of messages concerning the general
theme of the future of impenitent sinners, or the biblical doctrine
of hell. We do well to remember the thoughts
of John Bunyan, who said, and I'm merely paraphrasing in twentieth-century
language, the following words. The devil labors to keep the
thought of hell out of the minds of men. because he knows that
if they begin to think seriously of hell, it won't be long before
they break off from their sins and seriously inquire after the
way of salvation in Jesus Christ. I believe that's the truth of
the matter. can focus before his mind the
biblical doctrine of hell and sin with a high hand. Sin with
delightful abandonment. He may be able to go on sinning
still, but there'll be a worm in the gourd of every pleasure.
And the more he thinks upon it, the more likely he is to break
off the course that leads to hell and to seek salvation by
God's appointed Redeemer. It is because of this principle,
and the sense that I have not given due proportion to this
doctrine as found in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, that
we are breaking our normal exposition of verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter,
book-by-book studies, and considering for these few weeks this great
theme of Holy Scripture. In our two previous studies,
I have set before you, first of all, the approach to the subject. It must not be the approach of
the rationalist who makes his own understanding the bar of
judgment to which the statements of Scripture are brought, and
thereby accepted or rejected, no. We do not come as the rationalist,
for we realize we are creatures, and as the heavens are high above
the earth, so are his thoughts above our thoughts. and his ways
above our ways, and we come recognizing we are sinful creatures, and
that our minds are darkened, and we cannot trust our emotional
reactions to the thought of divine vengeance and say that it's too
harsh, for we are sinners looking at sin. We are creatures looking
at offense against a creator and against a holy creator at
that. No, our approach is that of disciples. whose minds as well as wills
are subject to Jesus Christ, whose minds say, Lord Jesus,
thou art the truth, I give my mind to thee to be led into any
path that your explicit statements lead me. For Jesus said, the
mark of his true disciples, John 17, 8, they have received my
words. When the father says, this is
my beloved son, hear him. The Christian says, yes father,
I will hear him. When he speaks of pardon through
his sacrifice, I will hear him. When he speaks of the Old Testament
scriptures as being authoritative and inspired, I will hear him.
When he says, the scriptures cannot be broken. When he says,
outer darkness. weeping, gnashing of teeth, unquenchable
fire, wherever worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched,
I will heal him, my mind is subject to Jesus. That's the only approach
to scripture that a Christian has. So much for our approach. Then we considered the focus
of our study. It will be primarily the teaching of our Lord Jesus
Christ on the subject of hell. Though we are bringing passages
from the other inspired writers, they are but supplementary. The
main focus of our study is the teaching of Christ, and I'm doing
this purposely, because the issue is just as simple. If we accept
the Gospels as a valid account of the life and teaching of our
Lord Jesus Christ, we are driven to the conclusion we have Christ
and His hell, or we must make another Christ to be rid of Christ
and His hell. no other conclusion. In the Gospel
of Matthew alone, there are approximately thirty distinct references in
the teaching of Christ himself to the future of impenitent sinners. As we have sought to analyze
the teaching of our Lord, we have come to two conclusions.
I'll simply mention them, and then we shall move to discover,
with God's help, the third this morning. First of all, our Lord
Jesus Christ clearly taught that hell is a place and a condition
of unspeakable and unalleviated torment, misery, and woe. And
we saw this basically for two reasons. One, the figure of outer
darkness used by our Lord three times, the figure of the furnace
of fire, unquenchable fire, Gehenna, resulting in both cases wailing
and gnashing of teeth. Our Lord is describing the state
of the impenitent as a state of unspeakable torment, misery
and woe, so that the definite article is used, there shall
be the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, as though every wailing
and gnashing of teeth known to man is but a preview to the unspeakable
misery and woe of that awful place. Last week we saw that
in the teaching of our Lord, hell is a place and a condition
where soul and body shall suffer. The express statement of our
Lord, fear not them which kill the body, but rather fear him
who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna, Matthew 10,
28. The rich man died, his body was
buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes. And our Lord again
and again speaking in Matthew 5 and Matthew 18 and in other
portions where he says it's better to enter into life maimed than
having two hands or two eyes or two feet to be cast into hell. Then the whole context of hell
is the judgment and the context of the judgment is the resurrection. The resurrection spoken of in
John 5, 28 and 29 where Jesus said, the hour is coming in which
all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come
forth. They that have done good to the
resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection
of damnation. I wonder, have the impressions
of those two messages all been lost? There was an unusual sobering
in our midst last Lord's Day morning. What's happened to those
impressions? Flavel, great old master in Israel,
speaking of the great problem of the minister, he said, unlike
the ordinary workman who, perhaps in building a table, can get
the table half constructed and leave it in his workshop and
come back a week later, he finds his work precisely where he left
it. Whereas the Christian minister,
because of the influence of the world and the devil, finds that
from one sermon to another, The work that was done has been undone.
