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Mark 9:42-50 The Seriousness of Sin in the Life of the Believer: Causes & Consequences
As I began to look at this passage a few weeks ago, I immediately thought, “This will be a
topical sermon on the subject of Hell.” And, I must admit, the topic of hell sparks great
emotional thoughts for me (as I know it does for all of you.) In this passage we see some of the
most vivid words and pictures from our Lord Jesus. He speaks of an unquenchable fire and a
worm that never dies. He says this will be a place of eternal punishment where a person will be
“thrown” or “cast.” And though it may be difficult, we must not avoid the subject of hell because
these are the words of our Lord. He often spoke on the subject of hell. But, as I continued to
study I saw much more than just the subject of hell. Today, I have 3 truths from this passage.
1. The seriousness of causing another believer to sin. Look at v. 42. “Whoever causes one of
these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were
hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” First, I would like to ask the
question, “Who are these ‘little ones’?” If you remember in v. 36 Jesus uses the example of a
child to illustrate the kind of service that pleases God. In that context I believe Jesus spoke of a
literal child. Now, he uses a different word that is translated “little ones.” Here I don‟t believe he
is talking about children per se, but instead of those who believe in Him. He says clearly, “little
ones who believe in me.” The context is clear. Jesus is continuing to explain what he taught in
vv. 38-41 with the believer who was casting out demons in the name of Christ. John was trying
to “offend” this man, but Jesus said, “Leave him alone. For the one who is not against us is
for us” (39-41). Also, in other places in Scripture, believers are referred to as children, or little
ones. In 1 John 2:1 John writes to believers: “My little children, I am writing these things to
you so that you may not sin.” In 1 John 2:28 he says, “And now, little children, abide in
him.” In 1 John 3:7 he says, “Little children, let no one deceive you.” The apostle Paul, on
various occasions, refers to believers as “children.” Because of these things, I believe Jesus is
speaking of believers, and not simply little children.
Notice here that Jesus says, “Whoever causes” one of these little ones to sin. The original word
is scandalon and means “to set a trap.” I remember living in Africa and my neighbor and good
friend Kevin had rats in his house. He had had enough. He must get rid of them. So, we went to
the hardware store and bought a trap. It was the most expensive trap in the whole store. It was
cool. It was a big cage with a door. You put the cheese inside and when the mouse grabbed the
cheese, it closed the door, never to escape. Trapped and doomed forever, never to roam Kevin‟s
attic again.
In a similar way, Jesus is giving us a picture for those who would cause someone to fall into sin.
It is like “trapping” them or putting a stumbling block in front of them. In this context it refers to
destroying the faith of a fellow believer or causing a believer to fall away from God. The
punishment for such an offense is catastrophic. Jesus gives another picture “It would be better
for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.” In
those days grain was ground by a cylindrical-shaped stone with a hole in the middle, which could
only be turned by working animals. This stone would crush a man. Now, think about hanging it
around your neck and then being cast in the sea, which to the Jew in that day would have been
one of the most fearful ways of death. Really, hurling a sinner to a watery grave was a graphic
way for Jesus to illustrate the finality of God‟s wrath against spiritual pride (which we began to
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see with the disciples when they tried to stop the believer from casting out demons in the name
of Christ.) Now, how does this apply to us, to me and you.
As I thought about this picture, I immediately thought of myself as I stand here before you most
weeks as well as our other elders Jimmy, Blaine, and Scott. Woe unto us if we ever cause any of
you to sin, either by our teaching or by our actions. I think of these instructions from Paul to
Timothy: “Command and teach these things. Let no one despise you for your youth, but set
the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Until I come,
devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not
neglect the gift you have, which was given you by prophecy when the council of elders laid
their hands on you. Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see
your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so
doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1Tim. 4:11).
Then, I think of all of us as believers at GBC and ask, “If we were to be a stumbling block or an
offense, or a trap to another believer how would we do this?” There are many ways. But, I
believe the number one way of causing another to stumble is by not practicing what we preach.
We just read, “Be an example to the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in
purity.” How many have you caused to stumble because of your hypocrisy? The Pharisees were
leading people astray by the multitudes in Jesus‟ day and he was instructing his disciples not to
be like them. He is saying the same today.
The place this hits us the most is in our homes. And how many “Christian” kids have never
embraced the gospel of Christ because Mama and Daddy have trapped them and offended them
and provoked them to anger, never showing their kids what it means to come to Christ in a
Gospel-centered home? See Eph. 6. How many husbands have put stumbling blocks in front of
their wives? How many wives have failed to practice what they preach. (We must come back to
the Gospel!)
