What Does Jesus Say about Hell and Sin?

Jesus Teaches His Disciples Humility

Good morning! Today we’ll be continuing our sermon series through the book of Mark. As a reminder, God gave us this part of the Bible through a man named Mark, who was associated with Jesus and his disciples. And as we’ve been told about Jesus healing sicknesses, casting out demons, calming storms, even speaking on God’s behalf to grant forgiveness of sins – it’s been clear that Jesus has divine power. And in our text a few weeks ago, Jesus gave some of his disciples a glimpse of his other-worldly glory. Jesus is clearly great.

In recent weeks, though, Jesus has challenged his disciples’ understanding of what true greatness looks like. As the disciples have argued about who’s the greatest, Jesus has been teaching that the one who wants to be greatest must be last of all and servant of all. Jesus himself, has been announcing beforehand that the climax of his own great work will ultimately involve suffering and death.

And as Jesus is talking about these things – how the least will be greatest, and how the lowest butler will receive the highest blessing – they seem like they’re upside down. But in our text this morning, Jesus continues to insist on the importance of humility. And so if haven’t already, please turn with me to Mark, Chapter 9. I’ll be reading verse 38 through 50 this morning. But before I read our text, please pray with me:

[Pray and Read Text]

This spring, a couple of our kids have been playing in the local Parks and Rec soccer league – the kindergarten age group. So we’ve been cheering on the Maroon team this year. And for their team mascot the kids couldn’t decide between being the cheetahs, or the hawks. So they decided to be a mixture of both – the cheetah-hawks. Fast, fierce. It sounds like a rather intimidating mascot. [Bird of prey in leopard print – sounds rather scary to me]. So you might expect, with a mascot like that, our team would be sure to put the other team on the run. But rather than dominating at soccer, our team has very much been in the learning process this year.

In fact, while watching kindergartners play soccer has been adorable, it’s also been exasperating. It’s exasperating, because on offense, one teammate will get in the way of another, and block a good kick. But then, ironically – when they’re on defense, instead of blocking, they might just dance around in the grass, while players from the other team run past and score a point. Of course, I don’t think it’s unusual for kindergartner soccer to go like this. After all, the players are young. They should eventually learn.

But what’s interesting, is that these types of mistakes aren’t just common among kindergartners who play soccer. But because of sin’s influence on the human heart, we sometimes do similar things, by getting in the way of our teammates – our fellow Christians. Or we help out our opponent, the devil – not just by being unaware of his advances against us, but even by embracing and encouraging sins that we should be defending against.

And in our text, Jesus speaks against these types of sin issues with strong words. He humbles us, reminding us why we need him to save from sin. And this Savior, Jesus, who can be trusted to rescue us from sin and death – he’s also the one who works by His Spirit to strengthen his people against sin, as he speaks to us from his Word.

And so as we work through the text, we’ll consider four main teachings from Jesus – four teachings that Jesus wants to guide us into a right recognition of our sin, and into right relationships with one another. First, we’ll see that Jesus gives a correction of proud sectarianism. Second, he gives a caution against promoting sin. Third, Jesus gives a clarification about perpetual suffering. And then fourth and final, he gives a command for persistent saltiness. So let’s unpack these four teachings.

A Correction of Proud Sectarianism

First, Jesus gives a correction of proud sectarianism. (Now, kids, I understand – you may not know what sectarianism means. It’s a big word. But sectarianism is basically when a whole bunch of people split into groups. And people in one group say to the other group, “I can’t be friends with you, because we’re too different. We’re not on the same team.” That’s sectarianism. And what we see in our text, is that Jesus doesn’t approve of the proud sectarianism practiced by his disciples.

Remember, the issue at hand is that the Twelve disciples have been proud-hearted. They think they’re greater than each other and the people around them. And so Jesus has just been urging his disciples to be servant-hearted, and to welcome lowly people in his name. But when the disciple John hears Jesus talking about people doing things in his name – it apparently reminds him of a recent event that he and the other disciples were unhappy about. So he tells Jesus what happened in verse 38. He says, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.”

Notice carefully what it is that bothers John, here. The issue isn’t that this man was casting out demons. It’s hard to see that as a problem. The issue wasn’t even, necessarily, that this man was doing things in Jesus’s name. But John says that he, and the other disciples, wanted to stop this man from acting in Jesus’s name because he wasn’t following them. He wasn’t a part of their special group. And despite what Jesus had just been teaching about humility, the disciples clearly still had a pride issue. They were convinced that people in their little group were better than everybody else. And so the disciples were suspicious – surely, we can’t trust this man to be as faithful to Jesus as we are.