What has happened to the serious impressions of last Lord's Day?
Have the world and the devil just dissipated them like the
dew before the burning sun? Oh, may God grant that it shall
not be so. The Lord will continue his work
as we come to this third aspect of this teaching as found in
our Lord's work. What is the third conclusion
we're warranted in making from the teaching of our Lord on the
subject of hell? It is this. Hell is a place and
a condition of divine retribution. Don't let the word scare you.
I'll define them. I'm using them purposely. Hell
is a place and condition of divine retribution for sins committed
in this life. What do I mean by divine? I mean
that which is of God. Retribution is the giving of
deserved punishment, a paying back for wrongs done. When retribution is made, there
is the meeting out of deserved punishment. And I submit that
the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of hell
is this, that hell is a place and a condition of divine retribution,
God meeting out what sin deserves in punishment upon the sinner.
Now, to clear the way for the words of our Lord, let me deal
first of all with several false conceptions of the purpose of
hell, for this is what we're dealing with this morning. What
is the purpose in the plan of God for that hell which was prepared
for the devil and his angels, but which will be not just the
place to which he is consigned, but all who have followed him?
Well, the first false conception of the purpose of hell is this.
It's a sanctified ruse. You know what a ruse is? A trick.
Let me illustrate. There's an old man who lives
in a rickety house. And his parents, I mean his loved
ones, his daughters and his progeny, they're concerned about him.
They love their dad and their granddad. But he's so attached
to that house, there's so many fond memories, they can't get
him out of it. And one of the children has a beautiful home
they've actually built an addition on so he can have his own privacy,
has his own little kitchenette and all the rest. And they begged
him, Dad, come. No, no. He says, I just love
this house too much. But Dad, the house is rickety. It's dangerous.
A good strong limit. No, it's too many memories. I
remember when Mom was with me. I remember the kiddies. They
can't get him out. So one day they conceive a plan. And they
come over with a big five gallon can and they put some old rags
in it and soak them with kerosene. They put the top back on it.
And they sneak in down in the basement, one of the sons does
and the other one's up engaging the dad in conversation. And
they put a match to that until they begin to get all this black
smoke and all the rest. And so the other son is sitting upstairs
and, you smell anything? Yes, I smell something's wrong. So he goes to the cellar door
and he opens the door and the smoke bill is out. He says, we've got
to get out of here. They said, well dad, let's just grab a few
of your belongings. And so they run into the bedroom
and grab some of his most valuable things and out the door they
run. He gets in the car. The other son puts the little
smoking thing out and takes him off to his house. After he's
there for a little while, he says, but what's happened to
my house? They say, well, dad, really nothing. It's still standing.
We're putting it on the market. How do you like it here? And
he says, son, well, you know, I never thought I would, but
I really do like it here. I don't want to go back. Someone
would say that was a sanctified ruse. Since you couldn't get
him out of the place of danger and into the place of safety
by honest means, use a dishonest means, but since it has a good
end, that's all right. Some actually teach that's what
the doctrine of hell is. They can't miss the doctrine
in the Bible. They do not deny that our Lord taught it, but
this is the idea. Men are so wedded to their sins
that all of the appeals of the gospel can't prevail upon them
to forsake that house of sin, to turn their backs upon it and
come to the house of grace. So you know what God has done?
