when we preach Hell we are speaking to their own experiences far more than we could possibly know. I’m thinking here of those who are enslaved by alcoholism, drug abuse, all sorts of addictions, domestic violence, street violence, extreme poverty, or exploitation by those who control them. There is plenty of Hell here on earth, if we have eyes to see.
Right now, all around the world, there are people going through abuses that we could not even imagine, who are crying out for Someone to have mercy on them. Our problem is that we prefer to insulate ourselves from real suffering, which makes us blind to those situations where the Gospel really finds its truest meaning. We need to stop wrapping ourselves in cotton wool and pretending we are already in Heaven, when so many people need to be plucked from the jaws of Hell!
Paul Clutterbuck | Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
Why can’t we simply focus on the one supreme preaching emphasis that the New Testament teaches – the preaching of the CROSS?
All the elements are already there: Love, self-giving sacrifice, caring more about others than yourself, the realities of sin, evil, brokenness that are dealt with in justice and judgment, rescuing us from not only from alienation and eternal separation from God but also a self-centered way of living!
Josh | Feb 8, 2010 | Reply
I’d say preach Christ and him crucified alone and you’ll be fine. Yes, hell is important but that can be integrated into the preaching of Christ and better yet, keeps the focus where it needs to be: on Christ.
Brian | Feb 9, 2010 | Reply