I want to speak to you on what
I am entitling the most terrible words that human ears can ever
hear. The most terrible words that
human ears can ever hear. What do you think they might
be? For you husbands and fathers, it would be a terrible thing
to be called away from the bench, the place of employment tomorrow,
And to hear someone with very faltering, trembling, hesitant
voice on the other end of the line break the news that by some
unusual calamity your wife and children had been snatched away
in a moment of time. If your ears had to receive those
words, they'd be terrible words. Conversely, if some of you wives
heard a trembling, hesitant voice from the place of your husband's
employment, Announcing some terrible tragedy, terrible words. Some
of you fellows and girls, and I want you to know you're very
much upon my heart this morning. And I might say in a very real
sense, three quarters of my burden is for you children, young people,
teenagers. What do you think of the most
terrible words your ears could hear? Wouldn't it be terrible to hear
that mom and dad had been taken away in a moment of time? Perhaps
that your house had been burned down? Those would be terrible
words, wouldn't they? You see, Job experienced something like
that all in a matter of a few hours. His ears heard the accurate
announcement that all of his possessions had been swept away.
All of his family had been swept away. And yet I suggest that
the words we're going to look at make even the words that Job
heard look like kids' stuff. In fact, the words that Job heard
would be good news compared to these terrible words that we're
going to consider And those words are found recorded in the twenty-fifth
chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and I want us to look at them
this morning, trusting that as we look at them as recorded in
Scripture and take the warning from them, that none of us present
shall ever hear them pronounced to us by the Lord of glory in
that awful day. In other words, we're considering
the fact of these most terrible words now that we might not hear
them then. Matthew 25 and verse 41, Then
shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me,
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
angels. I'm convinced that these are
the most terrible words that your ears could ever hear. Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. These words are terrible, first
of all, because of the one who speaks them. These are not the
words of the devil or the antichrist or some demented fiend, but these
are the very words of the very one of whom it is said, they
wondered at the words of grace that proceeded out of his mouth.
The one who speaks these words is the one of whom it is said,
the common people heard him gladly. It's the one who said, suffer
the little children. to come unto me, and forbid them
not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven." The one who said
to a woman taken in the act of adultery, neither do I condemn
thee, go, sin no more. Yet this same one, whose lips
spoke words of grace to the amazement of the hearer, that spoke these
tender words of forgiveness to a woman taken in the act of adultery
is the very one who will utter the words, Depart from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels. And I submit that these words
are terrible because of the one who speaks them, for he will
speak them as the exalted Lord of glory with the right to speak
them, and as the appointed judge of the world with the power to
carry out his sentence. To effectively judge anyone,
there must be both the right of judgment and the power to
execute judgment. I've had people to tell me to
go to hell. Maybe you have. It doesn't trouble me. For two
reasons. They have no right to make that
sentence, and they have no power to carry it out. So sticks and
stones may break my bones, but those kind of words will never
hurt me. So let the whole world rise up and say in chorus, go
to the pit! It doesn't trouble me. Because
they don't have the right to make that pronouncement and they
don't have the power to carry it out. But what makes these
words terrible and makes me tremble inwardly to even consider them
with you this morning is that the one who speaks them has the
right to speak them and has the power to execute them. For He
speaks them, first of all, as the exalted Lord of glory. Notice verse 31 of the chapter.
When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy
angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory. He shall come in His glory, seated
upon the throne of His glory. And what is glory? It is the
outshining of the perfections of God. When we speak of the
glory of God, we're speaking of the outshining, the manifestation
of the perfection of His being. And the one who speaks these
will speak them as the exalted Lord of glory in the full exercise
of that glory of His own lordship and sovereignty. Philippians
chapter 2 makes clear that as the reward of His sufferings
and death, the Father has exalted Him with His right hand. and
given him a name above every name. Ephesians 1 says he's been
exalted far above all principalities in power and might and dominion
in every name that is named, and all authority, right to do,
all authority in heaven and in earth has been committed unto
him. So when he says, Depart from me, he's got the right to
say it. Not only the right, but the power to carry out the sentence. For he speaks as the exalted
Lord of glory, the one in whom all authority and all power resides. And he speaks as the appointed
judge of the world. In John chapter 5, in verse 22,
we read, The Father judges no man, but has committed all judgment
unto the Son. Verses 28 and 29, The hour is
coming when all that are in the grave shall hear the voice of
the Son of God and shall come forth. They that have done good
to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil
to the resurrection of damnation. Can you imagine what must have
gone through the minds of some people when he was on the cross? People who remembered him saying
in their hearing, the hour is coming when all that are in the
grave shall hear my voice. The Father has given all judgment
to me. And there he is upon a cross.