He's played a trick on us. He's told us this terrible, frightening
thing called hell, in order that this might prevail upon us to
forsake the house and flee for refuge. Well, I think the answer
to that some of you children could give. How do we know this
is not true? Why, this idea completely undermines
the whole truth of the Word of God. Jesus said Thy word is truth,
and something that is true is that which is according to reality. According to reality, that's
something that's true. If you ask me how old I am and
I say 50, that's not according to reality. It's not true. And
if Jesus said, in the end of the age he shall send forth his
angels and gather out of his kingdom all things which do offend
and commit iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire
and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, if that's
not according to reality, Jesus spoke error. If he's a sinner,
if he's a sinner, if he's no saviour, if he's no saviour,
let's go out, eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. Undermines the
whole veracity of the Word of God. God is called the God who
cannot lie, Titus 1, 2, and Hebrews 6, 18. And the second thing that's
wrong with this, it's an absolute travesty on the power of God
and on the ability of grace to bring men to Christ. Is God so
helpless that He can't pry men from their sins without using
a lie? No, no. The power of grace is such that
on the basis of truth, God pries men loose from their sins until
they come freely and willingly into the house of mercy. false conception about the purpose
of hell is that it is an extended day of opportunity now the idea
goes like this since the overtures of grace that is the preaching
of the gospel the thing that goes on here when your preacher
looks at you and pleads with you to repent and believe and
warns you to flee the wrath to come the idea is that since the
overtures of grace with only the threat of hell do not prevail
upon too many When the overtures of grace are
no longer attended with the mere threat of hell, but with the
fact of hell, this will prevail upon people to accept the offered
grace, so that hell becomes an extended and more persuasive
day of opportunity. You get the idea? This is the
teaching of Solomon. Hell is an extended day of opportunity. How would you answer that? There's
not a shred of evidence of it in the Bible. And it flatly contradicts
the whole emphasis of Scripture that behold now is the day of
salvation. It contradicts the whole emphasis
of Scripture that this life and this life alone is probationary. The Scripture says it is appointed
unto men once to die and after this the judgment and the whole
teaching of Scripture can be summarized in this little couplet
As death leads you, the judgment finds you, and as the judgment
finds you, eternity will fix you. You got it? As death leads you, The judgment
will find you. It's appointed on the man who
wants to die after this judgment. And as judgment finds you, eternity
will fix you. These shall go away into everlasting
punishment. These shall go away into everlasting
life. So the idea that hell is an extended
day of opportunity will not stand the test of scripture. There's
a third false conception about the purpose of hell, and it's
this. That it's a means of grace. The idea is that the sufferings
of the sinner in hell will have some kind of a purifying effect
upon his own soul, thus causing repentance and purification,
and in some measure his sufferings will satisfy the demands of God's
law. That's the Roman Catholic doctrine
of purgatory. To purge something is to do what?
To clean it out. And so the concept is that the
fires of hell shall be purgative in their influence. Therefore,
hell becomes a means of grace. Well, how do we answer that?
Again, not a shred of evidence of it in the Bible. And not only
that, it flatly contradicts human experience. Torment and suffering
have no power to sanctify. Let me show it to you. If it's
true that torment and suffering have power to sanctify, then
the worst torment should have the most power to sanctify, right?
But when God is pouring out the vials of his judgment upon men
in the worst manifestations of his anger upon men here on earth,
what is the effect of that? I read now from Revelation 16,
8-10. And the fourth poured out his
bowl upon the sun, and it was given unto it to scorch men with
fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and what did they do? Cry to God for mercy and repent? No, they blasphemed the name
of the God who had the power over these plagues, and they
repented not to give Him glory. And the fifth angel poured out
his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened,
and they gnawed their tongues for pain. And they blasphemed
the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores,
And they repented not of their works. It's utterly contradictory
to human experience to think that suffering is a means of
grace. It never was and never shall be. Well, there's a last false concept
of hell and its purpose, and it's this. That hell is God's,
as it were, incinerator for the very last vestiges of the influence
of evil. A place to consume all evil. The idea is not that hell will
be primarily a display of justice in punishing evil, but a display
of God's power to annihilate and obliterate evil. Now there
are various brands of this thought. Some say that immediately upon
the sentence of hell, just like that, every vestige of evil is
consumed and the devil and his angels and all who followed him
and all who are not in the book of life are sent back into non-existence,
utterly obliterated, annihilated. Others say no, the Bible teaches
degrees of punishment, therefore the degrees will be meted out
in terms of time, and after a period of time, the Bible being, they
say, indefinite, Ultimately, hell itself will even be non-existent. Well, the answer to this, I'll
deal with this most fully when we come to the fourth aspect
of our Lord's teaching on the doctrine of hell, namely, the
endlessness found in His figures of the worm that dieth not, the
smoke of the torment that ascends forever, eternal fire, unquenchable
fire, the meaning of the word eternal, etc. But listen carefully. The basic answer to this false
concept of hell is this. It contradicts the biblical idea
of the purpose of hell set forth by our Lord, and we're going
to look at it now in a moment. Hell is primarily not a place
where God displays his power to obliterate evil, but it's
a place where he displays his justice in the punishment of
evil. So much then for the false concepts. Will you come with
me now to the biblical statement of the purpose of hell? And I
remind you of that which our Lord teaches. It is a place and
condition of divine retribution. God will subject the sinner to
punishment for sin committed. Turn to the Gospel of Matthew
and very quickly work through a number of passages with me
And what I want you to do as I read these passages, I want
you to feel the climate of our Lord's teaching on the doctrine
of hell. We're not going to pause to exegete
carefully every verse, but I want you to catch the flavor, the
mood of what our Lord is teaching. What does our Lord set forth
as the purpose of hell? Is it instructive? Is it sanctifying? Is it exhortative? Or is it punitive? Is it to punish? What is it?