But as Jesus responds in verse 39, he says, “Do not stop him.” Don’t get in his way, just because he’s not in your circle! Don’t stop this man from doing good things in my name. And Jesus tells them why. He gives three reasons. First, he says, “For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able to soon afterward speak evil of me.” In other words, Jesus assures his disciples – you shouldn’t worry, on my behalf, that a man like this is going to bring dishonor to my reputation. If he’s doing great things in my name, he’s not going to turn against me anytime soon. So don’t stop him.

And Jesus adds a second reason in verse 40. “For anyone who is not against us, is for us.” In other words, Jesus wants his disciples to see – this man isn’t against you. In fact, he’s helping to promote the very same work that the disciples have been doing. This man is getting the word out about Jesus’s authority and mercy. And so in that respect, he’s an ally. Jesus wants his disciples to understand – he is not against you. But he’s for you, because he’s for me. He’s carrying out good things in my name. So don’t stop him.

But then Jesus adds a third comment in verse 41 – and it gives us a third reason why his disciples shouldn’t hold this man back. He says, “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of cold water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.”

It’s helpful to understand, giving a cup of cold water was considered to be a very modest expression of hospitality – one of the smallest acts of kindness someone could show to another. So Jesus is encouraging his disciples to appreciate even the simplest and smallest acts of kindness that others show them.

And specifically, here, Jesus wants his disciples to understand – this man who’s casting out demons in my name – he’s actually doing a favor to you. By the work he’s doing, he’s promoting the honor of my name, and thus he’s promoting your honor, as my disciples. So Jesus wants his followers to appreciate him. Even the smallest cup of water, even the smallest acts of service that people grant to us, as Christians – God appreciates and rewards such actions. So we should appreciate such things, too.

And Jesus lays out these encouragements for us – because he knows how the human heart is naturally drawn to a spirit of “us vs. them.” “Our group is better than your group.” Even in the early church, we see in the Bible – in 1 Corinthians 1, that Christians were getting into arguments and splitting into factions, based on which church leader they thought was the best. And the same temptation exists today – for people to have a boastful pride in certain celebrity pastors or church affiliations, in such a way that they despise and disapprove of people who aren’t in their camp.

But Jesus’s words to his disciples are a helpful corrective. It makes it clear, that Jesus intends for us to maintain charity and unity with those who live in service to Christ, even when we aren’t running in the same circles – even when some distinctions exist organizationally and doctrinally. It’s helpful to remember – we aren’t the only ones who’re convinced of the greatness of Jesus’s name. And we shouldn’t pretend like we have a monopoly on that.

And yet just to help us apply Jesus’s words rightly, here – it’s helpful to make a couple additional points of clarification. First, Jesus isn’t encouraging our charitableness to be undiscerning. He’s isn’t saying that everyone who claims to be a Christian is an ally that we should embrace. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 5:11, we’re specifically told that we shouldn’t associate with people who bear the name of brother, yet who make a practice of sinful conduct. And elsewhere in the Bible, we’re warns about false teachers – not just people outside the Church – but people who will arise from within, from among people who would call themselves Christians. And so Jesus isn’t proclaiming a loosy-goosy ecumenicalism here. We still need to have discretion, to distinguish between those who are servants of Christ, and those who aren’t. This is important for preserving the long-term virtue and viability of the Church, and the gospel that it proclaims.

And here’s a second point of clarification. When Jesus says, “Whoever is not against us is for us,” some people might take this statement out of its original context. And they might assume that as long as they aren’t against Jesus, they must be on good terms with him. I’m not against him. So, I must be for him. But that’s not what Jesus is saying here.

In fact, in Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus says that if you aren’t with him, you are actually against him. If you aren’t gathering with him, you are guilty of scattering and disrupting his good work. And so if you’re here this morning, and you can’t definitively say, “I’m with Jesus. I’m relying on his sacrifice at the cross, to set me right with God. I’m receiving grace from his Spirit to walk in new life.” If you can’t say that, then you’re in a bad spot! Because if you aren’t with Jesus, you are against him. If the best you can say is simply, “I’m indifferent to Jesus” or “I respect Jesus, but I want to keep my options open,” it means that you’re still living as an enemy of God, refusing to truly embrace his Kingship. It’s a serious sin! And it won’t go unpunished.