bowing his head in weakness, his form bruised and battered,
the heavens shrouded in blackness, the disciples gone, the spittle
of the angry mob dripping from his face as it mingles with his
clotted blood. And they say, Judge of the world,
look at him. We got a little puppet court
together, and by instigating the mob to cry, crucify, crucify,
we judged him! And he says he's going to judge
us? He doesn't even have enough power to deliver himself from
our hands, and he says he's going to deliver us from the clutches
of death and the grave? Impossible. Impossible. Paul tells us in Acts 7.31, God
has appointed a day in which you'll judge the world by that
man whom he hath ordained or appointed and given assurance
unto all. How? In that he raised him from
the dead. And when the father raised up
his son from the dead, he was saying to the world, I have the
last word now. And that open tomb there in Palestine,
wherever it is, is God's pledge that His Son is indeed the appointed
judge of the world. And the fact that Christ is the
appointed judge of the world is a very vital part of the apostolic
gospel. For Peter, in preaching to the
household of Cornelius, said in Acts 10, in verse 42, that
God has ordained that we should preach, verse 42, and He commanded
us to preach to the people and to testify that it is He, the
Lord Jesus, who was ordained of God to be the judge of the
living and the dead. He commanded us to preach this
facet of Christ's office and ministry. He is the appointed
judge of the world. Now, when you join all right
and power in one person, and that person says, Depart from
me ye cursed, those are the most terrible words that human ears
can hear. And then I submit in the second
place that they are terrible not only because of the one who
speaks them, but they are terrible because of the number who shall
hear them. If only one Hitler and one Mussolini
and one Stalin were to hear those words, that would be frightful
enough. For any one person to hear those
words, depart from me ye cursed, that would be terrible enough.
The thing that makes these words terrible and causes every sober
listener and reader of them to take note is that great multitudes
shall hear them. Who will hear these words when
the nations are gathered to judgment before the appointed judge of
the world, the exalted Lord of glory, who will come in his glory? Who will hear them? I would suggest
that all who will hear them can come under three broad categories,
and I trust you'll study and listen intently to see if you
fit these categories. that seeing it now you might
repent and flee the wrath to come. First of all, all impenitent
violators of the law of God. Who will hear these words? Depart
from me, ye cursed! All who openly and impenitently
violate the holy law of God, for the God who has made us has
subjected us to his law. And that law is either found
written in its remains upon the heart and conscience, Romans
2, 14 and 15, or that law has come to us in the additional
form of the written Word of God. And God didn't ask us to take
a vote if we would like to be subject to His law any more than
you vote about being subject to the laws of this land if you're
born here. If you're born here by very nature
of your birth in this land, you're subject to its laws. And the
fact that you've been born on God's earth in His moral universe
subjects you to His holy law. And by nature we are rebels against
that law, Romans 8 and verse 7. The carnal mind is enmity
against God, is not subject to His law, neither indeed can be,
and every breach of His law that we commit in the working out
of this disposition of enmity, God records it in thought, in
word and deed, and there in the court of heaven stands against
all impenitent sinners the accusation of God against them for their
breaches of His law. Then there is that terrible disposition
that produced them, this carnal mind, And all who go to that
awful day with that disposition not transformed by the Spirit
and that record not cleansed by the blood of His Son, all
impenitent violators of the law of God, will hear those terrible
words, Depart from me, ye cursed. There are abundance of passages
that make this clear. I will only be selective and
read several. First Corinthians chapter six.
The Apostle Paul is dealing with some of the problems of that
church, and one of them was immorality, impurity. And he is exhorting
these professed believers to deal with those sins, and it's
as though someone says, yeah, Paul, but suppose I don't? Well,
he tells them in verse 9. 1 Corinthians 6, 9, Know ye not
that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? If
you disregard my exhortations to holiness and purity, you can
mark it down as an absolute maxim. You will not inherit the kingdom
of God. Holiness is not optional, but essential. Be not deceived,
neither fornicators. Nor idolaters, nor adulterers,
nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
shall inherit the kingdom of God. What is that class of people?
