Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Luke 12:27-48 | Date: July 28, 2019 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Open your Bibles with me, if you will please, to Luke chapter 12. Let me say that it is, even though I spent last week in the Caribbean, it is good to be back with you. We had a wonderful time away together. I would like also to add my welcome to Mr. and Mrs. Nick Martin, their first time with us as a couple. And I think I saw Bill Lee come in, right? Bill and Janet are both here today. It is great to have you back, Bill. That is really, really great. We thank the Lord for the healing you’ve had so far. We hope it will continue.

In our evening series, I have been going through the doctrine of the biblical teaching on life after death. And we have come to the point of dealing with the judgment of the lost. In our morning series, I have been going through Daniel, but as Pastor Greg mentioned, I’ll be away now for a work vacation in August. So I didn’t want to begin Daniel chapter 11 without being able to finish it soon. So we’ll put that off till I return. But I wanted to continue the series that we’ve been doing now in the evenings on the subject of life after death and what comes after death. And we have come at this point to the judgment of the lost, and we’ll look at that.

Luke chapter 12, let’s begin reading with verse 37.

Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at the table, and he will come and serve them. If he comes in the second watch or in the third and finds them awake, blessed are those servants. But know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have left his house to be broken into. You also must be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

Peter said, Lord, are you telling this parable for us or for all? The Lord said, who then is the faithful and wise manager whom his master will set over his household to give him their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over his possessions. But if the servant says to himself, my master is delayed in coming and begins to beat the male and female servants and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and in an hour that he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much they will demand the more.

Let’s bow together for prayer. Again, Father, we ask that as we approach this very sobering subject, perhaps the most sobering subject of all, we pray that you would give us a seriousness of mind and heart. Help us to look into it and to see whether or not we are safe in Christ. For any who are not, Lord, take this warning that our Lord has given us and make them own it and drive them to Christ, we pray. In Jesus’ name, amen.

There are of course many doctrines that we as Christians believe and teach that seem strange to our world around us, some more or less strange to the world around us in our contemporary culture. Certainly things that we’ve looked at recently like the doctrine of angels and demons and things, that would be awfully strange to our world. But I doubt that there is any doctrine more unacceptable to our culture than the doctrine of divine judgment against sinners, and with that, the doctrine of hell and the eternal punishment of those who do not believe.

And yet, it is a subject that we find all through the New Testament, and in fact, we find it most pointedly and most exhaustively in the teaching of our Lord Jesus himself. And all of that that you have heard before—that the God of the Old Testament is a God of war and a God of hate, and the God of the New Testament is a God of love—surely misses the fact that there is nothing in the Old Testament to approach the horrors of what we find in the New Testament, teaching us about this awful place called hell. And in fact, as I mentioned, it’s even our Lord himself that stresses it again and again and again, and with sometimes just the most graphic and horrible language to give us the stern warning, to frighten us, of the judgment to come for those who are not safe in Christ.

We have in the previous weeks, just looking generally at the doctrine of the coming judgment, surveyed some of those passages. I’ll remind you of some of them here. We will, by the way, this morning be looking back and forth to several passages of scripture. You’ll want to keep your Bibles handy. We’re not going to stay as we normally do in just one passage. But we’ll be looking at several where our Lord teaches us about this doctrine.

But to remind you of some that we have seen, Matthew chapter 10 verse 28, Jesus warns, “Do not fear those who kill body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can both throw both body and soul in hell.” And here we have Jesus affirming not only the two constituent elements of humanity, that is the body and soul, but he tells us—he affirms as well—the continued existence of the soul after death. He also affirms here a resurrection because it is both body and soul that will be destroyed in hell. And he also implies then a judgment in which hell will be assigned to many.

We saw in Matthew chapter 13 verses 24 and following in the parable of the weeds, that is the weeds were sown in among the wheat and rather than pluck them up early, the owner of the field gave instruction to wait until the end and at the harvest will harvest out the wheat, separate the wheat from the weeds and the weeds will be burned. And Jesus gives the interpretation for that telling us that at the end of the age the angels will be sent and gather his elect and the unbelievers will be gathered as well and thrown into fire where there’s weeping and gnashing of teeth.

