JRS 75
08/31/25
Excelling in Evangelism
Romans 6:23
Jesse Randolph

Well, we are back in our Excel Still More series this morning and so far we considered the importance of Excelling in our Exaltation as we remember the importance of and the superiority of our object of worship, Jesus Christ Himself, II Timothy 2:8, ÒRemember Jesus Christ.Ó  We considered the importance of Excelling in Embracing as we take seriously our charge to always be and always be improving to be a truly welcoming church as a gathering of believers who, Romans 15:7, ÒacceptÓ or Òwelcome one another as Christ also has accepted us to the glory of God.Ó  We considered the importance of Excelling in Engagement, meaning the importance of committing ourselves to encouraging, exhorting and yes, counseling one another through the intra-personal ministry of the Word.  We got that from Romans 15:14 and what that passage says to those who have been filled with all knowledge and how we are called to admonish, noutheteo, encourage, exhort, counsel one another. We considered the importance of Excelling in Equipping.  That was last week where we looked at Titus 2:1-8 and what that text tells us about the vitality of older to younger mentoring, training discipleship relationships within the church.  

Now today in sermon #5 in this series we're going to consider the importance of Excelling in Evangelism.  As a church which is committed to excelling still more, we're going to consider this morning how important it is to be a church which is committed not only to the inward internal Christian-to-Christian aspects of church life, but also a church that goes out. A church that goes out into this mission field known as Lincoln, Nebraska where the fields are, as we saw this morning, Òwhite for harvestÓ and where souls are ready to be won.  We're going to consider how important it is for us as a church to be made up of members who are so gripped with the fact still that we have been given new life in Jesus Christ, that we feel compelled to, not simply guilt tripped into, sharing the hope that is within us.  

So, this is a sermon this morning about evangelism.  I've been in ministry long enough to know that sermons on evangelism, like sermons on prayer and sermons on giving, aren't always everyone's favorite.  Now for some that's because they have a wrong view of evangelism.  They see evangelism as something that only specially gifted people or uniquely bold people are called to do.  For other sermons on evangelism are not their favorite because of how thoroughly convicting sermons like this can be.  We've all sat in a sermon like this one, where we've felt that sense of conviction where it seems like the preacher has a laser pointer and it is pointed right at our forehead.  We've felt that before.  We've all been tempted to slink in our seats in a sermon like this because we know what a woefully bad job we do in sharing the hope that resides within us.  That conviction comes from the fact that we know that people need Christ.  We know, if we're Christians, that we know Christ and we know that we don't share Christ the way that we ought.  If you really, really thought about it, if you played rewind on the week that's just past, I'm sure you could play back dozens of interactions that you had over this past  week and you can think of dozens of people that the Lord brought your way that you could have shared the gospel with but you didn't.  Instead, you kept your mouth shut and you prioritized the sandwich you were eating, or you prioritized the reps you were getting in at the gym or the football game you were watching or the to-do list that you had created for yourself to get done that week.  Like each of us we have to face up to the reality that in moments like that, when we bypass the opportunity to share the most important message that could ever be shared, that we each made a self-centered decision.  In those moments where you could have shared the gospel last week and you didn't, you intentionally chose you over them.  You intentionally chose your material comforts in that moment over their eternal soul.  You were totally fine at that moment with taking care of you as they got a few breaths closer to facing an eternity in hell; and truth be told, I did the same thing last week.  And I did the same thing not just this past week, but in prior weeks and in years past.  Like you I've thrown up my share of evangelistic airballs in my day.  Like you I've had my share of interactions where I had that clear shot to share Jesus with somebody and I didn't even touch the net.  Better yet, I didn't even take the shot.  None of us, then, are exempt from the charge of evangelistic apathy.  Week by week we all wade through a sea of the spiritually deadÑthe mailman, the Amazon driver, the classmate, the teammate, the parent, the grandchild.  Instead of opening our hearts and opening our mouths, we remain silent.

But why?  Why? I mean, a number of reasons could be given, lack of training, lack of instruction, lack of equipping, lack of conviction, lack of urgency, lack of love.  But this morning I'm going to have us hone in on one, one reason that we don't share the gospel, one reason we don't evangelize, one reason we don't tell the unbeliever that the foundation that he is standing on is total quicksand and it's about to fall in.  That reason that we don't share is that we don't think nearly enough about death.  We don't think enough about death.  Though we're told in God's Word that this world is not our home, we get very comfortable in it.  And though we're told in God's Word that our citizenship is in heaven, Philippians 3:20, we live this life functionally as though this is all there is.  Though we're told in God's Word that death is sure and death is certain, and death is imminent, we still try to avoid the subject at all costs.  It's an uncomfortable topic, it makes us leery, so we try to avoid it.  But we need to be ever mindful of the reality of death, not only to line ourselves up with what God has revealed to us in His Word, but to fan into flame an urgent zeal to see sinners saved before death comes for them.