Begin with Matthew 5, verse 22. But I say unto you that everyone
who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha, shall be in danger
of the counsel. And whosoever shall say, thou
fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire. What is our Lord
saying? He's saying, if you give vent
to a spirit that is characterized by this kind of derisive, abusive
speech, contempt for your fellow men, the punishment will be Gehenna
of fire. You see? The whole mood of the
passage being, if you do this, that action will be met with
this commensurate judgment from God. You find essentially the
same thing in verses 29 and 30. If thy right eye causes thee
to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is
profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell." The context
being adultery. And our Lord says, if you find
that lust is inflamed by the eye, by the hand, far better
to mutilate the physical body if this would have any sanctifying
effect. It doesn't, but he's saying far
better to undergo the pain, the excruciating pain and loss of
a right hand or a right eye. For if you go on in the adulterous
course, there's only one thing. the Gehenna of fire. You see? Judgment for the adulterous life
and ways. Chapter 7, verse 23. Speaking
of the day of judgment, notice our Lord's words. Perhaps you
could back up to verse 22. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and in thy name
cast out demons, and in thy name do mighty works? Then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me. Ye that
work iniquity, depart from me. Why? You are iniquity workers.
And because of iniquity, you must depart from me. You must
be punished. You must be judged for your sin. Chapter 8, verses 11 and 12. The context set in verse 10. Our Lord has seen the tremendous
faith of this nobleman, a Gentile. And Jesus said, verse 10, When
he heard it, he marveled and said unto them that followed,
Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no,
not in Israel. And I say unto you, that many
shall come from the east and the west, and shall sit down
with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But
the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. There shall be the weeping and
the gnashing of teeth. Why are they cast forth? Not
to be taught. not to be purified, but to be
punished for the sin of unbelief. In the midst of all the privilege,
the sons of the kingdom cast forth in punishment for unbelief. Chapter 10, verse 15, our Lord
commissioning the twelve And saying, if you go into a town
and there people don't want to receive the message you bring,
verses 14 and 15 of chapter 10, whosoever shall not receive you
nor hear your words as you go forth out of that house or city,
shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall
be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the
day of judgment for that city. Why are they judged? Because
of their terrible sin of impenitence in the face of great light. They
shall be punished for the sin of rejecting the servants of
God and their message. You find essentially the same
words in chapter 11 and verse 22. He begins to upgrade the cities
where he did mighty works, because they repented not. And he says
in verse 21, Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For
if the mighty works had been done in Tyre and Sidon, which
were done in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth
and ashes. But I say unto you, it should
be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment
than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou
be exalted unto heaven, thou shalt go down unto Hades, for
if the mighty works, etc. What is our Lord saying? He's
saying the day of judgment will be a day of inflicting punishment
for the terrible sin of unbelief in the face of great privilege
and great light. And we could go on and multiply
passage after passage from the Gospel of Matthew alone. I have
another six or seven, and that's not exhaustive. There's one more
I want you to consider that brings this out very, very forcibly. It's the 18th chapter of Matthew.