A Caution Against Promoting Sin

And as we turn our attention back to our text, this morning – you’ll see that after Jesus confronts the sinful sectarianism of disciples, he then cautions them about promoting any sort of sin, that would lead others astray. And this brings us to my second main point, a caution against promoting sin. And this word of warning is another way that Jesus calls his disciples to serious humility.

In verse 42, Jesus says, “Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.”

You may remember from the sermon last week, Jesus had just recently called a young child to him – a toddler, probably. And he placed this toddler before his disciples to make a teaching point. Well, Jesus again seems to be referring to this child in verse 42, here. And he says “Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin” – whoever misleads even the smallest, most inconsequential person, it is a grievous crime in the eyes of God. In fact, the crime of promoting sin is so wicked, and the punishment for that crime is so awful, that Jesus says – for the man who leads wrongly like this – “it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck, and he we were thrown into the sea.”

When Jesus speaks of a great millstone – he’s speaking about the large stone that was turned by donkeys or similar animals in a grain mill to make flour. The stones that were used to do this were huge – often more than 1,000 lbs. Now, sometimes I’ve had my children wrap their arms around my neck, to hang on me. And I can assure you, 50 lbs hanging around my neck is extremely uncomfortable. But an enormous rock, weighing 1000 lbs – 2000 lbs – knotted around my neck, suffocating me, dragging me, helpless, down to the darkness of the ocean floor. It’s a terrible thought.

And yet Jesus wants his disciples to know, that it’s better to die a miserable death in the sea like this, than it is to lead people into sin, and to receive God’s punishment for your wrongdoing.

And Jesus gives this heavy word of warning, because he wants us to take it seriously. We need to understand Jesus’s point – that every sin committed against the God of heaven is far worse than we think it is. We might assume that to tie a big rock around someone’s neck, and to throw them in the ocean to choke on saltwater – that would just be inhumane. We might have a hard time imagining that anyone would deserve such a harsh form of death. But Jesus – keep in mind, this is Jesus – he’s insisting that whoever leads even one little child into sin, deserves a punishment that’s much worse than this!

Now, if this doesn’t sound right to you, the issue here isn’t that Jesus is too uptight. It’s not that he has a distorted view of justice. But the issue is that you may not recognize just how polluted and warped and evil our sin is. Jesus says these words, here, because he wants to help us see just how scandalous it is that any human creature would lift his hand against the laws of heaven. Why would we expect that we could ignore Almighty God, and oppose his goodness, and not be guilty of the most serious crime known to man? To be an advocate and agent of sin is to walk in the footsteps of Satan himself. This is no small thing!

And this is why, in verses 43 through 47, Jesus uses such strong language to dissuade his disciples from having a casual attitude toward sin. He urges them – if your hand causes you to sin, it’s better for you to cut it off! If your foot causes you to sin – cut if off! If your eye causes you to sin, well, you’ll be best off if you pluck it out – because the guilt of sin, and the judgment it deserves, is so great.

It’s important to clarify, Jesus is speaking in a vivid way to get his point across. He isn’t giving a literal command for people to start cutting off their limbs, whenever they sin. Especially since, in reality, it isn’t our hands, or feet, or our eyes that cause us to sin in the first place. The thing that causes us to sin is inside us. Our inner corruption, our sinful soul – it drives us to use our hands, feet, and eyes in sinful ways. And so ultimately, the question comes – how can we cut off the sin? It’s so deep in us, so entrenched in all of our being. How can we get rid of it? How can we be set free from the contamination and condemnation that presses upon us because of our sin?

Well, you see, the only answer is Jesus. Because Jesus is the only one who’s uniquely qualified to cut off our sin, and set us free from its judgment. But you need to understand – the reason why Jesus is able to cut off our sin, is because he came to carry our sin. He bore the burden of our guilt and shame all the way to the cross. And he took the death penalty in our place. You and I should have been cut off from all happiness, cut off from God, cut off from life. We should have been cut off, body and soul, because of our sin. But Jesus carried our sin and he was cut off – the ire and indignation of God against our sin fell like a lightning bolt upon the cross. And it’s only because our sin was put to death with our sinless sacrifice, Jesus Christ, that we can be raised with him into life with God. So receiving Jesus by faith is the only way we can be saved. Either Jesus must be cut off for your sin – or you must.