In Matthew chapter 25, as we saw, Jesus gives the parable of the sheep and the goats, the judgment of the nations and of all the peoples, and people are judged individually according to how, in this parable, according to how they treated the people of Christ. And those who have not treated the people of Christ with honor and respect and pity and sympathy and compassion, they will be gathered and thrown into the lake of fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

We saw in Romans chapter 2, which we’ll see again this morning, I think, where Paul gives us there a summary of the doctrine of divine judgment. But he gives that awful statement that there will be rendered to every man according to his works, even what previously had been secret. And in fact, he describes the judgment as coming as a result of each sin, each sin storing up wrath against the day of wrath, each next sin bringing more judgment. Verse 11 in Romans chapter 2, he tells us that the judgment will be without partiality. It’ll be grounded in omniscience and injustice. God, according to the books, strictly by the numbers, all-knowing, all-seeing, knowing all that was done, all that was said, and every motive and every intent behind it, will measure for judgment. And then in verse 16 of Romans chapter 2, he tells us it will be extensive and all-inclusive, and all that is done will be taken into account.

2 Peter chapter 3, Peter warns us of the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. In Revelation chapter 20, we have something of a climactic statement of the judgment to come. Verses 11 and following:

Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were opened. And then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Here we have in this passage, as we see in several of the others as well, the metaphor of the books and the books being opened. That is a careful accounting of life, a careful accounting that is thorough and accurate of all that has been done and said, and then judgment meted out accordingly.

Well, we’ve seen those kinds of statements already now in our study. Today, I want to focus on one particular aspect of the doctrine of the divine judgment and the doctrine of hell, and that is degrees of punishment assigned in hell.

Degrees Of Punishment Assigned In Hell

As some of you know, I’m working right now just a little on the side with the Gospel Coalition developing a theology project, and it is to develop a series of concise brief essays on various doctrines throughout the whole spectrum of systematic theology, and I’m inviting pastors and theologians from around the world to contribute to this. And a number of years ago, many years ago, I heard Al Martin, whose name many of you will recognize, preach on the subject of the degrees of punishment in hell. And so when I came to that in the systematic theology, I thought, well, it’d be good to have him contribute that essay. I contacted him. He, as it turned out, was willing, but because of some illnesses and things was not able to do the writing, so we worked together on it to produce that. But the arrangement of the material this morning will be what, basically, what he has given us in that essay.

Degrees of punishment in hell. I want to begin with some passages that just affirm this teaching of degrees of punishment. We see it already here in Luke chapter 12. At the very end of the passage: “The one who did not know and did what deserved a beating will receive a light beating. Every one to whom much was given of him, much will be required from him whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” So in the previous verse we have those who knew the master’s will, did not do it; he receives a severe beating. Those who did not know receive a light beating. If we have no other passage in the Bible to affirm degrees of punishment in hell, here it is. Both receive a beating. Both were sinful. But it is measured according to knowledge. Those who did not know receive a lighter beating than those who knew and still sinned.

We’ll probably be back to this passage, but let’s look at some more. First of all, I just want to survey some of the passages that affirm this teaching of degrees of punishment. Look at Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10, verses 14 and 15: “And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”

You might remember in Matthew chapter 10, Jesus is sending his disciples out on their maiden voyage. This is their first ministry out without Jesus. He’s sending them out to the people of Israel. Go around the towns of Israel and proclaim the gospel of the kingdom. Now that proclamation of the gospel in turn placed responsibility on those who heard it. And he says, if they won’t hear you, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them and move on to the next town. But then he gives this awful statement: it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. Now that’s just a stunning statement. Here we have this nice, quaint, Galilean town compared to the very epitome of evil, Sodom and Gomorrah. And Jesus says, in the day of judgment, Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off than that town.

Matthew chapter 11, verses 20 through 24. This is just before the famous invitation that our Lord gives: “Come to me you who have labor and are heavy laden, I’ll give you rest.” Just before this, throughout the chapter, Jesus is giving this broad condemnation of the Jews who have rejected him. And in chapter 11, verses 20 to 24, we read this:

Then he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.