Turn with me, if you would, in your Bibles to Romans 6.  Our text for this morning is a single familiar passage, Romans 6:23. ItÕs a passage which carries an incredible amount of weight and significance. Many of you can quote it from memory and that's great.  But what we're going to do this morning is make sure that the truth that this passage contains is imprinted deeply upon our hearts.  We're going to pray that the Spirit would move us not only to memorize this verse, but to act in light of it.  Romans 6:23, God's Word reads, ÒFor the wages of sin is death, but the gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ó  We're going to drill down on it this morning as we work through what it means to excel in evangelism, the depth and the breadth of that word in verse 23 here, Òdeath.Ó  For the wages of sin is death.

This past Monday on my off-day my wife and I went up to Omaha to the Old Market section up there and I went to this place, great treat, The Jackson Street Booksellers.  If any of you had ever been there, I found it to be an amazing place.  Wall to wall, ceiling to floor books.  I could have wandered around there all day long, I was totally in awe of the books.  One of the books I happened to pull off the shelf was a book about headstones, epitaphs from England over the past 300 years.  That's the kind of guy your pastor is, I pull books about epitaphs off the shelf and flip through those.  I didn't buy the book but what I did see in that book provoked a thought and it got me searching this past week online for similar epitaphs or words that were written on headstones.  So, I began searching for funny, interesting, thoughtful epitaphs.  I found this one from Kingston-upon-Thames in England for a man named Henry Cartwright who apparently was a hunter and a sportsman who died in 1773.  It says this:
	My gun discharged, my ball is gone,
	My powder is spent, my work is done.
	Those panting deer I've left behind
	May now have time to gain their wind;
	Who I oft times chased them o'er
	The burial plains but now no more.

Then there is the carpenter from Harding named Samuel Bagshaw, he died in 1787 also in England.  This is on his headstone, the carpenter.
	Beneath lie mouldering into dust a carpenter's remains.
	A man laborious, honest, just, his character sustains.
	In seventy-one revolving years he sowed no seeds of strife.
	With ax and saw, line, rule and square employed his careful life.
	But death who viewed his peaceful lot, his tree of life assailed,
	His grave was made upon this spot and his last branch he nailed.

Then there is one more, a man named Frank Raw from Yorkshire, also died in the 1700s, he made a living as a gravestone cutter, of all things; and when he died, this is what was on his headstone:
	Here lies the body of poor Frank Raw,
	Parish clerk and gravestone cutter.
	And this is writ to let you know
	What Frank for others used to do
	Is now for Frank done by another.

So, each of those headstones, they tell a story, they give those who actually stopped to look at them a four- or five-line summary of whatever their next of kin deemed was necessary to know about them.  Sometimes as we just heard, for instance with Frank Raw, these headstones can even inject a bit of humor and levity, undoubtedly as a way to give loved ones something to cope with as they grieve.  But as we're going to get into this morning, death is no laughing matter, death is no joke, death isn't funny.  Rather, death is a haunting reminder of the reality that something has gone tragically wrong.  Death is that unwanted splash of cold water on the face, reminding us that we live in a broken and fallen and sin-cursed world.  You know the headstones lining O Street just west of here, the headstones lining 84th Street north of here, the headstones on the southwest corner of town, they have a lot of different names etched on them, right?  Smith and Williams and Brown and all the other names and they have some different heartfelt expressions etched on them.  Heaven received another angel.  Gone too soon.  Forever in our hearts.  But despite their diversity and creativity of expression, those headstones actually speak with one voice.  Those cold, inanimate slabs of limestone or marble or slate or sandstone, scream out in unison: This is not the way it was supposed to be.  That's what the headstones are actually communicating.

Now if you go back to the book of Genesis, in fact go with me to Genesis 5.  We can find here what can be described as an epitaph of sorts, a divine epitaph.  Genesis 5 says, ÒThis is the book of the generations of Adam.  In the day when God created man, He made him in the likeness of God.  He created them male, and female and He blessed them and named them man in the day when they were created.  When Adam had lived 130 years he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.  Then the days of Adam after he became the father of Seth were 800 years, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days that Adam lived were 930 years and he died.  And Seth lived 105 years and became the father of Enosh.  Then Seth lived 807 years after he became the father of Enosh, and he had other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Seth were 912 years, and he died.  And Enosh lived 90 years and became the father of Kenan, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Enosh were 905 years, and he died.  And Kenan lived 70 years and became the father of Mahalalel.  Then Kenan lived 840 years after he became the father of Mahalalel, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Kenan were 910 years, and he died.  And Mahalalel lived 65 years and became the father of Jared.  Then Mahalalel lived 830 years after he became the father of Jared, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Mahalalel were 895 years, and he died.  And Jared lived 162 years and became the father of Enoch.  Then Jared lived 800 years after he became the father of Enoch, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Jared were 962 years, and he died.  And Enoch lived 65 years and became the father of Methuselah.  Then Enoch walked with God 300 years after he became the father of Methuselah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Enoch were 365 years.  Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.  And Methuselah lived 187 years and became the father of Lamech.  Then Methuselah lived 782 years after he became the father of Lamech, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Methuselah were 969 years, and he died.  And Lamech lived 182 years and became the father of a son, and he called his name Noah, saying, ÔThis one will give us rest from our work and from the pain of our hands arising from the ground which Yahweh has cursed.Õ  Then Lamech lived 595 years after he became the father of Noah, and he became the father of other sons and daughters.  So, all the days of Lamech were 777 years, and he died.  And Noah was 500 years old, and Noah became the father of Shem, Ham and Japheth.Ó