where our Lord is teaching the duty of forgiveness and the maintenance
of a forgiving spirit. Peter has asked the question
in verse 21, How oft shall my brother sin against me and I
forgive him? And he thought he'd really set the standard high,
and he says, Up to seven times? The Lord says, No, you missed
it by a long shot, Peter. The very fact that you've set
a figure shows you've missed it. Forgiveness doesn't have
figures. The spirit of forgiveness doesn't
keep a notebook, Peter. You missed it. The spirit of
forgiveness is that in the heart of a man which is like the heart
of God. It doesn't keep figures. So he
says, 70 times 7. He said, now I want to enforce
it with a little story. So he gave the parable. You remember, there's
the man who had a debt. He went to his creditor. He forgave the
debt. He turned around and found somebody who had a very little
debt to him, and he took him by the throat and said, you give it to me,
buddy, or you've had it. The master heard about this, and
what did he do? Notice carefully. Verse 32, Then
his Lord called him unto him, and said unto him, Thou wicked
servant, I forgave thee all thy debt, because thou besoughtest
me. Shouldest thou not have had mercy on thy fellow servant,
as I had mercy on thee? And his Lord was wroth, angry,
and delivered him to the tormentors, to me should pay all that was
due. So shall also my heavenly Father
do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from the
heart. He shall deliver you to the tormentors, to you pay what
is due. The judgment and the punishment
of hell being retribution, God paying back for the evil that
he's done. Hence the words of Scripture
used in connection with hell are not sanctification, instruction,
exhortation, persuasion, but the words are punishment, vengeance,
and wrath. And I want you to look at these
three words with me this morning. It's the second line of my argument,
the development of our thought. Hell is a place of divine retribution. How do we know? The very flavor
and climate of all that Jesus taught about hell is that climate
of retribution. God paying the sinner his due. Second thing, the very words
that are prominent in Scripture to describe hell are words of
retribution, punishment, vengeance, and wrath. What does the word
punishment mean in a biblical setting? It means this. Punishment
is suffering inflicted by a competent authority upon an evildoer as
satisfaction to justice. What is punishment? It is suffering
inflicted by a competent authority, that authority is God, upon an
evildoer as satisfaction to justice. And it's the word punishment
that is found in the lips of our Lord in Matthew 25 and verse
46. Having given the sentence in
verse 41, depart from ye cursed into everlasting fire. Having
given the wonderful invitation to his own, enter into the joy
of thy Lord. Verse 46 says, and thee shall
go away into everlasting punishment. Punishment. suffering inflicted
by a competent authority upon an evildoer as satisfaction to
justice. That sinner has broken the law
of God. That law demands punishment,
and punishment that sinner shall receive if he goes to the judgment
a stranger to the covering of the blood of Christ. And this
is confirmed by the usage of the other writers in the New
Testament. In Hebrews 10, in verse 29, The
writer to the Hebrews says, speaking of this whole matter of judgment,
of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who
hath trodden underfoot the Son of God. Of how much sorer punishment. 2 Peter 2.9 speaks of those that
are kept under punishment, awaiting the judgment of the great day.
2 Thessalonians 1.9, speaking of the coming of our Lord to
judgment, says, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction."
If words mean anything, the purpose of hell is not instructive. It's
not sanctifying. It's not exhortative. It is punitive
punishment. And then the word vengeance.
The word vengeance. What is vengeance? It's the return
of an injury for an injury in punishment. The return of an
injury for an injury in punishment, the avenging of an injury. Now,
it's interesting that God claims the sole prerogative of exercising
vengeance, but He does claim that prerogative. There's only
one other source of authority that ever has the right to render
injury for an injury. Romans 13 indicates that God
has put a limited amount of the right of vengeance in the hand
of human government. And he uses this very term. He
is an avenger of the wrath of God upon evildoers. Human government
has, as it were, a loan from God of a little of the right
of vengeance. So that when a person in society
does wrong, he is to be returned an injury for that injury to
satisfy justice. But outside of that, Again and
again, God says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, give no place
to vengeance. A classic passage that quotes
this is Romans 13, and I want you to look at it for a moment,
please. Romans, I'm sorry, Romans 12, verse 17. Render to no man
evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable
in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as
lieth in you, be at peace with all men. Now notice carefully.
Avenge not yourselves, beloved. Why? Because this is something
contrary to the character of God? No. It is a right reserved
to God and God alone. But give place unto the wrath
of God, for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense,
saith the Lord. Some say, Oh no, the concept
of vengeance? My God isn't a God of vengeance.
Well, I don't know who your God is. He's one you must have made. I've heard people, when confronted
with doctrine of hell, who thought the God like a big bully of punished
sinners. That's appalling to me. I'm sorry
if it is. Maybe that's why you're not going
to heaven. You couldn't be happy with a God like that. I read
of the souls in His presence in Revelation 19, when they see
His judgment and vengeance upon men, they cry out, True and righteous
are thy ways! Thou hast judged the great war! And they praise a God of vengeance. Vengeance? Oh, no! No right of vengeance in me.