2. The seriousness of causes for sin in your own life. In vv. 43, 45, and 47 Jesus give 3 vivid
pictures to illustrate this. Let me read those: “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It
is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell . . . And if your foot
causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be
thrown into hell . . . And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to
enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell.” Hand,
Foot, and Eye, Oh how we value them! Although many in this world have been injured and live
without one of these organs, I cannot imagine living without my right hand or one of my feet, or
one of my eyes. I need them. And, so do you. But, here Jesus says if your hand or your foot or
your eye causes you to sin, cut them off or gouge it out.
This is a picture and should not be taken literally. However, its importance should not be
overlooked. Really, what Jesus is teaching here is that God is more important than even those
things most indispensable to us. If I were to ask you what value you would place on your hand,
your foot, or your eye, (or any other part of your body) most of you would not take all the money
in the world to lose one of them. When we consider this, Jesus is saying that not even the things
in life we value the most should stand in the way of eternal life. Jesus does not counsel the
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removal of body parts because they are useless and unprofitable; rather, he illustrates the infinite
worth of the Kingdom of God, which is greater than something that is of immeasurable value to
us. You cannot put value on your hand. But, of how much more value is the Kingdom of God.
These words of Jesus should not surprise us. Has he not already said in Mark 8, “What does it
profit a man to gain the world and lose his soul? In Luke 14:26 He says, “If anyone comes to
me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and
sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” Did He not say just a few verses
earlier in Mark chapter 8: “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life
for my sake and the Gospel’s will save it?” As important as eyes, hands, and feet are to us—or
whatever else claims ultimate allegiance—they are not life; the Kingdom of God is life, and
nothing in this life should be allowed to prevent one from entering the kingdom. Today, I must
ask you: “Where is your treasure?” Because, where your treasure is, there is your heart. Is there
anything more important today than knowing God and his Son. What is your motive in all of
life?
I have one more point of application before moving on. Notice that Jesus is comprehensive in
using pictures of hand, foot, and eye. Practically, I believe the disciples would have understood
that this illustration would include what we do (hand), where we go (foot), and what we look at
(eye); really a picture of all our moral actions. All sin is a very destructive force and must not be
pampered. It must be put to death! Listen to these words from the Apostle Paul: “Put to death
therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and
covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these
you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away:
anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another,
seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self,
which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator” (Col. 3:5-10).
Temptation should be thrown aside immediately and decisively. Playing with sin is deadly. If
something causes you to sin, get rid of it. Burn the book that causes you to sin. Turn the station
that causes you to think ungodly thoughts and have bad dreams. Put protection on your internet
to guard you from sin. Break the social tie that is heading down a path you know you cannot go
without the loss of your life. Quickly kill the habit you know will cause you or your family or
your Christian Brother or sister to sin! At this point, you may say, “Jon, you are being a
legalist.” I will answer from the Scriptures. Shall I go on sinning that grace may abound? Heaven
forbid! Sometimes, Christians run so far away from legalism, that they don‟t realize the
seriousness of sin and its causes their life. May it not be so! God is holy!
3. The seriousness of the consequences of your sin. There is something worse than death.
Throughout these verses Jesus is making a contrast between choosing the kingdom of God and
Hell. The consequences of treasuring your sin more than God Himself are worse than we can
think or imagine. Jesus describes this place of judgment in v. 48 as a place where the “worm
does not die and the fire is not quenched.” The words of the NT include: darkness outside,
weeping and grinding of teeth, destruction of body and soul, eternal fire, fire of hell, condemned
to hell, forfeiting eternal life, the wrath of God, everlasting destruction away from the presence
of the Lord, perishing, separation, blackest darkness. For me personally, these words are too
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terrible to contemplate. Yesterday, I performed a wedding. What a joyous occasion! Today, I
find these words of our Lord before me. What a contrast! As I prepared the last two weeks for
this message, two main thoughts poured through my head. One, Jesus said these words. In fact,
he spoke much more on the danger of hell than he did of the joys of heaven. Kevin DeYoung
said, “It would be closer to the truth to picture Jesus and the apostles (not to mention John the
Baptist) passionately pleading with people to flee the wrath to come than it would be to imagine
them laying out plans for cosmic renewal and helping people on their spiritual journeys.” The
second thought is this: What will you and those who listen to these words think about such
preaching? In the end, I agree with one preacher who said, “To speak of hell is to speak of things
so overwhelming that it cannot be done with ease.” I feel the weight of this reality as I preach. In
the end it is what it is. I must be true to the words of Scripture!