Open, impenitent violators of the holy law of God. God's law
says thou shalt not commit adultery. They say we shall. God's law
says thou shalt not steal. They say we shall. God says thou
shalt worship me and me alone. They say we will not. And God
says in this text of Scripture that all impenitent violators
of His holy law shall hear those words, Depart from me ye cursed. I ask you this morning, what
is your attitude with regard to His holy law? Is it one of open impenitence
and indifference to the claims of your Sovereign? When He says,
Love Me with the whole heart, you say, I don't care to. When
He says, Honor My name, Listen, there will be people who hear
these words as much for willful breach of the fourth commandment
as those who will hear it for the seventh. Those who say, yes, God demands
one day in seven to be different, but it's not convenient for me,
they will perish as surely as those who say, yes, God commands,
thou shalt not commit adultery, but it's not convenient for me.
all impenitent violators of the holy law of God at any point. The scripture tells us in the
book of James, he that breaks or offends in one point is guilty
of all, for that law is a unit of expressing the mind and will
of God. All those who indulge the gross
sins mentioned here, but all those who indulge the refined
sins, covetousness, bearing false witness, Sabbath-breaking failure
to love His people. If there are any here this morning
who cannot say from the heart, Oh, how love I, thy law! Oh,
that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes! If your heart
is not bent in the direction of a serious, careful regard
of the holy law of God, not to keep it in order to gain salvation,
no! No, for having discovered the
spiritual demands of the law, having discovered the extent
of its demands, you know that that law could never save you.
It's been the instrument to show you your sin, to show you your
need of Christ, to make you appreciate the cross that He bore, the curse
of God against a broken law. Having received full and free
forgiveness, you accept that law from the hand of your Savior
as a guide for your conduct in order to live to His praise.
And I say to every child, every adult, every fellow, every girl,
if your disposition is not that of the psalmist, O how love have
I, O that my ways were directed, you are an impenitent violator
of the law of God, and you will hear these words. Because Jesus
Christ as Messiah, according to the book of Isaiah, has come
and one of his offices of Messiah is to magnify the law and to
make it honorable. He did it in his life. He did
it in his life. He walked in the light of the
strict law of God and he kept that law at every point. He magnified
it in his own holy life. He magnified it in his death.
When there upon the cross He said, in essence, Father, thy
law is so holy that when you say, This do and thou shalt live,
this fail to do and thou shalt die, we cannot relax those demands. Father, I am willing that I shall
bear the brunt of your wrath against a broken law on behalf
of those for whom I die. And the Son of God bared His
breast to the Father's wrath. For what purpose? Christ hath
redeemed us from the curse of the law. He made a curse for
us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a
tree. He magnified the law in his life. He magnified the law
in his death. And listen, he'll magnify the
law in his judgment. He will say to sinners, young
man, young woman, Did you know that my law said, Thou shalt
not? Thou shalt? Yes. Why did you
not regard it seriously? It wasn't convenient. I didn't
want to. I didn't like to. He's going to say, My Father's
law says the wages of sin is death. Depart from me, he cursed. And as sinners sink into the
pit of eternal burnings, the law of God will be magnified
in its purity. The Son of God is committed to
magnify the law in His life, in His death, in His judgment. And if you will not be brought
by the Spirit, if you are determined to go on with the bit in your
teeth, saying, I will not be subject to God and His law, then
you must hear those words, depart from me ye cursed. Young people,
when the temptations of your flesh begin to rage like a fire
within your breast, remember this is the issue. This is the
issue. To make a playground of your
body now is to make a faggot of your body in the pit of the
eternal burning man. Never forget it. To disregard
the law of God now is to have that law magnified in your damnation
in the world to come. Terrible words because they'll
be spoken to all impenitent violators of the law of God. The second
segment of humanity will hear those words are what I'm calling
all self-righteous moralists. Those whose training and temperament
and disposition and circumstances are such that they could never
openly and obviously be violating the law of God, very moral and
upright. Listen to the word that Christ
spoke in Matthew 5.20. He said about a people who were the epitome
of self-righteous moralism. He said of these people, your
lives appear beautiful unto men. Listen to what he said, Matthew
5, 20, except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness
of the scribes and of the Pharisees, ye will in no wise enter into
the kingdom of heaven. You and I can't appreciate the
shock this must have brought to his hearing. Here they are,
sitting there beneath our Lord as He preaches what is commonly
called the Sermon on the Mount, for He went up into a mountain
with His disciples and the multitudes gathered. And there in that crowd
were no doubt some of these scribes and Pharisees, the separated
ones, the holy ones, the fundamentalists of their day. Not the Sadducees,
He doesn't mention them. They were the liberals. Here
was the strict sect of the Pharisees. And I wonder if the Lord Jesus
even pointed to them and said to that great crowd, except your
righteousness shall exceed theirs, you'll never enter the kingdom.