God prohibits it, but He reserves it for Himself. Why? For this
simple reason, that all sin is against God. An injury done to
His person, an affront to His law, a slap at His glory. Now, follow closely. God, who
alone knows all the thoughts, all the intents, all the actions,
all the motives, He alone knows the full extent of the injury
done to His person, to His law, to His glory. And so, with perfect
accuracy, He can measure out precisely what those injuries
to His law and to His character deserve. They've been against
Him. He has perfect knowledge of them.
Vengeance is mine, God says. I will repay. And so, when I
read in my Bible, Words like those, in fact, in 2 Thessalonians
1.8, I'm not surprised, where the apostle says, the Lord Jesus
will come in flaming fire, taking what? Vengeance on all them that
know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Vengeance! Vengeance! God's paying
back! May I say it reverently? There's
a day coming when God's going to get even with sinners. He's
going to get even with some of you. You've snubbed the overtures
of His grace. You've trampled the authority
of His holy law under your foot, and God's let you go scot-free.
But, oh, my friend, there's a day coming when God's going to get
even. Vengeance. The Word should cause
us to shudder. Vengeance. I'm not surprised,
then, to read in Hebrews 10 and 30 Another quotation of those
words given in Romans chapter 12, when speaking of the coming
judgment of God upon the impenitent. These are the very forceful words
used. For we know him that saith, Vengeance
belongeth unto me. I will recompense. I will pay
back. I will get even. And again, the
Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. fall into His hands. Why is it
fearful? For they are hands of vengeance.
But I am not found in those hands in the day of mercy. And then
the third word that is used to speak of the purpose, the mood
of hell, is the word wrath. And the very mention of the word
brings up so many wrong connotations. May I say at the outset, we must
not identify this with that blind animal passion in men that only
leaves a trail of blood and of broken hearts. No, every emotion
of God is suffused with His holiness. It is holy love, it is holy vengeance,
it is holy wrath, but it is wrath nonetheless. And what is wrath?
It is that in God which stands actively opposed to man's sins,
and manifest itself in punishing that sin. That in God which stands
not indifferent or neutral, but actively opposed to man's sin,
and manifest itself in punishing that sin. John the Baptist preached,
who hath warned you to flee the wrath to come. John chapter 3,
which is so often used in a sentimental way to concoct an oozy, spineless,
Principleless God of love closes on this note, he that believeth
not the wrath of God abideth upon him. And so Paul, in describing
the day of judgment, says in Romans 2, 5, it will be of people
who are misusing God's goodness. He says, you treasure up unto
yourself wrath against the day of wrath. 1 Thessalonians 1 10
speaks of Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come. You want an interesting study
this afternoon if you have a concordance? I challenge you to look up the
word wrath in your concordance and check all the references
that have some connection with God. Then take the word love
and see all the uses that have something to do with God and
you'll have a very interesting discovery. You will find dozens
of more passages which speak directly of the wrath of God
in precept, principle, and example than of the love of God. Get
your Bible. That's all I ask you to do, and
it's in accordance. Go ahead. You do it. Now, what do these words tell
us? Punishment, vengeance, wrath. They tell us that the purpose
of hell, and this is the one principle that we're trying to
focus upon this morning, is not to instruct the sinner, not to
extend the day of opportunity, not to be a means of grace, not
to display God's power in obliterating evil, but to manifest the glory
of His character as a righteous and holy God in the punishment
of sin. Very briefly in closing, and
I can only be suggested, perhaps I'll have to work these out in
detail next week, God willing, but I don't want to leave this
hanging without application. May I just give you my headings,
and perhaps this is what I'll have to do. I don't know as I
think through and pray over. There are some tremendous theological
implications in what we've said this morning. The two greatest
are these. A tremendous implication about
the character of God, and secondly, about the salvation. Those people
who say, well, you know, I love the teaching of Jesus. He taught
that wonderful teaching about the universal fatherhood of God
and the brotherhood of man. And He changed that old Jewish
idea of a vengeful, wrathful God. And He showed us that God
is all love. Anybody says that? You know what
they're telling me? They never read the Bible. They're just parroting
what somebody else said. Just parroting. What did Jesus
teach us about the character of God? Well, listen to His words.