Now if we were in the middle of a series in Genesis, we would be having all sorts of fun with this text.  We'd be exploring the meaning of every name that I just read off, we'd be tying these men and their ages to the creation account of Genesis 1 and 2, and in doing so making a case for the exact age of the earth.  We'd be speculating about what type of birthday party Methuselah had when he turned 969.  What do you get for a guy like that?  We'd be talking about the significance of Enoch being carried away and how those points to Elijah one day being carried away and how that points to the future and we will one day be snatched away.  We'd be having all sorts of fun with Genesis 5.  But if that is ultimately all that we got out of Genesis 5Ñdates and figures and ages, more fuel to add to our already rapture-ready fireÑwe'd be missing the point of Genesis 5 because this whole passage in its context is not about the age of the earth.  It's not about the Christian's hope of being taken out of this world.  This passage isn't numerological; it has not given us some sort of complex mathematical equation to figure out.  No, what this passage is about, and it comes through in the repetitive use of the expression, Òand he died,Ó is about death.  Genesis 5 is a graveyard, and it's all about the sad reality of death.  That eight-fold expression Òand he diedÓ is designed to get our attention.  It's designed to put a lump in our throats.  It's designed to give us a feeling of heavyheartedness.  It's designed to give us a genuine sense of sadness, especially when looked at in conjunction with the first couple of chapters of Genesis.

In fact, turn with me over to Genesis 1.  Let's set in contrast what we see in Genesis 5 to what we see in the first chapters of God's Word.  Genesis 1, starting in the very beginning.  Genesis 1:1, ÒIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.Ó  Of course there is no apologetic here given for GodÕs existence, no defense given for God's existence.  God's existence is assumed and presumed as Moses, directed by the Spirit, wrote of a God here that we all know is there.  That God is not only there, but He is an acting God, He is a creating God.  Genesis 1:3, day one of creation God said, ÒLet there be light and there was light.Ó  Day 2, verse 6, He Òcreated an expanse in the midst of the waters, one which would separate the waters,Ó it says, Òfrom the waters,Ó meaning God created the atmosphere, what some have called the firmament.  Day 3, verses 9-13, God caused the bodies of water on the earth to pool together, to gather together.  He formed dry land; He caused trees and plants and other vegetation to sprout forth.  Day 4, verse 16, ÒGod created the sun and the moon and the stars.Ó  Day 5, verse 20, He created marine life and birds.  Genesis 1:20, ÒLet the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the expanse of the heaven.Ó  Day 6, God created animals who would live on the dry land.  Verse 24, ÒLet the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind.Ó  Day 6, God also created man.  Verse 26, ÒThen God said, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness so that they will have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  And God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them.Ó  The common thread here is that in these six days of creation God created life.  He created light and He created life.  And in creating man specifically He breathed into man the breath of life.  Genesis 2:7, ÒThen Yahweh formed man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life so that man became a living being.Ó  

So, in the earliest words of Scripture are these words that are so directly tied into the reality of life.  Out of nothing God created everything and at the pinnacle of His creation, of course, was mankind whom God gave life.  We know as we keep reading on that God not only gave man life, but He gave man His image, He Òmade man in His image,Ó Genesis 1:27.  He gave man an intellect, He gave him a conscience, He gave Him will.  He also gave man a place to be, and He gave man something to do.  Genesis 2:15, ÒThen Yahweh God took the man and set him in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and to keep it.Ó  He gave man a companion, a helper, a woman whom He formed and fashioned out of the manÕs side, out of his rib.  Genesis 2:22, ÒThen Yahweh God fashioned the rib which He had taken from the man into the woman, and He brought her to the man.Ó   He gave man His own presence, He gave man companionship which is reflected in Genesis 3:8 where we see that God was Òwalking in the Garden with man in the cool of the day.Ó  

Well, we all know the story, right?  We all know where it goes from here.  God gave man this one command in Genesis 2:16-17 that he was to not eat of one tree in the Garden, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but eat he did and eat she did.  And the result of their disobedience was this series of curses that were pronounced by God.  A curse for the serpent who had tempted them, he would now slither on his belly.  A curse for the woman who would now experience pain in childbirth and who also would have these disordered desires to supplant her husband's headship and authority.  And then a curse for the man who would now toil and sweat in his labors, and not only that, but he would also face the reality, now, of death.  Look at Genesis 3:19, here is the curse on the man.  God says to the man, ÒBy the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground because from it you were taken, for you are dust and to dust you shall return.Ó

Now in the immediate context here of Genesis 3 we know that God was speaking directly to the man, to Adam in the Garden of Eden.  We also know that those words here in Genesis 3:19 would be carried out immediately in Adam's day, because we know in Genesis 4 the reality of this curse came to pass when the firstborn of Adam and Eve, Cain, slew his brother Abel.  And then we get to Genesis 5 as we have already looked at and there is this graveyard of names, including Adam.  ÒAnd he died,Ó and he died, and he died.  But what the Bible also teaches and what experience confirms for us is that the curse that was pronounced upon Adam here in Genesis 3 has been passed down to us.  The curse that he received is our curse as well.  Think of Psalm 90:10, Moses is the author.  And it says, ÒAs for the days of our life, they contain 70 years, or if due to might 80 years.  Yet their pride is but labor and wickedness for soon it is gone and we fly away.Ó  In other words, as a consequence of the fall, as a consequence of the sin of Adam, our lifespans have now been drastically shortened.  We've gone from this supposed tragedy of Methuselah dying at only age 969 to suddenly we blow out 70 candles on the birthday cake and we're just about done.  That's quite the swing.  Heavy stuff.  And I get it; we don't like to talk about death.  Everyone here this morning would prefer not to talk about death, which is why when someone dies, that's why we're looking at our shoes and looking at the floor and the color of the carpet, we don't know how to express ourselves when we are face to face with death.  That's why when someone dies, we burn the body, or we dress up the body with all sorts of makeup and such because we don't want to stare in the face the reality of what death causes.  It's fearful, we don't want to deal with it.  We'd like to pretend it's not there.  But folks, we don't live in a make-believe world.  This is not some sort of matrix-like parallel reality that we're living in here right now.  No, these lives that we are living are real, and these bodies that we live in are real, and these experiences that we experience in this world are real and so, too, is death.  Death is real.  The headstones, the funerals, the graveyards, the urns, they are all real.  They are reminders to us that death is real.  The tear-streamed cheeks, the lumps in our throat, the sad farewells, the empty chair at Christmas, it's all real.  Real reminders that death is a reality of this life.  Romans 6:23, ÒThe wages of sin is death.Ó Now that passage, Romans 6:23, it certainly encompasses the reality that we all face of physical death.  That's what we've been covering so far.  And that truth is also covered in a passage many of you know and could recite with me by memory, Romans 5:12, which says that Òjust as through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, so death spread to all men because all sinned.Ó  Speaking of physical death.  

But it's not just physical death that we must contend with in the sin-cursed world.  No, there is also spiritual death.  Just as we are physically descended from Adam, no matter what our last name is we are all ultimately tied back to him, we are spiritually descended from Adam as well with real spiritual consequences.  Think about the Genesis account for just a minute again.  Think about what happened with Adam and Eve.  We looked here in Genesis 3, how those curses were pronounced upon them immediately.  But did they die right away?  No.  No, Genesis 5:5 as I read it very quickly there tells us that Adam would go on to live for a total of 930 years.  So, he didn't die immediately, he didn't physically die right away.  But in that instant when he and Eve sinned, they died.  They died spiritually.  Spiritual death was instant, spiritual death was the immediate consequence for their sin.  Their physical bodies, though now cursed, kept on living but they were now spiritually dead, spiritually alienated from God, spiritually hostile to God.  Now, all these years later, sitting here today as Adam's descendants, each and every one of us was born into that same spiritual condition.  Every single one of us in this room was born spiritually dead.  Right away when we were born in that hospital or in that farmhouse or wherever we were born we were a spiritual stillborn.  Paul says it this way in Ephesians 2:1, ÒAnd you were dead in your transgressions and sins.Ó  Note that language, Òyou were dead.Ó  He doesn't say you were struggling with your transgressions and your sins.  He doesn't say you were just trying to work through your transgressions and sins.  He doesn't say you were on life support because of your transgressions and sins.  He says, Òyou were dead.Ó  We were all at one-point lifeless, spiritual corpses, gray in complexion and cold to the touch.  Totally without a pulse, totally flatlined.  Spiritual carcasses. Dead.  

For Adam and Eve their sin, their spiritual deadness led to their being banished from God's presence in the Garden.  He puts them outside the Garden, the flaming swords, the whole bit.  Well, something similar has happened to us.  When we came into this world our iniquities, our sin, as it says in Isaiah 59:2, Òhad made a separation between us and God.Ó  That verse continues, Isaiah 59:2, Òand your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear,Ó meaning when we came into this world we were already alienated from God, already estranged from God.  We had no hope of heaven, no hope of eternal life.  Not only that, when we were born into this world we were already at war with God.  So, it's not just that we were dead, we were at war with Him.  Romans 8:7 says, ÒThe mind set on the flesh is at enmity with God.Ó  When we were in that old, dead state, that Ephesians 2:1 state, we were unable to understand or even grasp the things of God.  I Corinthians 2:14 says, ÒA natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them.Ó  When we were in the spiritually dead state we were blinded from the truth of God, the truth of the gospel of God.  II Corinthians 4:3 says, ÒEven if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this age has blinded the minds of the unbelieving,Ó that was us, Òso that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.Ó  

On top of that we lived in that formerly spiritually dead state in a manner which completely dishonored God.  Ephesians 4:17, ÒTherefore this I say and testify in the Lord that you walk no longer just as the Gentiles also walked in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their mind, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart.Ó  Big picture statement:  We weren't born Christians. No one was.  No one could be. No one ever will be.  We were born, rather, dead.  Spiritually dead.  As a function of being spiritually dead, we were spiritually hostile, spiritually ignorant, spiritually darkened, spiritually hardened and spiritually alienated.  We might have said back in those old days, ÒWell, I'm a spiritual person and I believe in God and I'm a Christian and I go to church.Ó  We might have said things like that.  But having not truly been born again from above, we were spiritually dead, no matter what words came flying out of our mouth.  

Now sadly, right now, that is the plight of tens of thousands of people in this city alone, people who are relationally separated from God.  Their lungs are still functioning, their hearts are still beating, their brainwaves are still moving but spiritually speaking they are dead.  Not paralyzed, not comatose.  Dead.  They might say they are religious, they might say they are good people, especially when compared to the other people around them.  They might send their kids to a Christian school, they might even attend a Christian church, but they don't know the Lord.  And because of that they need a miracle.  They need a miracle, a true miracle.  Not a miracle like a last-minute pick 6 in a Husker game that was way closer than it should have been.  Not a miracle like my finishing my sermon on time.  But a true miracle, a divine work of regeneration where God by His grace brings to spiritual life that which was formerly spiritually dead and resurrects them spiritually; when He, as it says in II Corinthians 4:6, Òshines into their hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.Ó  That's what they need.  They need truth, they need truth of the gospel, they need truth of what Jesus came to do for them in dying and rising for them.

Back to our text, Romans 6:23.  We're still just on that first clause, ÒFor the wages of sin is death.Ó  So far, we've just considered the reality of physical deathÑheadstones and graveyards and wakes and funerals.  We've just now considered the reality of spiritual death, relational separation from God.  Now we need to consider the reality of eternal death as we consider the eternal consequences for those who reject Christ in this life, the eternal consequences they will face.  So, we've considered sin, death and now what we need to do is consider the doctrine of hell.  This will not be the sermon that wins friends and influences people.  Sin, death and hell.  Now I do grant that this is not a popular topic in our day, no one likes to talk about hell.  And really since the so-called enlightenment of the 17th and early 18th centuries, it has been completely out of vogue to preach on hell.  That is because what the Bible teaches so plainly about hell cuts directly against the presuppositions of enlightenment-era thinkers, people like Kant and Rousseau and Locke and Voltaire, men who rejected out of hand the notion of original sin, and men who affirmed the idea that man is inherently good.  Their thinking from 250 years ago now has influenced so much of modern thought today.  And so of course if you are operating from those presuppositions that man is inherently good and that original sin is a myth, then of course you are going to have a difficult time with what the Bible teaches about hell. Especially a hell that is described as one involving eternal conscious torment.  If you are sold out to enlightenment-era philosophy rather than taking God at His Word, what the Bible teaches about hell is going to sound barbaric to you and cruel to you and unjust to you.  But ultimately what Locke or Rousseau or Kant had to say about sin or depravity or justice or hell matters not one bit.  Seriously, who cares what they thought about the reality of sin or justice or depravity or hell.  They weren't Spirit indwelt followers to begin with.  They were brilliant in some ways, but they were fools when measured against the timeless Word of God.  As we have already seen this morning, the Bible teaches plainly the reality of original sin.  The Bible teaches plainly that sin leads to death, both physical death and spiritual death.  

What we are now going to see is that the Bible teaches plainly the reality of eternal death for the unrepentant sinner, for the one who dies in their sin having rejected Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Now I don't have time to go into an exhaustive study in these minutes ahead of every Scripture which highlights the reality of eternal conscious torment in hell, but we can go through a few.  In fact, turn with me to Luke 16 where we have the account of the rich man and Lazarus.  Luke 16 is the rich man and Lazarus account and look at verse 19. It says, ÒNow there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.  But a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table, besides even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.  Now it happened that the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom.  And the rich man also died and was buried.  And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.  And he cried out and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.  But Abraham said, Child remember that during your life you received your good things and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.Ó  We'll leave that there.

But what we have here is one piece of the biblical puzzle explaining what unrepentant, unregenerate sinners will face when they go to hell.  Note that there is nothing here about a guy in a red jumpsuit with a pitchfork dancing around with horns on his head.  No, Jesus is saying that the rich man in Hades, verse 23, Òwas in torment.Ó  And then the rich man confirms that, verse 24, he says ÒI am in agony in this flame.Ó  Abraham affirms it as well in verse 25 saying, ÒYou are in agony.Ó  So, what we have in this little snapshot is agony and torment as descriptors for what happens to the unregenerate person as they face the eternal death.

Now turn with me to Matthew 25 as we're going to pop around a little bit to some other Scriptures to learn more about what this agony and this torment will entail for those who are in hell.  Now Matthew 25, we're going to be in verse 30, and this is in the context of the parable of the talents.  It's fundamentally about stewardship, but Jesus here is also providing some insightful truths about hell.  For the slave who is mentioned in this parable, the one who refuses to invest his master's money, Jesus quotes his master, Matthew 25:30, and says that he will Òthrow out the worthless slave into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.Ó  Now let's start with that expression Òouter darkness.Ó  There is something inherently unsettling about being in a state of total darkness.  Most of us have never experienced true total darkness.  Right?  We live in a city, there is light that is all over the place, where at least even in the country there are moonbeams and starlight that illuminate the path for us.  They give us just enough light to have some semblance of guidance or direction.  But total darkness, utter darkness like where you can't see your hand in front of your face and you don't know if you're going to walk into a spiderweb with a giant wolf spider right in the middle, or if you are going to walk into a wall or walk into a pit.  That is quite disorienting, it messes with your senses, it leaves you overcompensating.  Your eyes start doing all kinds of weird things, your ears start ringing, your skin starts crawling.  That's the picture that Jesus is painting here to that outer darkness that the unregenerate, unsaved person will experience in hell.  There is this definite connotation of being cast out and rejected and abandoned, but they are ultimately being cast out into this place where there is total disorientation and terror.

Continuing on, still in verse 30, to accompany this pitch blackness of this tormented, agonizing experience.  There are going to be these awful sounds.  First there is going to be weeping.  You know, in the new heavens and the new earth there will be no tears, there will be no sadness.  That's what is said in Revelation 21:4. For those who are regenerate and saved it says, ÒHe will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain.Ó  That's what believers have to look forward to.  But in the bowels of hell there will be an endless flow of tears.  In hell the blinding blackness of the outer darkness is going to be penetrated by this sound of weeping and wailing.  And as if that weren't bad enough, in hell there is going to be this other sound that just sounds terrifying, this sound that is going to pierce the darkness even further.  In addition to weeping there is going to be this awful sound, verse 30, of Ògnashing of teeth,Ó grinding of teeth as those who are in the flames of hell, already banished into outer darkness, already in eternal exile are going to grind their teeth, gnash their teeth eternally in horror over where they are, in regret over what they have done, in anger toward the One who sent them there.

So, there is torment, there is agony in hell, there is hopelessness, there is despair in hell, there is great pain, great suffering in hell.  One of the most terrifying aspects of being in this state of eternal death is that it truly is eternal.  It lasts forever.  It never ends.  Turn with me over to Mark's Gospel, to Mark 9.  The setting here is, there are some words here that would be familiar to youÑthe commands Jesus gives about if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off; if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off.  Then look what He says in verse 47, we'll just pick it up there.  Mark 9:47, ÒAnd if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out.  It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.Ó  The imagery here is alarming and it is grotesque.  And the point comes through clearly.  A fire that is not quenched is a fire that keeps on burning.  A worm that does not die is a worm that has an unending supply of rotting flesh to feast on.  Jesus, in other words, is saying that hell goes on forever.  The One that we have sinned against is an eternally holy, eternally righteous God.  And accordingly, our sin deserves an eternal consequence and an eternal punishment which is exactly what Scripture records.  Those who are spiritually dead, if they do not repent of their sin, if they do not put their faith in Jesus Christ, by the time they physically die they are going to face eternal death in the eternal flames of hell.  II Thessalonians 1:8 says that those who Òdo not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.Ó  And they will undergo, Jude 7 says, Òthe punishment of eternal fire.Ó  But the idea of eternal hell is unfair, it turns God into a punitive tyrant, it turns God into a bloodthirsty monster.  Nonsense.  God is a righteous judge and God Himself has decreed that He will always do what is just.  We dare not stand before His bar of justice and tsk, tsk Him for what He has eternally decreed.  I mean, what arrogance, what pride would it take for anyone to think that they can stand in judgment over God's Word, telling Him that the punishment that He says He will mete out in the eternal flames of hell is not fair or not just or not clear or not in keeping with the times.  Biblical fidelity is not a popularity contest and just as we don't bend on a day, meaning a day in the Genesis account, and just as we don't bend on male and female. Meaning male and female as they are recorded all over the Scriptures, we don't bend on what God has revealed to us about hell. No matter how many leftist college professors or theological liberals or Rob Bell types tell us about how unfair it is.  What the Bible reveals as we've just seen is the reality of eternal death for the unrepentant sinner.  The unbeliever, if they do not repent of their sins, if they do not put their faith in Jesus Christ, faces the reality of eternal conscious torment in the flames of hell.  No second chances, no escape hatches, no way out.  That's the biblical witness.