I remember Sept. 11 2001, sitting in Scott Lewis‟s house on a beautiful September morning, as
Trish came anxiously into the room and said, “A plane has just flown into a building in New
York.” We turned on the television and watched live as another plane would be flown into the
second tower, and moments later we would see people jumping from the windows to escape the
fire. Then, unexpected to us all both towers would soon collapse into a heap. These are the
closest pictures in mind to what I could imagine for those people as a real hell. And, any of us
who try to imagine what it must have been like in the buildings on that day is (at least for me)
about the closest picture in mind to a living hell.
Let‟s consider our Lord‟s words in this passage for just a moment. Notice first that hell is a
literal place. The use of the word “where” and the fact that people are “cast” or “thrown” into
this place should be very obvious to us. I could take you to numerous places in the words of
Jesus alone where this is true. In this passage Jesus uses the word “Gehenna.” This word comes
from a literal place in the Hinnom Valley southwest of Jerusalem (Josh. 15:8) where human
sacrifice had been practiced under Ahaz and Manasseh (2 Kings 16:3, 21:6). This practice was
abolished by King Josiah who desecrated this valley and turned it into a garbage dump. It was
known to the Jews as a place of fire. The Bible also uses the word hades for hell. However, this
word doesn‟t always mean hell. Sometimes it refers to the place of the dead, or an intermediate
state where the wicked go between death and the resurrection of the dead. Gehenna always refers
to the literal place where both the body and the soul of the wicked go.
Second, notice that hell is a place of eternal punishment. Jesus says the worm does not die and
the fire never stops burning. These words were first spoken by Isiaah warning the Israelites not
to neglect the goodness and mercy of God and rebel against him. Jesus uses these words as a
vivid picture, as if the Valley of Hinnom were not enough. Have you ever tried to get rid of the
worms on a dead caucus or rid a garbage heap of the maggots? Can you imagine an
unquenchable fire? I remember the garbage dump almost surrounding the community of
Korogocho in Nairobi. I went there weekly and the wall of the church building was the border of
this massive heap of rubbage. There was always fire, always smoke. It never went out.
In the same way, those who go to this place will endure internal and external torment forever.
The worm is a picture of their conscience, always and forever considering their rebellion and
lack of concern for a holy God. “Why God did I not seek you? Why God did I not trust in you?
Why God, did I consider myself and the things I knew would not last before you?” For those who
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heard the preaching of the Gospel, “Why did I not embrace and love your Son;” As the Psalmist
says, „Kiss the Son lest he be angry with you.‟ Why Lord?” In the words of Thomas Brooks:
Oh, but this word eternity, eternity, eternity; this word everlasting, everlasting,
everlasting; this word forever, forever, forever, will even break the hearts of the damned
in ten thousand pieces. . . Impenitent sinners in Hell shall have end without end, death
without death, night without day, mourning without mirth, sorrow without solace, and
bondage without liberty. The damned shall live as long in Hell as God himself shall live
in heaven.
With this in mind what should you do? And, what should you think about hell?
1.Fear God and not man. Jesus said, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the
soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). At the end
of his life Solomon, probably the richest and wisest man to ever live, “Fear God and obey his
commandments.” We do not see the fear of God in our country, in our society, and in our
Christian churches. You might say, “I don‟t want my fear of God to be greater than my love of
God.” I agree. But, in this case, a proper motive of fear will always lead to a proper motive of
love.
2. Hell is real and we must preach it. Our Lord himself, who is God in the flesh, often spoke of
eternal punishment in hell. It is essential to our preaching. Going along with this, we must
consider the fate of those who do not trust the Lord Jesus. We also must know that the truth of
judgment is never popular to the world. What happened to the prophets of the OT? What
happened to Jesus? What happened to the apostles?
3. It must cause us to consider the holiness of God and how heinous our sin against him really is.
We were created in the image of God to display the glory of God on this earth. But, all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. And, the wages of sin is death. This has really been
the main point of this teaching by Jesus. It is serious to cause someone else to sin. Sin in our own
lives is serious. It is so serious that even such drastic pictures are given by our Lord like losing a
body part, rather than allowing your sin to cause you to be thrown into hell. And, the deeper
meaning is always this: As invaluable as your body parts are to you, the Kingdom of God is of
infinitely more value.
4. The realities of eternal judgment in hell must show us how horrific the cross really was, and
how great God‟s grace really is. Why did Jesus have to die? It was because that was the only way
God could righteously not send ever one of us to hell. Jesus had to take what was due to us, and
that means he had to endure the equivalent of hell as he hung on the cross. All the darkness of
God‟s wrath was poured with infinite fury upon his Son, the very One who said these words to
the disciples: “The Son of Man must suffer and die, and rise again.” What a savior! With this in
mind, consider these words in Heb. 12:2: “looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our
faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is
seated at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb 12:2). What a beautiful savior!