I can just hear the gasps. More righteous than they? They
are the separated ones. They will not defile themselves
by contact with anything unclean just to go out to the marketplace
and buy a loaf of bread. They wash themselves before they
come back and eat. They are the separated ones,
the holy ones. What was wrong with their righteousness?
That Jesus said, unless your righteousness goes beyond it,
you'll never enter the kingdom of heaven. I suggest two things
were wrong with their righteousness. It rested on a wrong foundation
and it was constructed by wrong principles. What was the foundation
of the righteousness of a scribe and Pharisee? Upon what foundation
or basis did they seek acceptance with God? Luke 18 gives us the
answer, beginning with verse 10. Jesus said, Two men went
up into the temple to pray, the one a Pharisee, the one a publican. Now listen to the words of the
Pharisee. The Pharisee stood thus with
himself and said, I thank thee I am not as other men, extortioners,
unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in
the week. I give tithes of all that I possess."
Here's the key. I thank thee I am, and I fast,
I give. What was the foundation of the
Pharisees' acceptance with God? He felt that what he was and
what he had done would commend him to be accepted by God. He wasn't corrupt as others,
and he did things that would be pleasing unto God. And anyone
in this place this morning who is building a hope for acceptance
on what you are and what you've done, unless you repent and find
another ground of hoping to be accepted, You're going to hear
those terrible words. Depart from me. Depart from me. Depart from me. For all that
you are, the scripture says, in your flesh dwelleth no good
thing, and they that are in the flesh, though it be moral, religious,
cultured flesh, cannot please God. Romans 8 and verse 8. Cannot. They rested on a wrong foundation,
what they were and what they did, and then they constructed
their practical righteousness on wrong principles. And the
23rd chapter of Matthew is a commentary of this. They were more concerned
with the external than the internal. Jesus said, you scour the outside
of a cup and platter, but inwardly are what? Full of uncleanness. How would you feel if I invited
you to our home for dinner? And you came and sat in the living
room, and looking into the dining room, you saw all of the porcelain
there, all of the china sparkling, looked so nice. And then the
food was put on this table, and you began to smell the meat and
the rest. And then you were seated at your
table, and the blessing was asked. And then, as you lifted up your
head, and Mrs. Martin said, now what would you like to drink?
And you said, well, I'd like coffee with my meal. And as she comes to
pour the coffee in your cup, for the first time you look in.
And there you see dried up coffee grounds. And you see what looks to be
like some food that may have been stored in there in the refrigerator
for three weeks, and then it was just poured out, just full
of dead, decaying, smelly, rotten remains of past meals. What happened
to your stomach? Well, if you've got one, I think
I know. But that's exactly the picture Jesus gave of the Pharisees. Looking at the outside, He said,
beautiful, but within, full of uncleanness. They were concerned
about righteousness, but only externally, not internally. In
the second place, they were more concerned about details than
principles. Oh, a Pharisee would tithe mint
and anise and cumin, his spices. Jesus said he would strain out
a gnat and swallow a camel when they had their wine in those
days. The grapes would be thrown in an open vat, which would be
a hollowed-out stone, about four by six, and the men would tromp
up and down on their feet, or the women. The wine would be
made and put into wine skins, old goat skins. Then when it
was poured out and was going to be put into your glass or
cup, you'd put a piece of muslin over it and pour it through the
muslin so that any flies or fleas that had been picked up in the
process of the open crushing might be strained out. Now Jesus
said, here's what you people do. You strain out little gnats.
