Living easy, living free / Season ticket on a one-way ride / Asking nothing, leave me be / Taking everything in my stride / Don’t need reason, don't need rhyme / Ain’t nothing I would rather do / Going down, party time / My friends are gonna be there too / I’m on the highway to hell...
I remember days when I used to sing along to these lyrics at parties, inebriated and filled with a sort of rebellious thrill and sense of belonging to the crowd around me. It was a thrill I chased for many of my young adult years, buying into the "sex, drugs and rock and roll" mantra of my culture. But every experience always left me empty, always left me craving more and more and more...
Living easy and living free, as the song puts it, really was neither. I was a slave to my own lusts, and the constant search for fulfillment left me bitter, hollow and self-destructive. Love faded. People disappointed. Drugs wore off. And no matter how much I focused on realizing my dreams and pursuing my ambitions, emptiness always followed close behind. I really was on the highway to hell.
Now as I read these lyrics they truly frighten me. Satan has so masterfully blinded humanity to the truth about hell that we sing about it. We find such songs catchy and invigorating. We scoff at death and scorn the notion of hell. Many, like the song says, view hell as a continuation of the party--Going down, party time / All my friends are gonna be there too.
But the reality of hell is one of the most terrible things Scripture teaches. Jesus spoke about this uncomfortable doctrine more than any other person in the Bible. Not only does Jesus reference hell, He describes it in great detail. According to Christ, hell is a place of unending pain and agony (Luke 16:23), of ceaseless heat and fire (Mark 9:43), where flesh-eating maggots do not die (Mark 9:48), where people will rage in constant anger and regret (Matthew 13:42), and where there is no light to see by, but complete and utter darkness (Matthew 25:30). If Heaven is a place of relief from death and pain and sorrow (Revelation 21:4), then hell is a place where the hope of relief has passed beyond our grasp forever.
Many preachers today have thrown out the doctrine of hell altogether because they cannot believe in a God who would send people to such a place. They cannot reconcile God's love with God's justice, so they stick to the more palatable teachings of Jesus and steer clear of the distasteful subjects. But to do so is to rob the Gospel of its glory, for who really needs to be rescued if there is no danger?
As followers of Jesus we have to talk about hell because it is the fate that awaits those who die apart from Him! Contrary to popular opinion, hell is not a place reserved for the especially wicked—the murderers, rapists and child molesters. It is all of humanity's default destination. Without a change in course given to us by faith in Christ, our "one-way ride" is just that. And there's no turning back.
Perhaps the idea of hell makes you angry. A lot of people would rather just not think about it. Could be you're indifferent and you believe there is no such thing as hell, that everybody simply goes to "a better place." But however we may feel about hell doesn't change the reality of it. The truth is still the truth regardless of rock songs and popular opinions. But there is an even more glorious truth, a greater song we sing about the One who came to save us from this awful fate—it is the Gospel, the good news of Jesus Christ!
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him" (John 3:16–17). Jesus didn't come to send anyone to hell. The Bible says God takes no pleasure in the destruction of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23), but desires that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). The only thing standing between us and Heaven is ourselves.
So maybe your mantra isn't sex, drugs and rock and roll. Maybe you're chasing fulfillment through family, friends and fun. Or food, drink and possessions. Does your sense of belonging come from politics? Career? Education? Are you continually craving the experiences the world has to offer because, for some reason, the high you get from them is always fleeting? Do you mask the emptiness inside, or keep yourself busy enough that you don't have to think about it?
Friend, don't ignore the warnings in your heart. Don't buy into the lies of the enemy of your soul. And don't neglect the One who, in His infinite love, mercy and grace, came to rescue you from hell. A day is coming when Jesus Christ will return to judge the world: "...and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). It is an inescapable fact. But He has made a way for us to avoid the eternal and dreadful consequences of sin by His sacrifice on the cross. Will you accept His gift to you today?