The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”    Matthew 13:49-50

Hell is a subject you we don’t hear much about any more, even in Christian Churches. The Gospel Coalition list five reasons why preachers, whether consciously or not, may avoid preaching judgment:

2. They have subtly bought into a version of the prosperity gospel. Even pastors who formally reject the prosperity gospel can be tempted to functionally believe it in their hearts and proclaim it from the pulpit. Our materialistic   culture only compounds this danger. Instead of proclaiming eternal judgment, preachers blunt the sharp edge of God’s wrath out of a desire to highlight what can get out of    Christianity.
3. They have idolized God’s love to the neglect, or denial, of his other attributes. While Scripture is clear that “God is love” (1 John 4:16), it’s equally clear that he is holy, righteous, jealous, and just—the judge of the universe to whom all will give account. Our feel-good culture of        positive thinking may not like to talk about negative things like death or hell, but God’s Word has much to say about it. A couple of years ago there was a controversy surrounding the lyrics of the song “In Christ Alone.” Those compiling a PC (USA) hymnal wanted to remove the line “the wrath      of God was satisfied” in favor of “the love of God was      magnified.” Exalting God’s love to the exclusion of God’s wrath does the opposite of what it seeks to accomplish: it avoids the bad news and makes the good news optional.   This is one reason why starting gospel presentations with “God loves you” can be unhelpful. Well, of course God loves me, many in our culture might think. I’m pretty special. Then they might close themselves off to hearing and        embracing the gospel that rescues us from God’s wrath.
4. They have a tragically diminished view of God’s holiness. The holiness of God is one of the most neglected doctrines in evangelicalism today. Both the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John received glimpses into the heavenly throne
5. room and heard the content of heavenly worship: “Holy,   holy, holy.” Only when we see God in light of his blinding holiness can we understand how flawed rebels like us       deserve his righteous wrath. When we lose a sense of God’s holiness, his judgment begins to seem arbitrary.
   4. They have a pragmatic approach to ministry. Many churches today run like businesses, basing their definition of success on metrics. Instead of prioritizing faithfulness to Scripture and making disciples, they focus on weekly    attendance, bigger and better programs, and the amount     of money in the plate. When the goal is padding numbers   for a human definition of success, though, it’s not surprising some of the more “unsavory” doctrines—like hell—get left by the wayside.
   5. They fear man more than God. Once we begin fearing our neighbor more than our Maker, a desire to please people will shape the content of our sermons. As preachers we must pursue the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning     of wisdom (Prov. 9:10), and let him define ministry success. In ministry as well as in all areas of life, these words ring true: “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in   the LORD is safe” (Prov. 29:25). I have heard people say, “My God is love and He would never send anyone to Hell”. That is not the Jesus of the Bible. Jesus talks about Hell  more than he talks about heaven, and describes it more    vividly. There’s no denying that Jesus knew, believed, and warned against the absolute reality of Hell. The reason we need a Savoir is to save us from Hell. The following is an excerpt from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by     Johnathan Edwards on the fate of those who don’t trust      in Christ alone for their salvation:

   “Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state. That God will execute the fierceness of his anger, implies, that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your   case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportioned to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed, and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom; he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear  the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand; there shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then    at all stay his rough wind; he will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too     much in any other sense, than only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be      withheld, because it is so hard for “Therefore will I also   deal in fury; mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity; and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. (Ezekiel 8:18)” Now God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God, as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery; you shall be continued in being to no other end; for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction; and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you when you cry to him, that it is said he will only “laugh and mock”, (Proverbs 1:25-26)”.

   Your shepherd,

   Pastor Mark