Don't fear those that can mutilate your body. We fear the God who
can cast soul and body into hell, outer darkness, bind them hand
and foot, weeping, gnashing of teeth. So shall my Father do
to you. What did He teach us? Oh, dear
ones, He taught us that God is a God of vengeance. Oh, is He
a God of love? Yes. But Psalm 89.14 says, Righteousness
and justice are the foundations of His throne. Mercy and truth
are before His face. Righteousness and justice are
the pillar stones of His throne. Mercy and truth are before His
face. God is light before God is love. God is a consuming fire, the
Scripture tells us. He is a God of inflexible justice
who said, this do and thou shalt live, this fail to do and thou
shalt die. Since the law is holy, spiritual,
just and good, that can't be altered. Since God is true and
unchanging, He won't go back on his word, so justice demands
that if the law is broken, there must be punishment, either in
the person who broke it or in an acceptable substitute, if
such can be found. What does this tell us about
the character of God? It tells us if you've been rocking
yourself to sleep and preparing yourself for hell and for judgment
by an idol called this God of love, who's all love and nothing
but love, may God help you to turn your back upon that idol.
and tremble and fall down before that God who's a consuming fire,
and seek mercy through his dear Son. That's the first great implication
of this principle of our Lord, that hell is a place of divine
retribution. It tells us something about the
character of God, then it tells us something profound about the
salvation of God. Listen carefully to what I'm
going to say, and I don't say it carelessly. I've thought it
through. I've tried to demonstrate it
historically one of the men who was over to see me last night,
and I believe it will hold water, an inadequate view of hell as
a place and condition of divine retribution always results in
a low and inadequate view of sin, and a low and inadequate
view of sin always results in a low and inadequate view of
the atonement. The Bible concept of hell, sin,
and the atonement stand and fall together. You let the Bible doctrine
of hell be undermined, it won't be long before the doctrine of
sin and atonement will be undermined. Undermine the doctrine of the
atonement, it won't be long before sin and hell go. Touch any one
of those, they're like a trilogy, a trinity of truth. And any one
dies, and the gangrene, the putrefaction affects all of it. Why do we have such shoddy views
of the atonement in our day? Christ sort of died generally
for everybody, but didn't secure the salvation of anybody. I would
suggest it's because we've got low views of sin. If we get right
views of sin and what it deserves, divine wrath, and then we see
that in dying upon the cross, the Father poured out His wrath
upon His Son, then you realize if He satisfied justice on behalf
of certain sinners, they must be saved. God won't punish His
Son and then punish the sinner. That's not just! If satisfaction
has been made to His law, then the guilty criminal is free! You see, the definiteness of
the atonement is tied in with the right view of sin. It's all
tied together. The core of the gospel message
is the preaching of the cross. And what's the core of the message
of the cross? Galatians 3.13, Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law. Why? being made a curse for us,
for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree."
My friend, may I say it reverently? There upon the cross, as the
substitute of all believers, Jesus Christ was bearing the
punishment, the vengeance, the wrath of God. Read some of those
prophetic psalms, like Psalm 88 and others, where he speaks
of all the billows of thy wrath. have gone over my head. Oh, what
a sight it should give us of our crucified Lord. Satisfying
divine justice on behalf of sinners. Well, those are the theological
implications. And then, in closing briefly,
the practical implications. You want to understand one of
the great factors that has led to the mess, to the hell of our
present society? It's because our society has
lost the Bible doctrine of hell that it's going to hell. A man of great wisdom said at
the turn of the century as he beheld the great affluence of
Western civilization, he said this, He said, if ever Western
civilization relinquishes the biblical doctrine of hell, it
won't be long before Western civilization will turn into a
veritable Sodom and Gomorrah. That man was a prophet. For even
where the doctrine of hell does not cause men to flee the wrath
and cling to Christ, it acts as a great restraint upon abandonment
to sin. Oh, how I remember as a boy how
the doctrine of hell did barely put a worm in the gourd of all
my sinful pleasures. Was like a rain upon my neck
so that when everything in my flesh dried out, take the pit
in your mouth. Run in the direction of your
lust and your passions. You know what kept the bit somewhat
on the flesh of my mouth? It was the rain of this awful
doctrine. Hell. Hell. The wrath of God. And isn't it interesting? But
about three, four years ago, they began to be involved to
let the word hell be used on the radio and on the television.
