Here is the latest sermon I preached. Love to hear your feedback on this very important, but hard to understand topic.

“How can a loving God send people to Hell?” Deuteronomy 30:1-20
Intro…“When bad things happen to good people.” A NY times best seller
Rabbi Kushner offers the suggestion that God is limited by what He can do by the laws of nature, by human nature, and by human freedom.
· He lets go of the notion that God is all-powerful in favor of the notion that God is good.
· He takes the position that God does not cause suffering and could not prevent it.
I bring this up because it relates to the title of my sermon, “How can a loving God send people to Hell?” (or let them suffer or allow bad things to happen).
· God is not removed from the suffering in our lives.
· God is not removed from the decision making process in our lives.
· God is sovereign and fully aware of every single event that has happened and will happen in our lives.
· God is not limited in any way by our human nature and the choices we make.
· There is a fine and important balance (which we will never fully understand as humans) between the daily choices we make and God’s foreknowledge of those choices.
· This sermon series is intended to answer questions you or others you may know may have on these “hot topics”.
· We want you to be better educated and ready to: “ give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…” 1 Peter 3:15
· With that introduction….

Text: Duet. 30: 1-3 (A prediction of the re-gathering of Israel from all the nations to which she was scattered.)
v. 2-3 …when you return…the Lord will restore…Mark 13:26-27
v. 5-6 …he will bring you back…so that you may love him with all your heart and soul and live.
v. 10-11 …obey the Lord your God and keep his commandments…
v. 17 …But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient…you will certainly be destroyed.
v. 19 Now choose life, so that you and your children may live…

Some choices have greater consequences than others,
paper or plastic, red shirt/green shirt, Accel through the yellow light or stop? Peach pie or apple?
….you’ve been presented with a clear gospel message…

If we couldn’t make our own choices, what would we be? puppets or robots

Some realities:
· God allows us to make choices. Ps. 119:30
· God is not micro-managing our lives….some things seem random..
· There is a God who created us, loves us and has some guidelines for our lives with definite consequences…present and eternal.
· 1 Timothy 2:3-4 Although God wants us all to be saved in reality, we know that not all men will accept Him.
· Eph. 1:4-5 Every man has a responsibility to make the right choice and believe the gospel in order to bring to pass personally God’s predestination.
· God doesn’t really send anyone to hell, we send ourselves by virtue of choice.
· For God to force anyone to go to heaven against their wishes…would not be heaven.
· “The gates of hell are locked from the inside by the free choice of men.” John-Paul Sarte

Peter’s denial of Christ. Matthew 26:69-75
· Are you denying Christ? (pre-Xian or even as a Xian)
· Will you take a stand for him in public? (small scale or large)
· Don’t let it get to the point where you “weep bitterly”.
· There are consequences either way. Prov. 1:28-33

Back to the title of this sermon, “How can a loving God send people to hell?”
· God, created humans, gave us freewill (instead of a robot), we face choices and consequences, man rejects God, the solution is Jesus Christ, the choice is ours to either accept or reject that relationship with God.
· That’s as simple as it gets, the gospel.
We always need to remember the two sides of God:
Love, grace and forgiveness…Duet. 30: 4-5
Righteousness, judgment, guidelines. Duet. 29: 19-20, 24-26
A balance of both sides is critical!

Conclusion: “The football verse” John 3:16-18
· As a father, I want the best for my children…even now they make choices which are either good or bad. I do my best to present the truth (and the consequences) and have to sometimes painfully watch, let them decide and deal with those consequences, good or bad.
· God is our heavenly father and he wants the best for us too. If we would just set aside our pride and our own agenda and take our father’s advice, we’d be just fine.
· It comes down to choices. Once we’ve been presented with the facts, it’s up to us to choose.