I am Philip Seymour Hoffman. I’ve won several awards over the years, but my prized possession is the Oscar that I won for Best Actor in 2005 for Capote. That was the best night of my life. Well, I really don’t remember much of it, but I’m sure it was the best night of my life. They like me, they really like me.
The last few months have been rough. My long time girlfriend, Mimi and I have separated. I hate being away from the kids. Acting is a tough business. It’s not all lights and glamour. It’s a lot of hard work and you are only as good as your last gig. Pressure. Lots of pressure. It’s all too much. I need to get right. I need to feel better. I’ll use some tar and make the pain go away.
There it is..a little stick then the warm sensation flooding over me. I spit up a little bit in my mouth. There it is…now I’m relaxed. Oh yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. Feeling good. Feeling good. No worries. It’s all better now. I’m Phillip Seymour Hoffman and I’m famous. I’m wealthy. Women throw themselves at me. Everyone wants my autograph and to take their picture with me. People love me. They really love me. They love my acting. They yell out to me all the time. Did I mention that I’ve won an Academy Award. Nodding off…
Hey! Turn the lights back on! OW! THAT HURTS. Turn the lights on! OWWW! Man stop it with the pain. I don’t know what’s going on, but I liked it better when I was feeling good. OWWWWW! What is going on? ARGGGGG! Who’s pranking me? STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT! OUCH!!!!!! Who’s punking me? Stop THE PAIN! HELP ME! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE! What’s going on here! ARRRRG! The last thing I remember I was in my apartment getting high…OWWWWWWW! SOMEBODY HELP ME! HELP ME! PLEASE! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP!
OWWWW! Why do I keep hearing my sweet sister say, “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.” She won’t stop. OWWW! That’s driving me crazy too. ARRRRRG! And alternating between sis is Jimmy, the annoying prop guy with his annoying voice saying “Jesus saves. Only Jesus saves.” OWWWW! “Repent ye, and believe the Gospel.” ARRRRG! “Jesus saves. Only Jesus saves. PLEASE STOP THE NOISE, STOP THE PAIN, MAKE IT STOP. MAKE IT ALL STOP! I CAN’T TAKE IT ANYMORE. AAWWW THE PHYSICAL PAIN, THE MENTAL ANGUISH!
HELP! HELP! HELP! OWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! PLEASE, PLEASE, SOMEBODY HELP ME. ARRRRRRRG! STOP THE PAIN. I can’t even describe how bad it is. I guess you could take a migraine headache times a million and you still wouldn’t be close to it. OWWWWWW! STOP THE NOISE! This is some kind of horrible high. My skin keeps burning off. Then it comes back and burns off again. This makes no sense. OWWWWWWW! HELP ME! HELP ME! PLEASE HELP ME! THIS CAN’T BE. IT CAN’T BE. ARRRRRG! THIS IS PURE HELL. I’M, I’M IN…HELL. I’M IN HELL! I’M IN HELL! OWWWWWWW! My…my sister was right. If Hell is real…that means Heaven is real and if Heaven is real then JESUS IS REAL. ARRRG! THIS CAN’T BE. SOMETHING’S HORRIBLY WRONG. OHHHHHHH HELP ME PLEASE. THIS CAN’T BE. IT JUST CAN’T BE. OWWWWWWWWWW! I’ll be good from now on. I promise. I’m Philip Seymour Hoffman and I have fame and…OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!
Now you say to me, you can’t judge Philip Seymour Hoffman! You can’t say that he’s in Hell. Yes I can, for two reasons. Number one, Jesus said that you will know my disciples by their fruit (Matthew 7:16). In other words, you will know them by their works. Works never saved anybody (Ephesians 2:8-9), but you are so grateful after God saves you, that you want to do things for Him. Blaspheming God, fathering three children with your girlfriend out of wedlock, drinking and doing drugs my friend, are not signs of a disciple of Christ.
Secondly, we have a record of him saying in his own words that he was not a Christian. Mr. Hoffman’s sister became a devout Christian and he noticed the change in her and her friends. But he said that he just couldn’t totally commit his life to Christ. He said, “It was a little too much for me” plus he continued, “and by that time I was more into partying and acting.”
Philip Seymour Hoffman was like a lot of people in that he did believe in God. He admitted that he even prayed every now and then. But you see, that won’t get you to Heaven. A wishy-washy, nilly-willy kind of of belief in God will send you straight to Hell (Matthew 7:21-23). You will join Philip Seymour Hoffman in everlasting torment; on the day you die, if you don’t repent and put your faith in Jesus. The Son of God died for guilty sinners like you and me. He shed His own precious blood, to wipe away the sins of repentant sinners. The question is: Are you a repentant sinner? How do you know if you have repented or not? If you have truly repented, then you have turned away from your sins.
You can’t do this on your own. Don’t get me wrong, you can clean yourself up temporarily. But you will never have lasting peace unless you receive the peace that surpasses all understanding and that kind of peace only comes from Jesus. You eventually get tired of making yourself more righteous on your own. You can never make yourself good enough for God to save you (Psalm 14:1). None of us are good enough. We are all vile sinners. We have all sinned against almighty God.
No, salvation is a free gift from God. If God convicts you of your sins and you recognize that you have sinned against the great God of Heaven and earth, then you can be saved (Romans 3:23). Along with granting you repentance toward Himself, God can also give you a measure of faith in Jesus Christ. In fact the Bible says we are to have repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21). You can be saved tonight, but only if you surrender your life to Jesus.
For those of you who claim that you don’t believe in a literal Hell, you need to quit deceiving yourself. Matthew 13:24-30 and Matthew 13:36-43, Jesus tells about and explains the meaning of the parable about the wheat and the tares (or weeds). Please notice that Jesus says that those who commit iniquity, those who offend, will be cast into the furnace of fire: where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Hell is real. Jesus talked about it a lot. He warned people to flee from the wrath to come. So I’m begging you, flee from the wrath to come. Don’t foolishly join Philip Seymour Hoffman in Hell when you die. Turn away from your sins. Repent and believe the Gospel (Matthew 4:17).
Philip Seymour Hoffman has been burning in Hell for a week now. If he could come back to earth, if he could stand before you right now, he would grab you by the shirt collar, shake you and shout at the top of his lungs that you need to avoid Hell at all cost! He would tell you how horrific Hell really is and his description would be much more vivid than I described above. He would tell you about a place that is much worse, even more awful; full of all kinds of unimaginable torment than what I described earlier.
Philip Seymour Hoffman would give up his Oscar, his fame, his fortune to escape Hell. But those things are no longer his to give up. He’s tormented in Hell and someone else will end up with his earthly possessions. What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, but lose his own soul (Mark 8:36)? He has nothing to barter with and God is Holy, righteous and just. His justice cannot be bought off.
Again, Philp Seymour Hoffman would tell you to avoid Hell at all cost and that’s the ironic part – IT DOESN’T COST YOU A THING! That’s because it cost Jesus Christ everything. He paid the price. Jesus paid it all (2 Corinthians 5:21). He paid your sin debt in full, the sin debt that you can never pay on your own. He paid it all. You must receive this free gift. But if you reject this amazing gift, you will pay for your sins for all of eternity. Please, don’t be like Philip Seymour Hoffman. Do not foolishly die in your sins and spend eternity in anguish and torment in Hell. Repent and believe the Gospel. Trust Jesus – right here, right now. Do this tonight. Do not foolishly die in your sins and go to Hell.
(This message was proclaimed in the open-air in downtown Springfield on February 7, 2014)