Again, a stunning kind of a statement. You point to these nice, quaint, Jewish, Galilean towns, compare them to the epitome of pagan evil, and he says, in the day of judgment, you will be worse off than they.

Matthew chapter 18, verses 6 and 7:

But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom temptation comes.

Now we have seen before together here that when Jesus refers to these little ones, he’s not referring to babies. He’s not referring to children. He is in fact using babies and children as an illustration of his own people—my people, my disciples. These are my little ones. This is Jesus’ term of affection for his disciples, displaying how he feels about them. And he says that those who have caused these little ones of mine, these my disciples, to stumble, oh, they’d be better off if they had a millstone tied around their neck and were thrown into the sea. And he realizes that in this fallen world temptations will come. He acknowledges that it’s impossible that they not come, but that does not relieve the responsibility of those by whom they come. And he says judgment will be an awful thing for them.

We saw it in Luke chapter 12 already. Maybe we should look at Romans chapter 2. I’ve mentioned it, but let’s look at it briefly again. Romans chapter 2, verses 5 and 6:

But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works.

And then he goes on to explain to those who by patience and well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he’ll give eternal life. To those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness, there’ll be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil. Now notice that he says in verse 5, “storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath.” In verse 6, “rendering to each one according to works.” I don’t know any sense to make of that other than to say the point is that judgment will be measured according to sin committed and meted out accordingly. Each sin bringing more wrath, more wrath, more wrath. Each next sin, more wrath and a greater degree of punishment.

And then maybe one more, Hebrews chapter 10, verse 29: “How much worse punishment?” You remember he’s writing to Jews who are tempted here. They’ve become followers of Christ. They’re tempted to go back to Judaism. And he says here, “How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has spurned the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace?” That is, in the Old Covenant, a refusal of Moses’ law brought a certain kind of punishment. But how much greater punishment will come to those who have heard here, he says, the word of Christ himself, and have spurned it only to reject it altogether? How much greater punishment will they deserve?

All right, there is a sampling of the passages that tell us there will be degrees of punishment in hell. Next, let’s look at some clarifications for that. What is meant by this? Degrees of punishment in hell.

The first clarification that needs to be made is that it does not mean that hell will be for anyone anything less than perfect misery. For everyone in hell, it will be a place of weeping, a gnashing of teeth, a place of torment, and a place of wrath. If that is the case then, what is meant by this degrees of punishment? All I can think to say then is that what it means is that either there’s a greater capacity for suffering that is given, or in fact there’ll be a greater measure of wrath poured out in whatever way in hell. But in some way, although for everyone in hell it will be a place of suffering and wrath, it will be for some a place of greater suffering and greater punishment. All the lost will suffer for their sins, but for some that suffering will be worse than for others.

All right, then what are the reasons for this degrees of punishment? Why is this an important teaching? Why is it that there must be degrees of punishment in hell? And the short answer to that is that it’s a matter of justice. It’s a matter of justice. Scripture affirms many times over that God will judge in righteousness. God will judge in justice. We find that affirmed many times over in the scripture, that it’s a function of God’s justice and his glory to requite every wrongdoing, that every sin be punished. And so we find statements like, they will be judged according to works. According to your words, you will be condemned. Or the books will be opened. Again, that’s that metaphor that crops up often in the judgment passages, that God has kept—the omniscient God has kept careful record—and there’s this accurate accounting of every sin that has been committed, so that in judgment, that will be brought up, and judgment then will be measured accordingly, and fitted to each individual person.

We find warnings, as we have seen already in our survey of this in previous weeks, that judgment will be according to every careless word, every work that is done, and in fact every thought and every motive behind the works that we do. All of this will be brought and assessed for every individual, and judgment will be measured and meted out accordingly. I can’t find any point to those kinds of details—the books, every work, every word, and all of that—I can’t find any point to that except to say that it is determining the degree of accumulated guilt, and so the degree of deserved punishment that is brought out on them. It’s not just a judgment to determine who is in and who is out. It’s a judgment to assess what measure of punishment is deserved by each. And so we have in these passages that it is a function of justice, that God will carefully measure out the punishment fitted to every offender as a matter of justice.