Up to then, that was a taboo word. No more. It's as though
man, by repeating the word hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell,
hell, hell, shall just completely negate the reality which it signifies. Get so familiar with the Word
that the thought of it will be gone. Just like people, you've
checked some time, you've taken the Lord's name in vain. Oh,
Christ this and Jesus that. You say, I never even thought
of Him when I said it. Yeah. You've used His name so
much you never think of the reality the name connotes. And man, I'm
convinced of it. All the hell in the speech on
the radio and the TV is an indication of man trying to push that truth
out of his mind. Why? Only then can he abandon
himself to his lust. Only then. And I'm convinced
that the only way to see the fear of God restored, among other
things, is to return this doctrine to its proper place and perspective
as found in Holy Scripture. I say this is why we've relinquished
capital punishment. The concept of vengeance, payment
for wrong, God has put a little bit of that in the hands of human
government. That's gone from our society. Why? The whole idea
of our punitive system is no longer punitive, but constructive.
We've got to take the criminal and re-educate him, fit him for
society. Granted, we ought to be concerned about men who've
had it tough and had bad backgrounds and all the rest, but listen!
When a man robs a bank, he doesn't need to be instructed, he's broken
the law and needs to be punished. He needs to be punished for his
crime. If that's true, then he ought
to be deprived of privileges. The whole idea of setting up
things so that criminals can have their wives visit once a
week and have all the blessings of the conjugal relationship,
having their Prisons turned into universities so they can have
all the benefit of a college education. Listen, I had to get
up at 5.30 in the morning and go out and work and sweep walks
and work till 7 at night to put myself through school. Why bother?
Go out and rob a bank and get in prison. Then I'll get a college
diploma at your expense. It's wicked. It's wicked. And that never would have come
to pass unless our society relinquished the doctrine of hell. And listen,
it got relinquished first in the church, and the salt lost
its savor. It lost its savior. Oh, may God use this little assembly
to at least begin to be an influence upon this society, to return
this concept in all of its sanctifying influence. May I suggest it's
not only an answer to the mess in our society, but the lack
of this concept of divine retribution is one of the reasons for the
lightness in the church. Every significant religious revival,
someone has said, has been accompanied by a quickening sense of the
danger and terror of hell. And it's true. Jesus said, I
say unto you, my friends, fear him who is able to cast souls
into hell. My friends, you mean Christians need to be influenced
by a biblical doctrine of hell? Exactly. Exactly. It's not the only influence upon
their obedience, but I'm going to show, God willing, in a separate
message. the motivational power of the
doctrine of hell in the teaching of Christ. And I've discovered
no fewer than five or six distinct motivations which Jesus himself
said the doctrine of hell should have upon his own people. And
I say we're something less than Bible Christians if this doesn't
act as a powerful motivation. And perhaps much of the fabric
of weakness is due to this. And then may I ask the question
in closing, In the light of Romans 9 and verse 22, a question I
want to press upon the conscience of everyone in this building
this morning. Romans 9, 22, What if God, willing to show His wrath
and to make His power known, endured with much long-suffering
vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that He might make known
the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He aforeprepared
unto glory? This passage indicates that all
men will be an eternal monument to one or two aspects of the
character of God. An eternal monument of the glory
of His wrath, or an eternal monument to the glory of His mercy. My
friend, you're going to be one or the other. Which will you
be? God is committed to the full
display of His character to all rational beings in heaven and
in the world below. He's committed to the full display
of all His glorious person, His love, His mercy, His wrath, and
His vengeance. And that display will come to
light, not abstractly, but personally upon men and angels and devils. My friend, which will you be?
An eternal monument of the glories of saving mercy? Or an eternal
monument to the glory and terror of divine wrath? So I'd like to think about that
question to you. May God help me to press it into your conscience.
You'll be one or the other. and your response to the overtures
of mercy in Christ is the pivotal difference. May God grant that
as a Savior stands in the gospel and in the promises and pleads,
come unto me, flee the wrath to come, that none of you will
be so foolish as to seal your own damnation by your unbelief. Dear young people, children,
adults, And I say again, in these past few weeks I've prayed by
name for all but probably, as I look out here, one or two of
you, simply because your names don't appear on our new expanded
list. And as I've thought of these
messages and I've prayed for you by name, some of you many
times, I say in the presence of God, my only motive for preaching
this way and pleading is I don't want you to prove by experience
that all that I've said painted but a feeble picture of the awful
reality of hell. I want to see a turn, repent,
and flee to Christ. So I entreat you in his name
to seek the sake. Let us pray.