A Clarification About Perpetual Suffering

And in Jesus’s teaching, here, he continues to tell his disciples about the graveness of sin, by clarifying what being cut off for your sin ultimately means. Jesus clarifies that it would mean perpetual suffering. And this is my third point from the text this morning. (A clarification about perpetual suffering.)

You’ll notice, in these verses, Jesus teaches his disciples – and he teaches us – about the reality of Hell. Of course, part of what Jesus has already mentioned is that drowning in the sea, and crippling yourself by cutting off body parts – both of those things would be better outcomes than going to Hell. But in verse 48, Jesus gives a rather distressing description of what the experience of Hell will be like – that it’s a place “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

Let me just quickly point out – depending on what translation you’re using, you may notice that verses 44 and 46, aren’t included in the main body of our text. For many of us, those verses are included at the bottom of the page in a footnote. Essentially, they’re the same thing as verse 48 – just repeated.

As a quick pastoral note, here, these verses are left out, because many faithful scholars of the Bible today, who want to be as true as possible to the original Greek Text – they believe it’s unlikely that these words were originally included in Mark’s gospel. Though the King James Version includes these verses, since that time, a number of high-quality Greek manuscripts and early translations have been recovered, that suggest that verses 44 and 46 may have been accidentally added later.

Now, one of the common objections that people sometimes make against Christianity is that the Bible is full of mistakes, and there’s no way of knowing what it’s actually supposed to say. But when people make this comment, they actually show how naïve they are about the consistency of the Biblical text. You should be encouraged to realize – wherever there’s any significant uncertainty about the text of Scripture – Bibles will generally include a footnote about it for you. And for all the rest of the Bible, there’s hardly any serious debate about the text. Despite the mistakes of human scribes, we have a huge body of manuscripts from early church history that confirm to us the reliability of the Biblical text. And even in places where there are questions about the original reading, like this one – it doesn’t affect our understanding of the Christian faith. There are no doctrines of the Church that depend on a contested reading. Even if verses 44 and 46 were original – the only affect it would have, is to reiterate the seriousness of Jesus’s description of Hell. So don’t be bothered if you occasionally see footnotes like this. And if you ever have questions, you can always come talk to me or Pastor Josh about it.

But as we consider Jesus’s serious description of Hell – that place “where their worm does not die, and their fire is not quenched,” you’ll notice that Jesus describes it as a place of eternal decay and burning. When Jesus talks about worms not dying – it’s probably not earthworms. But he’s likely referring, instead, to maggots. And the point he’s making is that Hell is a place of death – but it’s a process and experience of death and decay that never ends. No matter how long the maggots infest the people in Hell – no matter how long the sinner’s body festers and stinks – still, the worm keeps chewing, and the body is never done away with. The real existence of the person in Hell continues. And the shame and grossness of the rottenness is something that souls in hell can never escape from.

But Jesus also mentions that it’s a place where the fire is not quenched. Imagine a constant flame against your skin – the pain of blistering, oozing skin – not just for 4 minutes, or 4 days, but forever. It’s a flame that’s never quenched.

We’ve had a couple years, recently, where there have been Canadian wildfires, that have caused plumes of smoke to drift down into Michigan. And it’s messed up the air quality. On some of those occasions, I’ve been a bit frustrated – why do there have to be so many trees in Canada – so much firewood. There might be enough wood there to burn for 30 years. But, you see, even in that case, the supply of wood in Canada would be limited. There would eventually come a point in time where there was no more wood left to burn. The fire would be quenched because there’d be no more fuel.

But this isn’t the case in Hell. Jesus says the fire is not quenched. Not ever. No matter how long the wretched, rebellious sinner burns in Hell – Jesus says, the flesh won’t just burn up and be done. But the flames will never stop. The torment will never be done. This is why, in Matthew 25:46, Jesus describes Hell again as a place of eternal punishment. Revelation 20, verse 10 says that the devil will ultimately be thrown into the Lake of Fire and be tormented day and night, forever and ever, for all his crimes against the Lord of heaven. And Jesus indicates, here, that those who have followed the devil’s pattern are in grave danger of sharing in the devil’s punishment.

