To think earnestly of hell for more than five minutes would bring a person to their knees. Hell is a horrible subject, but one worthy of our attention. When you think of the population of hell, what faces do you see? Have you ever considered the reality that many ministers will spend eternity under the wrath of God? It’s not only possible for a minister to go to hell, but it’s a reality that many ministers will hear the fearful words, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).
In Matthew 7:15-20, we see a clear warning about the pervasive attack of false teachers. Jesus said, “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Matt. 7:19). According to Revelation 22:18, those who persist in their false teaching will experience plagues of God’s eternal wrath. Paul passionately guarded the door of the church in Galatia that he scolded the church for allowing those who contradicted the true gospel. He writes, “But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). The word “accursed” used by Paul there is the Greek term “ἀνάθεμα” literally meaning – damned by God (damned to hell). But, what about those who are earnest in their beliefs, but earnestly wrong?
John Wesley: When John and Charles Wesley went to Oxford to study, they were serious young men. They were not living open and immoral lives. They were so serious, they formed a club known as the “Holy Club” where they would covenant together to live sober lives before the Lord and to give themselves to the study of God’s Word. The club would grow to include several others and John would eventually become their leader. These men would be given the derisive title, “Methodist” because of their methods of strictness in God’s Word.
After returning to England after ministering in Georgia, John Wesley wrote of his experience in Georgia, “I went to America to convert the Indians; but, oh, who shall convert me?” [1] He would soon thereafter write, ““I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” [2] Although often debated, it seems that Wesley was not converted until after his mission in Georgia ended. He had ministered the gospel, but he was unconverted.
Martin Luther: On July 2nd 1505, as Martin Luther was making his way home from law school, he was caught in a thunderstorm and with a nearby thundering bolt of lightening, Luther was brought immediately to the ground. He cried out in fear, “Help me, St. Anne; I will become a monk” He kept his word and entered the monastery. He was 21 years old when he became an Augustinian Monk. In 1507 he was ordained to the priesthood. On October 19th, 1512, Luther received his Doctor’s degree in theology, and Staupitz turned over to him the chair in Biblical Theology at the University of Wittenberg.
Luther was steeped in religion, was capable in theology, and had progressed nicely within the Roman Catholic system, but Martin Luther was not yet a Christian. He was full of man-centered religion, and was on his way to hell. When lecturing on the Psalms in 1518, Luther was being confronted with the true gospel. He writes:
I had indeed been captivated with an extraordinary ardor for understanding Paul in the Epistle to the Romans. But up till then it was … a single word in Chapter 1 [:17], ‘In it the righteousness of God is revealed,’ that had stood in my way. For I hated that word ‘righteousness of God,’ which according to the use and custom of all the teachers, I had been taught to understand philosophically regarding the formal or active righteousness, as they called it, with which God is righteous and punishes the unrighteous sinner.
Though I lived as a monk without reproach, I felt that I was a sinner before God with an extremely disturbed conscience. I could not believe that he was placated by my satisfaction. I did not love, yes, I hated the righteous God who punishes sinners, and secretly, if not blasphemously, certainly murmuring greatly, I was angry with God, and said, “As if, indeed, it is not enough, that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin, are crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the decalogue, without having God add pain to pain by the gospel and also by the gospel threatening us with his righteous wrath!” Thus I raged with a fierce and trouble conscience. Nevertheless, I beat importunately upon Paul at that place, most ardently desiring to know what St. Paul wanted.
At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, “In it righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” There I began to understand [that] the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which [the] merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, “He who through faith is righteous shall live.” Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. Here a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scriptures from memory …
And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word ‘righteousness of God.’ Thus that place in Paul was for me truth the gate to paradise. [3]
The righteousness of God, as revealed in the text of Romans 1:17, was what opened Luther’s eyes. For the very first time, he understood that it was an alien righteousness that must be received by faith, one that originated extra nos – outside of him – it was an external righteousness that comes from God. Although Luther was extremely committed to his religion, he was not born again until years after progressing in his religion. In short, Luther was an unconverted minister.
How many ministers of the gospel have labored in vain, died in their sin, and found themselves immediately beneath the wrath of God? That number we may not know, but if Luther, Wesley, and others were fooled for years – what about you? How do you know that you’re a true Christian? When you examine yourself, do you find that you’re in the faith or do you find that you’re of the world? Is your religion a mere check-box salvation or is it genuine, real, and alive?
How wonderful it will be as a minister of the gospel to see the glories of heaven after studying and preaching about it for years. How terrible it would be for a minister to read about hell, preach about hell, warn about hell, and write about hell—only to die and go there.
A.W. Pink once said:
There will be many in the Lake of Fire who commenced life with good intentions, honest resolutions and exalted ideals – those who were just in their dealings, fair in their transactions and charitable in all their ways; men who prided themselves in their integrity but who sought to justify themselves before God by their own righteousness; men who were moral, merciful and magnanimous, but who never saw themselves as guilty, lost, hell-deserving sinners needing a Saviour. [4]
- John Wesley, Journal, January 24, 1738.
- Ibid., Journal May 24th, 1738.
- John Dillenberger, ed. Martin Luther: Selections from His Writings, pp. 11-12.
- A.W. Pink, Another Gospel.
