When I first came into this area,
I was walking on a hill and I saw a gravel pit fall and bury three
human beings alive. I lifted up my voice for help
so loud that I was heard in the town below at a distance of near
a mile. Help came and the sufferers were
rescued from death. No one called me a fanatic then. And when I see eternal destruction
ready to fall on poor sinners, and about to entomb them irrevocably,
and call aloud on them to escape, shall I then be called a fanatic? No, I am no fanatic in so doing,
and I call on thee with all earnestness to take refuge which is in the
gospel set before thee. I believe I can enter into the
sentiments of that preacher. Let a man be moved to the point
of near distraction in the face of physical calamity, and no
one calls him a fanatic or an enthusiast. Anything less, they
say, is a revelation that he is a heartless fiend. But let
a man truly believe the clear statements of Holy Scripture
concerning the future of the impenitent, and begin to call
upon men, reason with them, argue with them, entreat them with
passion and with tears, and suddenly he's an enthusiast. He's overly
negative. There's no reason for such a
response but the blindness of the human heart to its own sin
and to its own danger. And so, in faithfulness to God
and in love to your souls, I have been setting before you in these
past Lord's Day mornings the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ
on this subject, the future of impenitent sinners. It is the
meek, lowly, compassionate Son of God who speaks more often
and with greater detail of the horrors of hell than all the
other mouthpieces of scripture put together. So we must take
the Jesus of the Bible and his hell or create another Jesus
without hell, but when you've created another Jesus, he's not
the Jesus who saves his people from their sins. And there is
no other alternative open to anyone who takes seriously the
Word of God. Thus far in our teaching, or
in our study of the Lord's teaching on the subject of hell, we've
set before you five principles or five aspects of what our Lord
says concerning hell. I shall only give them to you
and then move on to our study this morning. Our Lord taught
in the first place that hell is a place and a condition of
unspeakable, unalleviated misery, torment, and woe. He uses the
figures of outer darkness and of eternal fire, both of which
will result in wailing, the highest pitch of human agony, and gnashing
of teeth the highest expression of frustration, anger, and bitterness. Secondly, our Lord taught that
hell is a place and a condition where body and soul shall suffer
punishment for sin. Matthew 10 in verse 28. Since
the whole man was engaged in breaking the laws of God, the
whole man shall bear the judgment and the wrath of God. Thirdly,
our Lord clearly teaches that hell is a place and a condition
where men will suffer punishment for their sins. The purpose of
hell is divine retribution. The concepts that are poured
into the teaching of our Lord are the concepts of wrath, of
punishment, and of vengeance. The word used of God's discipline
of His children is never used concerning hell. Whom the Lord
loves he chastens, and that word chasten is never used of hell. It's the instruction of a loving
father carried out with a rod. Never is it used of hell, but
the concepts are that of pure wrath, of divine retribution,
God meting out his just anger upon impenitent sinners. And
then the fourth concept in our Lord's teaching is this, that
hell is a place and a condition where there will be degrees of
punishment. All will be perfectly miserable.
All shall wail and gnash their teeth, but some shall bear a
greater measure of misery. And our Lord teaches this clearly
in such terms as these. It shall be more tolerable for
Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment. He who knew his
Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes.