Now, I understand, this is a heavy word. And rightly so. This is a humbling word from Jesus. Our sin really is far worse than we understand. This is why a Savior from heaven is something we so desperately need. But make sure you see, that when Jesus gives this warning, it’s an expression of his mercy. He’s not teaching about Hell in order to condemn his disciples, but in order to call them to repent of their pride, to turn from their sin, to trust in his work and Word, as the Chosen One of God.

A Command for Persistent Saltiness (Jesus Says How His Disciples Should Live)

And more than this – Jesus not only wants them to be spared from sin and death, themselves. But he also desires for them to be sent out as ambassadors for God, to turn other people from darkness to light, as well. And so in the last two verses of our text, Jesus urges his disciples in this direction. He gives them a command for persistent saltiness. This is my fourth and final point: a command for persistent saltiness.

I want to start by acknowledging, here, when verse 49 says, “for everyone will be salted with fire,” it’s a difficult phrase to interpret. But Jesus seems to be clarifying – even those who are not subjected to the enduring fires of Hell should still expect to face a type of fire in this life. We’ll face fiery trials – difficult situations. “Everyone will be salted with fire.” And yet for those who are trusting in Jesus, the fires don’t mean that we’re under God’s judgment. The purpose of the fire isn’t punitive. But it’s purifying. The fiery trials of life will be used by God to remove our idols, to refine our character, and to ready us for the consummation of Jesus’s kingdom. Just as salt was regularly added to the Old Testament sacrifices, so now Jesus says that the refining salt of fiery trials will prepare his disciples to be living sacrifices. They’ll gain the saltiness of good character and godly conduct. Being purified by trials is a standard method God uses to give us readier repentance, firmer faith in the saving grace of Jesus, and happier holiness – a more earnest pursuit of knowing God and living for him.

But in verse 50, Jesus acknowledges that in the spiritual experience of people, our saltiness – our spiritual refinement, and our readiness to offer ourselves to God and serve him – it can fluctuate. By taking God’s spiritual gifts and graces for granted, by neglecting to exercise them, we can lose much of our saltiness. Jesus says, “Salt is good” – the ways that God refines you through trials is good. “but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?” In other words, Jesus is asking – if you allow the pure salt of godliness to be leached out of your soul by laziness, or busy-ness, or returning to old sin patterns – how will you get that saltiness back?

The more you neglect spiritual health and growth, the more difficult it’ll be for you to regain passion for Christlikeness. The longer the embers sit without new firewood, the harder it’ll be to restore the flames. The longer a car sits idle in your driveway, the harder it will be to restart the engine. The further you slip backward, down the hill, in your Christian walk – the harder the climb will be to regain your position, and to make progress. It’s a humbling word – but it’s a helpful one.

And so here’s the point: the saltiness God gives us is a gift to be stewarded. In fact, it’s part of our calling as Christians. In Matthew 5:13, Jesus declares that his disciples are the salt of the earth. Just as salt preserves food and brings flavor, the saltiness of a Christian is supposed to promote and preserve a flavor of goodness in our world, pointing people to Christ. Even though we were once worthless wretches, dead in our sin, by God’s grace, every Christian has been given a special role as an ambassador for heaven – as a representative of Christ himself. It’s the most important job we have. It only makes sense, that we’d be earnest to do that work well.

And so in the final sentence of our text, Jesus urges his disciples to give special care to their spiritual state. And he urges them, “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.” In this case, I don’t believe that these are two totally different commands. But after Jesus tells his disciples to “have salt in themselves,” it seems that Jesus is putting his finger on the main issue that’s endangering the saltiness of his disciples. They’ve been arguing about who’s the greatest. They’ve been jealous. They’ve been rivals. They’ve been pursuing their own selfish ambitions. And so Jesus urges them – there’s a different ambition he wants them to have. He wants them to be ambitious to be at peace with one another.

And this is a good word for us. This is why, when people acknowledge their covenant relationship with Jesus, and are recognized as members of his visible church – one of the vows we make is to pursue the peace and purity of the church together. Because when we live at peace with our Bible-believing brothers and sisters, whether they’re in our local church or in a different church, it preserves our saltiness. It doesn’t just preserve our saltiness on an individual level, but it preserves the fine reputation and the faithful witness of the Church in a dark world.

So as we seek to humble ourselves under Jesus’s words here, let’s be earnest to forsake our sin, and to further our saltiness. And let’s ask God for the goodness of Christ to be preserved and promoted through us for generations to come. Let’s pray: