Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It)

Leave a book like this lying around, and you're sure to get reactions.

On one hand, my twelve-year-old son loved the title of this book, Hell Is Real (But I Hate to Admit It). "That title tells the truth," he said. On the other hand, I was turned off. It sounded like a grudging acknowledgement of the reality of hell. As Kevin DeYoung puts it, it's okay in a sense to admit that we don't like hell, but we need to guard against grudgingly accepting what God has revealed about himself.

It turns out I was wrong about this book and its title. It's not a book about grudgingly accepting the reality of hell. It's a book that recognizes that hell is real, and that confronts us with our tendency to try and pretend that it's not.

The book is written by Brian Jones, pastor of Christ's Church of the Valley near Philadelphia. While on a spiritual retreat, Jones became convicted about his lack of belief and teaching on hell. He spent the next five hours reading the New Testament, discovering:

…hell is not an ambiguous topic supported by a few hard-to-understand passages. It is inescapable: Virtually every book in the New Testament underscores the reality of hell. Jesus taught it; Paul, Peter, and every early church leader taught it, but I wasn't teaching it. I realized that I had a decision to make. Could I discount what Jesus taught on hell if I based my belief in heaven on similar passages in the same books?

Jones returned to his church and repented before his congregation and asked for their forgiveness. "Hell is real," he writes. "Deciding whether or not hell exists isn't an intellectual exercise; it's a matter of eternal life and death."

Jones tackles a number of important areas in this book. First, he covers the biblical teaching, and answers some common questions and objections. Second, he talks about our own struggles to deal with the reality of hell and act accordingly. He does this with a sense of urgency. Finally, he gives us practical encouragement on how to share the gospel appropriately. This is a book that's informative, passionate, and practical all at once.

Jones is a skillful writer. He somehow manages to make a book on hell enjoyable to read.

One note: There were a number of books that came out last year in reaction to Rob Bell's book Love Wins, such as Erasing Hell, Christ Alone, and God Wins. While I'm grateful for the books that were written in reaction to Bell's book, I'm also grateful for this book that deals with the topic without even referencing Bell. There's a place for both kinds of books.

Before the entire controversy last year, my son encouraged me to preach about hell. "We don't hear enough about it," he said. I agree. The subject of hell isn't a comfortable one, but it's important. This book reminds us of its importance, and does a good job of encouraging us to live accordingly.

More from Amazon.com | IfHellisReal.com

Thank You

I received this note at our send-off from Richview a couple of weeks ago. It has to be one of the nicest notes I've received as a pastor.

Are You Bruised?

Richard Sibbes in The Bruised Reed:

Are you bruised? Be of good comfort, he calls you. Conceal not your wounds, open all before him and take not Satan's counsel. Go to Christ, although trembling, as the poor woman who said, `If I may but touch his garment' (Matt. 9:21). We shall be healed and have a gracious answer. Go boldly to God in our flesh; he is flesh of our flesh, and bone of our bone for this reason, that we might go boldly to him. Never fear to go to God, since we have such a Mediator with him, who is not only our friend but our brother and husband.

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Friday Questions: An Interview with Jared Wilson

Jared Wilson is a blogger, pastor, and author. His latest book Gospel Wakefulness came out last year, and made the list of top reads in lists by Trevin Wax and Aaron Armstrong.

I'm grateful to Jared for taking the time to be interviewed.

The gospel is earth-shaking. Why is it so easy to become numb to it?

Because we are stubborn and flesh-fixated. Because we're sinners and have to reset to gospel mode every day. I also think we get trained to think that the gospel is just relevant at the earth-shaking of conversion, so we reason that the Christian life is about moving on, or graduating, to "normal" spiritual things.

How did you become so fixated on the gospel in your own life and ministry?

Out of the train-wreck I made of my marriage. I had killed my marriage with secret sins and selfishness, and when I realized I had lost what was most important to me, I also began drowning in a depression that led me to think off and on about taking my own life. I spent a lot of time just crying out to God. He should have been my first hope, but it wasn't until all other hopes had been taken away that he became my only hope. And in one vivid repentant moment of crying out to him, face down on the guest bedroom floor where I had banished myself, I heard the Spirit say to my heart, "I love you and I approve of you." I knew of course that God did not approve of what I had done or of my sinful self, but I knew he approved of me in Christ. Like the prodigal son in the pigsty, I "came to myself" in that moment. And while I am still a sinful, struggling, idiotic person, I know a joy in Jesus now I had not before, and it has shaped my life and drives my ministry today.

What would you say to someone who thinks that "gospel-centered" is a passing fad?

That they could be right. Only time will tell. I don't think it is a fad, however, because of the variety within the movement of various movements, denominations, generations, and organizations. And the similarity it bears to historical recoveries of the gospel. But, yes, it's quite possible that in seeking gospel-centrality in the church, we are deceiving ourselves with a sort of sloganeering gospel-centered-centrality. We have to be on guard about that and remember to delight in Jesus more than a movement. I don't think it's a passing fad, but I want to be cautious and realistic about human nature.

How does "Gospel Wakefulness" apply to some of the recent controversies about how we're sanctified?

The way I develop gospel wakefulness in the book upholds the passive nature of salvation -- that we are saved totally by God's grace received through faith -- while rebuking any passivity in worship. In other words, this is not the Keswick type "let go and let God" kind of thing. Two chapters in particular hone in on identifying idols, killing sin, and embracing the spiritual disciplines of Scripture reading and prayer. Wakened people "move." Nobody becomes holy by accident. Gospel wakefulness comes at sanctification from the angle that justification drives sanctification; that our part in the work of holiness must be a worshipful response, what awed people do in response to that awe.

Can you tell us about your next book with Matt Chandler?

It's called The Explicit Gospel, but it's not my book with Matt; it's his book. I was just privileged to assist in the organizing of the material and some of the shaping of his message. But it's really helpful in that Matt approaches the gospel from the two angles many have turned into a false dichotomy -- Creation/Fall/Redemption/Consummation and Man/Sin/Christ/Response. Matt calls these The Gospel in the Air and The Gospel on the Ground and shows how we need both approaches to be faithful to the biblical portrait of the good news of Jesus. He also shows what dangers lay in neglecting one or the other. It releases from Crossway/Re:Lit in April, and we believe it will be a valuable contribution to the gospel-centered movement and the evangelical church at large.

Thanks, Jared.