He who knew not and did not shall be beaten with few. And then
last week we considered the fifth and perhaps the crowning horror
of our Lord's teaching, that hell is a place and a condition
of conscious, endless suffering, misery, and woe. And we saw this
in our Lord's teaching in a threefold way. First of all, because of
the words used to describe the duration of that suffering. The
Hebrew word olam The Greek words aion and aionios are used of
the duration of God. They are used of the duration
of the bliss of the redeemed. And if they do not have a valid,
literal meaning as endlessness, there are no words in the Hebrew
or the Greek to express those concepts, neither of God nor
of heaven, if those are not the words used. And that is their
meaning with reference to hell. Secondly, because of the figures
our Lord employs, He speaks of eternal fire, unquenchable fire,
of a consumption which never ends. Their worm, that which
consumes them, never dies. Why? Because that which the worm
consumes is never dead. It continues to exist, and whatever
the worm is, if it's the gnawing of conscience or remorse, whatever
it is, our Lord says their worm shall never die, and the fire
shall never be quenched. And then you have in the third
place the explicit statements where the duration of hell is
described. The smoke of their torment shall ascend up forever
and ever, and they, those people that have existence, shall have
no rest day nor night, but shall be tormented day and night forever
and forever. And so if words come to us with
anything other than a deliberate attempt to deceive us, These
words convey the fifth and most terrible aspect of our Lord's
teaching on the subject of hell, that it is conscious, never-ending,
eternal misery, suffering, and woe. Now today, in keeping with
my promise of last week, I wish to deal with the major departures
from this cardinal doctrine, which in one form or another
have plagued the professing Church through the centuries. Just as
the biblical doctrine of the person of Christ has been attacked
at various periods in the history of the Church, Arius in the fourth
century, Sibelius and others, just as the sinfulness of man
has been attacked by Pelagius and then by Socinius and others
in the history of the Church, so likewise this doctrine, so
offensive to human nature, has its own list of those who have
opposed it. and sought to scrub it from the
pages of the Word of God. This morning I am not attempting
to deal with those who deny the doctrine of the eternity of the
punishments of hell on purely non-biblical grounds, what I
would call the rationalist who says, I cannot think of such
a concept, I cannot conceive of it, and therefore since my
mind is the know-all and the end-all of all truth, I reject
it. I'm not dealing with such. If there are any here this morning,
I have no word for you. But there are those within the
circle of the professing Christian Church who have and who do deny
this fifth aspect of our Lord's teaching. And they attempt to
justify that denial by the very scriptures which teach this principle. And it's with that group that
I wish to deal this morning. Now there are all kinds and different
brands and first and second cousins twice removed and all the rest.
But when you take all of the doctrines that deny this fifth
point of our Lord's teaching, that hell is a place and a condition
of conscious, eternal suffering, misery, and woe, you can group
them under two headings. There are really but two fathers
to all of these little children. and grandchildren and great-grandchildren
of heresy. One is the father of Universalism,
and the other is Mr. Annihilationism. Now, what is
Universalism? Simply stated, Universalism—and
it has many sons, many daughters, many grandchildren, but they
all have this family characteristic, follow me closely now—simply
stated, Universalism is the doctrine that sooner or later all men
will be saved. Put it more simply, hell if there's
to be, one will be empty. That's universalism. Some say
a longer period of time, some say a shorter period, but ultimately
everyone will enjoy everything that's described in the book
of the Revelation concerning the redeemed. They'll look upon
his face, His name will be upon their forehead. They'll enjoy
His presence. No pain, no sickness, no sorrow. Every rational creature, including
the devil and the fallen angels, every rational creature, will
one day know the delights of conscious, unbroken communion
with God and the bliss of heaven. That's universalism. Now, on
the other side, the second great father, who has again been very
prolific in bearing children, of all kinds of heresies is that
of annihilationism. Now, simply stated, this is the
doctrine that sooner or later all men who remain in rebellion
will cease to exist. Hell, then, is not so much a
place that will be emptied and send its inhabitants to heaven,
it's like a great lion that will consume all of its objects and
take them back into nothingness. So simply stated, annihilationism
and its many forms is the teaching that sooner or later all the
impenitent will go back into a state of nothingness. It will
be exactly the way it was before they were conceived in the womb
of the mother or ever created by God in the place of the devil
and fallen angels. To summarize the teaching of
these two groups, and we're going to enlarge on it in a bit, and
set it in a biblical context, I want you to turn with me to
Matthew 26. And this is all I'm attempting
to do now is to summarize the basic concepts of universalism,
annihilationism. Then what we're going to do is
to set forth the supposed scriptural basis for each, set forth the
scriptural reputation for each, and then the Lord willing, next
week, show the practical results that come from denying the eternity
of the punishments of hell. Matthew 26. And I read now, beginning
with verse 24. Our Lord is speaking and he says,
The Son of Man goeth, even as it is written of him. But woe
unto that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. Yes,
I must die. It is written, it is decreed
of God. But woe be to that man, of course
referring to Judas, who is the instrument of my betrayal. Now
notice what our Lord says about him. Good were it for that man
if he had not been born. Our Lord uses this terrible word
that He uses infrequently, but when He uses it, it comes with
terrible weight. He uses it with the Pharisees.