And that then brings us to the last point where I’ll spend the rest of my time. What are the determining factors? How is this punishment determined? What are the factors that God takes into consideration to determine greater or less degrees of punishment? We have here at least four categories of factors.

What Are The Determining Factors?

Number one, as already I think has been evident, the accumulation—the accumulation of sins committed. Or we could say it this way: the extent to which someone has abandoned himself to sin. The extent to which someone has abandoned himself to sin, or simply the accumulation of sins. Matthew chapter 12 verses 36 and 37, which we have seen: “I tell you on the day of judgment, people will give account for every careless word they speak. For by your words, you will be justified and by your words, you will be condemned.”

Romans chapter 2 and verse 5, which I’ve mentioned twice now already: “Storing up wrath for yourselves against the day of wrath.” Each sin deposited in the bank as it were to be withdrawn in judgment. Each sin increasing the measure of judgment. Again, in Revelation chapter 20, the metaphor of the books: God keeping—the omniscient God keeping a careful accounting of every work that is done, every motive behind every work, and then measuring judgment accordingly, according to the accumulation of sins committed.

I’m sure most of you have heard some bold, flippant, arrogant sinner saying something like, “Well, if I’m going to hell, I might as well have my fun first.” And what Jesus has to say to a man like that is that you are a fool. You are a fool. Every next sin adding to the degree of punishment received; every next venting of lust; every next word that is thoughtless; every next word that is sinful; every next action of sin. If you’re going to go to hell, you will be better off dying today, dying young, and not accumulating for yourself more and more wrath each day by the accumulation of sin. What are the determining factors? Number one, the accumulation of sins committed.

Number two, the relative wickedness of the sins committed. The relative wickedness of sins committed. Every once in a while, you’ll hear the statement that, well, all sin is sin. And of course, while that is true enough, and while all sin is worthy of condemnation, it is not true that there are not degrees of sin. Some sins are worse than others. Every once in a while, you’ll hear someone twisting Jesus’ words to teach that. Jesus said, if a man look on a woman to commit adultery, he’s already committed adultery in his heart. If you’re angry with your brother without a cause, you’ve committed murder in your heart. Therefore, it’s just the same. That’s not what Jesus says. Surely, to look on a woman to lust is sinful, and it is adultery of the heart. But I doubt any spouse here would think that it’s just as bad as if he had gone ahead and done it.

Jesus, in fact, reflects that in Matthew chapter 5, where he tells us that if you’re angry with a brother, you’ll be in danger of judgment. If you insult a brother, you’re in danger of the council. But if you say to your brother, “You fool,” you’ll be in danger of hell fire—degrees of punishment for degrees of sin. We find that in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 29 here: “How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace.” In one sense, this is just an extension of our first point, the accumulation of sins, but here it speaks of the degrees of sin and the degree of evil committed. The extent to which someone has not only given himself to the number of sins, but to the kinds of sins which have brought more punishment. Jesus says all of that, all of that will be brought into account in judgment. The number of sins, the degree of severity of those sins.

The factors then involved in measuring for the degrees of punishment: number one, the accumulation of sins; number two, the relative wickedness of the sins committed. Number three, the extent to which the person has influenced others to sin. The extent to which the person has influenced others to sin. We saw this in Matthew chapter 18: “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin. It would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world for temptations to sin, for it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom that temptation comes.”

Jesus gives another illustration of it in Matthew chapter 23 in verse 13: “Woe to you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.” And here he condemns the Pharisees not only for their rejection of the kingdom, and the rejection of the King, but because of their teaching and their influence, they have influenced others to reject the kingdom and to miss the offer of grace.

I wonder sometimes if this is one of the reasons that judgment is put off until the end, until the end of time. Because often the influence to sin doesn’t stop with that moment. But often there are ripple effects that go on, and that influence of sin influences this one and others and sometimes can influence an entire generation or an entire culture. And not until the end of time can God take it all together and the omniscient Judge measure the influence of a given individual to sin. Here this man in his life has given himself not only to sin, but to influence others in sin through his talking, through his publications, through his actions, through his example, through whatever degree and sphere of influence he has, he has influenced others to sin. And Jesus says, God will take that into account and it will increase the measure of guilt and the measure of punishment.