Our text, again, is Romans 6:23 and so far, all we've covered is really the first clause, ÒFor the wages of sin is death.Ó  We've considered all that that language encompassesÑphysical death, spiritual death, eternal death.  But that's not the end of the story, is it.  Praise the Lord it is not, because if you put your faith in Jesus Christ, yes you do still face the reality of physical death.  Even the most saintly believer is going to die physically when they are 70 or maybe 80 or maybe 90.  But also, if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you have comfort knowing that you are no longer spiritually dead but rather you are spiritually alive.  You once, Ephesians 2:5, Òwere dead in your transgressionsÓ but now Òyou have been made alive together with Christ.  By grace you have been saved.Ó  If you put your faith in Jesus Christ, you know that you don't face the horrors of the reality of eternal hell.  Rather at this very moment you have eternal life.  At this very moment you know that whenever the Lord chooses to take you, you know where you will be.  You will be in His presence.  No matter if you are ailing or aching or suffering or grieving or cancer-ridden, you can say with Paul in I Corinthians 15:55, ÒOh death where is your victory, oh death where is your sting.Ó  

If you've put your faith in Christ, though, I have to say that's not it, that's not the end of the story.  You still have a job to do.  Look at the next part of Romans 6:23. Yes Òthe wages of sin is death,Ó but Òthe gracious gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.Ó  If you have put your faith in Christ, you are already the recipient of that gift, and now you are called to share that gift with others.  Having received that free gift of salvation from the God you once were in rebellion against, you are called not to be a couch potato but a conduit.  You are called not to be apathetic but a true ambassador.  You are called to live out Paul's words in II Corinthians 5:20 where he says, ÒWe are ambassadors for Christ as God is pleading through us.  We beg you, on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.Ó  So, let me ask you, in the last three days or the last six weeks or the last two years who have you begged on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God?  Was it a coworker?  A parent?  A child?  A grandchild?  A friend?  Or instead have you laid a big, fat goose egg.

A church which excels in evangelism is made up of individuals who are burdened for souls, truly burdened for souls.  We don't hide behind a warped view of God's sovereigntyÑsovereign Jehovah has decreed who He will save, therefore I don't need to go share.  We don't hide behind a lopsided view of spiritual giftsÑthat's just not my thing; it's not my gifting.  We don't leave it to the professionalsÑJohn Carey is our deacon of evangelism, he'll handle that.  Didn't you guys just hire an intern, Andrew Ramirez, who is going to be charged with evangelism?  That's his job, right?  No.  A church which excels in evangelism is made up of members who are constantly looking for opportunities to tell others about Jesus and His great salvation.  They are aware of the realities of death: physical death, spiritual death, eternal death.  That burdens them to open their mouth and share the hope of Jesus Christ.  Like a bookworm who is always putting a book in their pocket or their purse and they're always trying to steal a couple of minutes to read a chapter here or a couple pages there, the one who is truly burdened for souls, the one who truly gets it, the one who excels in evangelism is always on the lookout for opportunitiesÑa  soul here, a soul there, a person here, a person thereÑto share their hope.

In the early '80s here at Indian Hills there was this bi-monthly newsletter that was in circulation called The Encourager.  I have a copy of it in my office, it's printed on canary yellow paper, 8? x 11.  The newsletter gets its name from Paul's words in Colossians 2:2, Òthat their hearts may be encouraged.Ó  In the July '82 edition of The Encourager there is a front-page article featuring a man named Curtis Mitchell who was going to speak that year in North Platte at that year's IHCC family camp. Mitchell who taught at Biola, wrote a book called Let's Live and here's a quote from that book, which is featured in this newsletter, The Encourager.  Curtis Mitchell: ÒThe average group of Christians reminds me of a football team in a perpetual huddle.  We meet together and discuss strategy, but no one ever gets out on the line of scrimmage.Ó  What a fitting word that is for us as we consider those who are out there dying, not just physically, not just spiritually, but one day eternally.  Are we perpetually circled in together in the huddle or are we breaking the huddle and getting Òout there,Ó to use Mitchell's words, Òon the line.Ó  Do we view this building as a classroom where we fill our heads, or instead do we view it as a base from which to launch as we share the gospel with the lost.