Woe unto you! Woe unto you! It speaks of the
awful impending judgment of God. And He says in this case, a woe
upon a certain man. It were better for him that somehow
he could go back into a state of non-existence. It were good
for him that he had never been born in the light of what awaits
him. in the world to come. Now, universalism
would have to rewrite this text and say, it is good for that
man that he has been born. For, if Judas should even spend
a billion years, that's a finite time, a long time, but a finite
time, in hell, but ultimately look upon the face of Jesus as
a redeemed man, what greater monument of grace would there
be than Judas? Who would have grounds to have
a greater sense of joy and wonder at the grace of God in heaven,
even more than the devil himself? For the devil did not directly
put Jesus to death. Judas was that key instrument.
The devil put it into his heart, yes, but he did it. You see,
Judas would have the greatest measure of joy because he had
been saved from the greatest sin, and the Universalists would
have to write this text. It is good for that man that
he was born, for he will ultimately become the greatest monument
of grace. Jesus didn't say it. He said it's good for him that
he had never been born. Universalism can't handle a text
like this. What does the Annihilationist
say? He says this. Woe unto that man by whom the
Son of Man is betrayed, it will be the same with him as if he
had never been born. If the woe is annihilation, to
go back into a state of non-existence, then that makes it equal to having
never been born. Jesus would have to say, woe
to that man, it will be the same with him as if he had never been
born, but that is not what he said. And the annihilationist cannot
face a text like this. Oh, he can handle it. Oh, sure. He can get around it. But we're
not to get around texts of Scripture. We're to bow to them. I have
seen the Jehovah's Witness get around John 20, 28. When Thomas
falls at the feet of Christ and says, Ho kurios mu? The Lord of me. Kai hasa osmu,
and the God of me. You know how he gets around it?
Thomas was so surprised, he said, Oh my Lord and my God. He was
cursing. He was so excited, he said, Oh
my Lord and my God. It's funny, Jesus didn't interpret
that way. He didn't say, Blessed are you, Thomas, because you've
taken my name in vain. He says, Blessed are you because
you believed. What? Who I am. Oh, you can get around it, but
my friend, if you get a wrong text of scriptures that set forth
truth, you'll keep walking around them until you walk into the
hell you deny is taught in scripture. That's why Peter says the ignorant
and the unstable twist the scriptures to their own destruction and
advance a jig around text until they enter the fires of the damned. So you see, a little child armed
with a little text like this can stand against all the sophistry
and all the apparent weight of the great doctrines of universalism
and annihilationism. Well, so much for a broad overview.
Now will you think with me as first of all we take universalism
and set forth the supposed scriptural basis for it. But we're only
dealing with people who try to justify these positions from
the scripture. Where does the universalist extract his doctrine
from scripture? May I suggest that all of his
extractions focus on three things. And I want you to follow closer
with me. I'm giving you sometimes in two minutes what it's taken
me hours and hundreds of pages of reading to get to. So please
stick with me. First of all, the Universalist
finds a supposed basis for his position that all men will ultimately
be saved in what he conceives the efficacy of the death of
Christ. Secondly, the extent of the plan of redemption, and
thirdly, the effects of the pain of hell. Three things, then.
Here's the three pillars upon which Universalism says, our
house is built. The efficacy of the death of
Christ. Here are some of the texts that
the Universalists love to park on, build tents around. John
12, 32. Speaking of his own death, Jesus
said, And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all
men unto me. And the next verse says, This
spake he, signifying by what death he should die. There the
universalist says it's clear. Isn't it clear? If I be lifted
up, I'll draw all men unto me. Was he lifted up? Yes or no?
I hope you believe. You sing it. Lifted up was he
to die, at his finish was his cry. The Universalist says, all
right, if he was lifted up on behalf of all men, all men will
be drawn. 1 Timothy 4, 5 and 6 is another
great parking ground and camping ground for the Universalist.
Speaking of Jesus Christ who gave Himself a ransom for all,
the testimony to be born in due time, and they say, see, see,
in due time, after some eons of punishment in hell, this testimony
will come to light that Jesus Christ ransomed every last fallen
son of Adam, every last rational creature, the devil and fallen
angels as well, and in due time, hell will be emptied, Heaven
will be populated with all rational creatures. So their view of the
efficacy of the death of Christ is one pillar upon which their
doctrine rests. The second one is what they conceive
to be the extent of the plan of redemption. What is God's
plan of redemption? What does it envision? And their
favorite passages are passages like 1 Corinthians 15, 24 to
28. And I'm not building straw dummies.
If you get a good book written by a universalist, here are the
texts that he will seek to expound. 1 Corinthians 15, 24-28, Then
come at the end, when he, Jesus, shall deliver up the kingdom
to God, even the Father, when he shall have abolished, notice,
all rules all authority and power, for he must reign till he hath
put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall
be abolished is death, for he hath put all things in subjection
under his feet. But when he saith, All things
are put in subjection, it is evident that it is accepted who
did subject all things unto him. And when all things have been
subjected unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subjected
to him that did subject all things unto him, that God may be all
in all. And they say, see, here's the
broad scope, the extent of the plan of redemption. It envisages
a state in which God will be all in all to all rational creatures,
and there's no place in this vision, they say, for the concept
of a prison of the damned with groans and cries and misery and
woe for all eternity. They say, no, the extent of the
plan of redemption utterly precludes such an idea. Romans 5.18 is
a parallel passage. As in Adam, all die, so in Christ, you see,
the gift of righteousness comes upon all. Ephesians 1.10 is another
favorite passage of the Universalist under this heading. Listen as
I read Ephesians 1 and verse 10, unto a dispensation of the
fullness of times to sum up all things in Christ, the things
in the heavens, the things upon the earth, in him, and then he
goes on to develop the thought. Then you have a passage like
Acts 3.21 that speaks of the restitution of all things. And
they say, see, all things are going to be restored. One of
the children of universalism is what's called restorationism.
After a period of suffering, everything will be restored.
Now, please don't go to sleep with me now. You may need a valid,
bona fide universalist someday. What are you going to say when
he brings these texts? And what would it say? God's going to
be all in all? Everything's going to be restored? Everything's
going to be summed up in Christ? That's what the Bible says! We
believe the Bible! That's what they'll tell you. Third thing, and here they're
really short-changed when they try to find some Bible text for
it. The effects of the pain of hell. And I've yet to find any
text that can be brought forward to show. But they believe this. That the pains of hell will be
more persuasive than the overtures of the gospel here on earth.
When hell was threatened, men weren't convinced. Therefore,
they didn't repent and believe. But when hell becomes a reality,
they say, hey, that preacher wasn't lying. This is the truth.
I better get out of here as soon as possible. Then grace is offered,
and they're willing now to accept the salvation of God purchased
by Jesus Christ. And so the effects of the pains
of hell to the universalists will be sanctifying. They will
be more powerful than the operations of grace here through the gospel. How do we refute the position
of the annihilationists? Well, let's take their points
one by one. The efficacy of the death of Christ. And at this
point we say to the universalists, you are absolutely right when
you say that all for whom the Savior died shall, must, ultimately
come into the blessings of the death that he died for them. You see, the Universalist is
right when he has a biblical concept of the efficacy of the
death of Christ. Christ did not die simply to
make some people savable. He died to actually save people. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
for he shall make salvation possible for his people? No. He shall
what? Save his people from their sin. The Universalist is right when
he has a concept of the efficacy of the death of Christ. But,
now listen carefully, though Scripture teaches that the benefits
of Christ's death are freely and sincerely offered to all,
there was in the mind and heart of the Father and of the Son
a distinct design in the offering up of the Son of God upon the
cross. It is a redemption which effects
redemption for all on whose behalf it was made. But it is particular
in its design. Jesus said, I lay down my life
for the sheep. And in that same chapter, He
faced some people and said, you are not my sheep. Jesus said in John 17 of that
select group that the Father had given Him, The others He
calls the world. He says, I don't pray for the
world, but for them whom Thou hast given Me. And for their
sakes I sanctify Myself. That is, I set Myself apart as
an offering and a sacrifice. Why? That they may be sanctified. Not that it might be possible
for them to be sanctified. He says, I set myself apart on
their behalf that they may be set apart from their sins unto
God by the virtue of my death and my sacrifice. Ephesians 5
says Christ loved the church and gave himself for the church. That he might make it sanctifiable?
No, but that he might actually sanctify it and actually present
it to himself. And so passage after passage
which speaks explicitly of that particular design in the death
of Christ, then we realize that Christ's death is not an isolated
event in the teaching of scripture, but it is one event in the great
concept of the triune God working out redemption on behalf of man. The Father in eternity set his
love upon a people, the rich biblical doctrine of election.
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world. The Son comes forth
from the Father, conscious that He has, I say it reverently,
an agreement with the Father. He speaks of it often in the
book of John. He says, I know, Father, that You gave a people
unto Me in John 17. I have finished the work You
gave Me to do. I have given eternal life to as many as You gave Me.
He speaks in John 6.37, all that the Father giveth me. And so
the Son comes forth from the Father with that peculiar, that
distinct people, His elect upon His heart. When He goes to that
cross, He goes with a specific design of bearing in His own
body the full measure of the wrath of God that was due to
His people. Now he's ascended to the right
hand of the Father and the Holy Spirit is sent forth to apply
with power what was purchased in blood in keeping with the
purpose of the Father. The purpose of the Father, the
purchase of the Son, the power of the Spirit effecting salvation
in the economy of God. That's the teaching of the Word
of God. And the same Bible that teaches us that there was a peculiar
design in the death of Christ, and that he shall see of the
travail of his soul and be satisfied, also teaches that the Holy Spirit
applies that salvation, this side of death, in the effectual
calling. There's not a verse in the Bible
that says the Holy Spirit brings to men the benefits of the death
of Christ, the other side of the grave. He introduces them
to it this side, and that work is completed the other side.
But if they aren't introduced to it now, they have no grounds
to expect it then. Now is the day of salvation.
It's appointed unto men once to die, and after this, the judgment. As death finds me, the judgment
will take me. And as the judgment takes me,
eternity will seal me. Isn't it interesting that the
Universalist never, never once goes to the words of Jesus in
the Gospels for his doctrine of what will happen in the world
to come? What does he do? He goes to the epistles where
you have particular direction and instruction given to believers
to make their hearts swell and thrill with their destiny in
a redeemed world. Paul's purpose in 1 Corinthians
15, in Ephesians 1, Romans 5, is not to deal with the future
of the impenitent. He deals with that in Romans
2. He says, Tribulation, wrath, and anguish upon every soul of
man that doeth evil. And so the supposed biblical
basis of the Universalist is nothing but a mirage and a smokescreen
to justify the rationalistic bent of their own minds and the
rebellion of their own hearts. The efficacy of the death of
Christ, the Universalist has no grounds to stand on. Now,
what about the extent of the plan of redemption? I've already
hinted at that. The passages used are not dealing
with the future of the impenitent, the day of judgment. Take Ephesians
1.10, for example. That's the only one we'll deal
with, and if you get the principles there, you can see through the
others. What does Ephesians 1.10 say? Well, it says that all things
are going to be summed up in Jesus Christ. And so the Universalist
says, all right, all things, that means all men will ultimately
be saved. But as Charles Hodge says in dealing with this passage,
and I quote, for example, in Ephesians 1.10, it is said to
be the purpose of God to bring into one harmonious whole, or
as expressed in Colossians 1.20, to reconcile unto himself all
things, all who are in heaven and who are on earth. The question
is, who or what are the all who are to be reconciled to God?
The question must be answered by a reference to the nature
of the things spoken of and to the rest of the teaching of scripture.
It cannot mean absolutely all things, the whole universe, including
sun, moon, stars, for they are not susceptible of reconciliation
to God. For the same reason, it can't
mean all sensitive creatures, including irrational animals,
Nor can it mean all rational creatures, including the holy
angels, for they don't need reconciliation. Nor can it mean all fallen rational
creatures, for it's clearly taught in Hebrews 2.16 that Christ did
not come to redeem fallen angels. Nor can it mean all men, for
the Bible teaches elsewhere that all men are not reconciled to
God, and Scripture cannot contradict Scripture, for that would be
for God to contradict Himself. The all intended is the all spoken
of in the context, the whole body of the people of God, all
the objects of redemption. And unless you come to that text
with a theory, looking for materials to prove it, no one in his right
mind would ever read through all of those statements of Matthew,
outer darkness, wailing, gnashing of teeth, eternal fire, all of
those statements, pregnant with those awful concepts of eternal
judgment, and suddenly discover Well, that really doesn't mean
all that. Look, all things, all things until the word all flashes
with neon lights and multi-colored lights and a whole doctrine is
built upon a pillar of straw. No, the extent of God's redemption
will bring together the people of God of all ages until all
who were purchased by that blood of sacrifice enjoy the full benefits
of the redemption. Now, when you want to know what
happens out in the future, you go to the passages which deal
specifically with that. And when you compare Matthew
13, 41 to 43 with Revelation 21, 1 to 8, you see that whenever
God is saying, this is what lies out in the world to come, he
never gives us the picture of only the redeemed in heaven,
but he sharpens and highlights the glory of the redeemed. by
the contrast of the agony of the damned. Notice how our Lord
does it in Matthew 13, and then we'll look at the parallel passage
in Revelation. The Universalist says, ultimately
hell will be emptied, only heaven will be populated. Matthew 13,
41-43 says, The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they
shall gather out of his kingdom all things that cause stumbling
and them that do iniquity. and shall cast them into the
furnace of fire, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing
of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine
forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." See it? What
lies out there, Lord? A time coming when God will banish
to that awful place all of the wicked. Then the redeemed shall
shine forth in their glory. Turn to Revelation. Chapter 21,
verses 1 to 8, where we have the same picture set before us.
Revelation 21, verses 1 to 8, And I saw a new heaven and a
new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed
away, and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, New
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with
men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his people,
and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And he
shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be
no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor
pain any more, for the first things are passed away. And he
that sitteth on the throne saith, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said, Write, for these words are faithful and true.
And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am Alpha and
Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that
is of a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things. For whom are they
reserved? Those who overcome. And I will
be his God, the overcomer's God. And he shall be my son, the overcomer's
son, or the father of the overcomer. But for the fearful, and the
unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators,
and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall
be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death." Doesn't it almost seem out of place? The
Holy Ghost takes us up to that veil of what lies in the future
for the child of God, and He pulls the veil back. And he says,
A time coming, no more crying, no more tears, no more sorrow. Blessed be such a people to whom
God is God, the overcomers who overcome by the blood of the
Lamb and the word of their testimony. It's as though the people of
God listening to this letter being read down there in Pergamos
or Thyatira or wherever it was read that Sunday morning were
caught away and their minds began to think and suddenly they're
jarred with these words, but the people the unbelieving, their
part, the lake of fire, reminding them that eternity will find
men in bliss and in woe. No, the universalist, by all
his clever arguments and by all his pseudo-exegesis, cannot stand
before the force of these principles of the Word of God. Well, what
about the sufferings of hell, then? They say the sufferings
of hell will be sanctifying in their effects. All I do is remind
you of all that I sought to set before you in message number
three, that Jesus taught that hell is a place of divine retribution. Its purpose is not to teach.
Its purpose is not to sanctify. Its purpose is to bring the righteous
angle of God upon the souls and bodies of impenitent sinners
and upon the being of the devil and his fallen angels. There's
not one shred of evidence in the Bible that grace is in operation
beyond the grave, or that there's any reversal of the decision
of the day of judgment. Not one shred of evidence. Not
one. Not one. It's interesting, though
many universalists have tried to teach their doctrine from
the Bible, One of the great rationalists, a rationalist is the kind of
man that Mr. Sterrett was talking about this morning. He makes
his own head the bar of judgment for everything. Every pronouncement
must come to the bar of his reason, and whatever seems unreasonable
to him, he throws out. That's a rationalist. He looks
to no higher court of appeal than his own noggin. That's stating
it bluntly. That's what a rationalist is.
Well, one of the great English rationalists, Davidson, this
is what he said about the doctrine of hell after studying it in
the Bible. Now, he doesn't believe the Bible,
but listen to what he said, and I quote now. If a specific sense be attached
to words, never-ending misery is enunciated in the Bible. On
the presumption that one doctrine is taught, it is the eternity
of hell torments. Bad exegesis, that is, bad attempts
to open up the meaning of the words of the Bible, that's what
exegesis is. Bad exegesis, still quoting a
rationalist now, may attempt to banish this doctrine from
the New Testament scriptures, but it is still there. and the
expositors who wish to get rid of it as Canon Farrar. He was
a brilliant Anglican man who tried to teach the doctrine of
universalism from the Bible. Farrar wrote on The Larger Hope,
one of the most destructive books and damning delusions that's
ever been penned, and many followed its error. This man says, There
are expositors who wish to get rid of it, as Canon Farrar does.
They injure the cause they have in view by misrepresentation.
It must be allowed that the New Testament record not only makes
Christ assert everlasting punishment, but Paul and John. But the question
should be looked at from a larger platform than single texts. In
the light of God's attributes and the nature of the soul, the
destination of man and the Creator's infinite goodness, conflicting
as they do with the doctrine of everlasting punishment, remove
that doctrine from the sphere of rational belief. If provision
be not made in revelation for a change of moral character after
death, it is made in man's reason. philosophical considerations
must not be set aside even by the Bible. See what he's saying? He's saying, I'm a rationalist.