The omniscient God at the end of time measures the influence of a person’s sin. And this is just a stunning, a stunning teaching. Whatever sphere of influence a person has, whatever degree of influence—whether it’s as a friend, or a brother, or a sister, or influence as a parent, influence as a politician, influence as a political or cultural activist—using that influence for the advance of evil. God says all of it will be measured in not only what you have done and not only the degree of sin and not only the numbers of sins, but the degree to which you have influenced others in sin. That will be brought against you in judgment and you will be fitted for the degree of punishment that is suitable to you. A person who has influence among his peers or in the workplace, telling that story, setting that example, influencing people away from hearing the gospel—all of that, God says, will be brought in judgment against him.

The accumulation of sins committed, the relative wickedness of the sins committed, the extent to which the person has influenced others to sin away from hearing the gospel, towards sin, and then finally, one more factor: the extent to which light and privilege have been abused. The extent to which light and privilege have been abused. We saw that most clearly and most pointedly, I suppose, in Luke chapter 12, verses 47 and 48: “The one who knew the Master’s will and did not do it receives a severe beating. The one who did not know receives a light beating.” Or the King James translation: “The one who knew the Master’s will and did not do it receives many stripes. Those who did not know it will receive few, beaten with few stripes.”

We saw it also, I think, in a very graphic way in Matthew 10 and 11. Matthew 10: “Truly I say, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.” The same in Matthew 11: “It’ll be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon, more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for you.” Here Jesus says to those cities: “I have been here. I’ve preached, I’ve taught you, I’ve performed miracles you’ve seen, and yet you reject me. You think Sodom and Gomorrah will have it bad in the day of judgment. Yes, they will. But for all that you have seen, and all that you have heard, and yet you have rejected it, Sodom and Gomorrah will be better off.”

Just a stunning turn of things, isn’t it? You imagine taking a quaint little town that has been gospelized for generations, and yet the person’s coming through it rejecting the gospel. You think Hollywood will have it bad. You think Pyongyang will have it bad. You think Tehran will have it bad. You think Beijing, Moscow will have it bad? You’ve heard the gospel, and you’ve heard the gospel, and you’ve heard the gospel, only to reject it. Our Lord says, how awful, how awful will be the judgment for a person like that?

Young people, children, you need to hear this. You have the awesome privilege of growing up in a home where the gospel is taught to you from your youngest days. You have mother and dad who pray for you, who lead you in the right way. You attend a church where you hear your Sunday school teachers week after week teaching you the word of God. You hear it from the pulpit week after week, after month, after year, and you hear it and you hear it. How awful, how awful would be the judgment for you to reject that?

Many years ago, when I first was coming to grips with this—many years ago now—thinking of it in terms of my own ministry. And now, as an older man, thinking of it in terms of my ministry over the years. Here now, what, 12 years at RBC? 17 years in another place, preaching elsewhere. The thought strikes me that after all of that preaching, for some people, all it will have done is accumulate the guilt and the degree of punishment they will receive.

These are horrible, horrible truths. Hell is designed as a place of torment, a place of punishment, measured and meted out strictly according to justice without mercy. If you are not safe in Christ, I don’t hesitate to say it, this ought to scare you. This ought to frighten you. And this ought to, at the very least, give you restraint in your sinning. And it ought to drive you to run to Christ for safety.

And for those of us who are safe in Christ, this ought to drive us to a humble and yet glad praise for our Redeemer who took the full measure of punishment in our place in order to save us. To take our place and to save us, he bore the full wrath of God against all of our sin in order to make us his. If you are not in Christ safe today, you need to know how lost you are and how awful, how awful will be your eternity. For those of us who know him, this ought to make us rejoice all the more in the greatness of our Redeemer’s work for us. Amen.

Let’s pray. Let’s stand and be dismissed in prayer together. Our Father, we can’t imagine a more sobering subject than this. It’s stunning in so many ways, and yet we see in it the glory of your justice, the glory of your omniscience. We see in it again our accountability to you. Lord, touch the conscience of every one of us here today with this. Lord, if any are here who don’t know you, open their hearts to see this today and to see their need of Jesus. We ask in his name, amen.