Now because of limitations of time I've had to really focus in this morning on one topic, death, as we consider what it means to excel in evangelism.  But with the few minutes that I have left here I think it's important that I do share one other reason why some of you do not share the hope of the Gospel, why some of you do not share the hope of Jesus Christ.  And that's because you don't have that hope, you are not saved.  To go back to that huddle illustration, you're not breaking the huddle, you're not getting out there on the line because you are not even on the team.  You might say that you are, you might wear the jersey, you might even wear the Excel Still More t-shirt, you might tell people you are on the team, but you are not.  You are a religious person, you are a church goer, you are an attendee, you are a Bible toter, you are a page flipper, but you have never truly surrendered your life to Jesus Christ.  You are religious about religious things like church and choir and Sunday School and VBS and programs, but if you are being honest there has not been a true heart change.  And if you are being honest, you are just as religious about a variety of non-religious things like educational choices for your children or the dietary programs that you are raving about for this six-month period or Fox news conservatism.  Os Guinness once said that as sinful human beings we have an instinctual compulsive bias toward forms of religion that we ourselves can create and control.  And that describes you.  You worship a god who is actually a figment of your imagination, not the God who is real on the pages of Scripture.  You worship a god who requires no self-sacrifice, no obedience, no submission, no true surrender.  You worship a god who is impressed with you and so he doesn't expect you to change.  You worship a god who is so enamored with you that he is okay with all the pet sins that you still stroke and cling on to.  You never lay down your life, you never counted the cost.  You are a Jesus admirer, but you are not a Jesus follower.  You have given your life to a good luck charm Jesus rather than the Jesus of the Bible.  You are a nominal Christian, a cultural Christian, a country club Christian, which is no Christian at all.  It's all a farce, it's all a show, it's all make believe.  Ah, but you say, my grandparents were involved in establishing this church and then my parents after that.  My diapers were changed over in that nursery.  So what?  That sounds like you have committed the potentially fatal error that just because you have been in this church for ÒXÓ number of years or just because you regularly showed up on Sundays for ÒXÓ number of years that that somehow makes you a Christian.  And friend it does not.  The reality is you could listen to hundreds of sermons; you could listen to thousands of sermons and still miss the point of it all.  You can be the most versed person in supralapsarianism, dispensationalism, complementarianism and completely miss Jesus.  You can be a teacher, a leader, a camp counselor, a pastor, an elder and you can still hear those horrifying words from Jesus in Matthew 7:13 where He says, ÒDepart from Me, I never knew you, you worker of lawlessness.Ó

Friends, this is, I'm convinced of it, a needed wakeup call for some of you here this morning.  Yes, it would be great if we all could and would excel in our evangelism as a church.  But I hope it is not lost on you that what is happening right now is evangelism from this pulpit, as God is calling on you through this message if you've been pretending this whole time, if you've been playing church this whole time, to fall on your knees before the God of heaven in humble repentant faith and to beg Him, beg the One who to this point has been nothing but patient and gracious with you to save your soul.  You can't excel in evangelism, you can't excel in equipping, you can't excel in encouragement, you can't excel in anything if the wrath of God is abiding upon you, if you remain in an unregenerate state.  I get that the only thing that is standing between you and making a genuine profession of faith in Jesus Christ, it is pride.  It's hard to admit it and Satan is continuing to blind your eyes, but what God is calling on you to do through the Word that is being preached this morning is to cry out to Him.  Confess your cold, empty, formal religion to Him and ask Him to forgive you.  Come to Jesus Christ in humble, saving faith.  Ask Him to give you a completely new heart and then you can leave this place this morning truly washed, truly renewed, truly forgiven.  Able to lay your head on the pillow at night and not have the hound of heaven chasing you anymore.  Then you truly can know that you are ready to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ, not only in this town but to the ends of the earth.

Father, we thank You for this chance this morning to consider some weighty matters, some heavy matters of eternity and death and sin and hell.  God, I do pray for we who have put our faith in Jesus Christ, we who have believed upon His name, that this message this morning as we consider the wages of sin being death. And this free gift of eternal life being granted through Jesus Christ our Lord, that we have a charge and a commission and a responsibility to share that hope.  God, spur us on, stir us up to go share the hope that we have with this lost world.  For those who may not know You here this morning, I pray that what has just been announced and just been proclaimed, the message of Jesus Christ who died and rose for sinners like us, would be taken to heart as those who may be playing church or wearing a mask would take the mask off and come to You, God, in saving faith in Your Son.  We love You and pray that You would be honored the rest of this day.  In Jesus' name, Amen.