My mind is the final court of appeal. The Bible obviously teaches
the doctrine of eternal punishment, but I reject it, and I won't
play the fool like religious men who've tried to dance around
the Scriptures. I just flatly say, my mind says,
no hell, therefore for me there is no hell. And listen to me
this morning. If I speak to anyone who doubts the biblical doctrine,
it is not because you have come to the Bible with the heart of
a disciple. saying, Lord Jesus, thou who
hast redeemed me by grace, thou art my prophet. Teach me the
meaning of thy words. And as you read through scriptures
with a heart dependent upon the Holy Spirit and a mind subject
to Jesus Christ, you found an increasing weight of biblical
evidence that all pointed to the fact that men will ultimately
be saved. Never, never. There's only one
reason a man is a universalist. Basically, it's because at heart
he is a rationalist. He's made his own mind and what
he thinks is right and just and good. He's made that the final
court of appeal. Whereas every humble disciple
of Jesus Christ, who brings his mind and will in subjection to
the Word of God, comes away with this awful, awful doctrine. Awful in the sense that it should
create awe. that the sufferings of hell are
conscious, eternal punishment meted out upon the impenitent
sinner. Well, I've not even gotten to
annihilationism. That'll have to take the message
next Lord's Day morning. I thought I could get through
with it, but we'll have to leave it. But I want to say in closing, because
I don't want anyone to think this is just again, as Mr. Sterrett
emphasized so much in the hour to come, a battle of ideas. Listen,
my friend. The first attack of the devil
to our first parents came at this precise point. God said,
if you sin, here are the consequences. In the day you eat, you die.
What did the devil do? Serpent, who came, how did he
come? Half God sent? Well, this God
that surrounded you with all this beauty, who's endowed you
with all these capacities for pleasure? This God who has blessed
you with all of this goodness? Have God said this? Die, death,
judgment, punishment? This God who's obviously a God
of love? Look, your very existence is witness to His love. Look
around you. Your environment is one monumental testimony.
He's all love. Hath God said this? Oh, maybe
some devil, some demon, some fiend, but not God. And when
she entertained the doubt, the next thing was flat denial. Ye shall not surely die. Listen, my friend, doubt entertained
in the head, when joined with the corrupt tendencies of the
human heart, will become downright denial. When you begin to entertain
doubt in the head, you have corrupt affections which reach out for
that doubt because they like the doubt. It gives room for
corrupt affections to express themselves. You mean there's
a possibility I can sin and get away with it? I can play with
evil and not be damned? I can court sin and yet still
have the favor of God? Oh, that's a wonderful doubt!
And all the corrupt affections of the human heart begin to suck
that doubt into itself until it becomes downright denial.
The moment Eve took of that fruit, she knew that her doubt and the
devil's denial were a lie. And my friend, if you entertain
doubt as to the reality of the eternity of hell's punishments,
that doubt becomes a denial. The moment you pass out of this
life and begin to feel a preview in that world of the departed
spirits prior to the Day of Judgment, you were that rich man who died
and was buried, but in hell, in Hades, lifted up his eyes,
being in torments, you'll know that that doubt was the most
damnable thing you ever entertained. The doctrine of annihilation
is but another expression of the voice of the serpent in the
garden. Run from it like you'd run from the devil himself who
gave it. And where shall you run? Oh,
just don't run around anywhere. flee to the one who bruised the
head of the serpent, who said, I am the truth, and in being
truth incarnate said, flee the wrath to come. Come unto me,
hide yourself in me, in my person, in my work, eat of my flesh,
drink of my blood, assimilate me as Christ crucified, buried,
risen, and I'll hide you in my wounds and cover you in my righteousness. And when that awful day comes
and the wrath of the Lamb is manifested, you'll sit down with
me at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Oh, if there's some
of you here this morning still saying, well, if there's just
one chance in a hundred, maybe there is no hell. Oh, friend,
I plead with you. Flee to Christ. Flee to Christ. I only preach of hell that you
might avoid. May God grant that you flee,
and dear child of God, that you will be armed with the scriptural
teaching of this awful doctrine, both for your own benefit, as
we shall see in a subsequent message, and then that God may
spur us up to be more zealous, to be more tender, to be more
persistent in our witness and in our prayers for the lost about
us. God, help us to believe what
our Lord's words force us to receive. Let's pray.