And when you've got all your gnats strained out, you turn
your head to say hello to your neighbor and a camel jumps in
your cup. and you drink the camel down with one big gulp. You see,
he's using a grotesque figure of speech. You strain out mats,
but swallow camels. What's he saying? You can stand
with little nit-picking details, but the great principles, you
pass them over. You don't confront them. You
don't walk in the light of them. If your righteousness, if your
idea of the Christian life is, I don't do this, I don't do that,
I don't go here, I don't do this, You're a stranger to the great
issues of love to God, of mercy, of justice, of hunger for Him
and His truth. Ah, beware, could well be that
you're a self-righteous moralist, and I'm convinced our evangelical
churches are full of such people. Wouldn't be caught dead with
a cigarette between their fingers or their mouth. Anyone who values
his life ought not to have one there. They wouldn't be caught
dead with that. Wouldn't be caught dead going
to the theater down on Bloomfield Avenue. But oh, the inconsistency. The inconsistency. They'll be
found with a flood of stuff far worse than what might be seen
in a well-selected movie pouring through their television day
in and day out, defiling their own minds and the minds of their
children. And they never seem to ask the question, is this
acceptable to God? Well, it's not on the list. And their kids sniff out the
phoniness, and they want nothing to do with it. Sniff it out. Sure, mom and dad would never
defile their mouth or their lungs with a cigarette, but they'll
defile people's ears with gossip and untidiness. This was the problem with the
Pharisees. Thankful they weren't dirty on the outside. but dirty
on the inside, concerned with the little nitpicking details
of religion, but missing the great principles. In the third
place, they were more concerned with the eye of man than the
eye of God. Matthew chapter 6, three times Jesus said, when
the Pharisees fast, when they give, when they pray, what are
they concerned about? That they may be seen of men. But Jesus said, when you fast,
when you pray, when you give, have one concern, the eye of
your Father who sees in secret. Wherever the seeds of true holiness
have been implanted in the breast of a child of God, one of the
primary marks is this, there is a consuming passion to be
well-pleasing unto God. And if I've got to run counter
to what pleases men, so be it, but I must please my God at any
cost. I wonder, as you listen this
morning, does this fit the category of some of you? Self-righteous,
moralist, resting on a wrong foundation. You've done something. You are something. I submit to you that until you've
been beat off from every foundation but Christ crucified, until you've
been driven from the place of hoping anything in you will ever
be the ground of acceptance to where you can say from the heart,
Jesus, Thy blood and righteousness, my beauty are, my glorious dress,
midst flaming worlds with these arrayed With joy shall I lift
up my head, bold shall I stand in thy great day, for who ought
to my charge shall lay. Fully absolved from these I am
from sin and fear and death and shame." These are terrible words because
of the great number that shall hear them. All impenitent violators
of the law of God, all self-righteous moralists. Now listen to the
third great segment. All deceived religionists. The Word of God speaks of people
in Titus 1.16 who profess to know God, but in works deny Him. 2 Timothy 3.5 says, holding the
form of godliness. They have all the structure of
true godliness, of worship and of doctrine and of service, but
denying in experience the power. They have the form, but not the
power. They have the carcass, but no
life. They have the shell, but no kernel. And they hold to the
shell of true religion. Matthew 7, 21 to 23 is a description
of them. Many will say unto me in that
day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied in thy name? Have
we not cast out demons in thy name, and in thy name done many
wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them,
Depart from me! They are going to hear those
words. All who were deceived, so convinced that all was well,
that not until the day of judgment do they wake up and hear those
awful words, Depart from me. What makes a man a deceived religionist
that he can hold to the form of Orthodox Christianity and
still hear these words depart from me? I would suggest it's
because, in the first place, that many seek the benefits of
the cross without submitting to the demands of the crown of
Christ. Many seek to have the blessings
of Christ as Savior. who want nothing to do with the
demands of Christ as a sovereign and a Lord. And because they've
heard that Jesus died for sinners and all who trust in Christ crucified
are saved, they have snatched, as it were, at the promises of
blessing from His cross, but they have willfully turned their
heads away from such words as these. He that forsaketh not
all that he hath cannot be my disciple. They deliberately turn
their heads away from the demands of His crown. He that loveth
father, mother more than me, son or daughter more than me,
his own life more than me, is not worthy of me. This is the
word of Christ. And in that terrible day, every
person who comes as a deceived religionist, trying to suck sweetness
from the promises of mercy flowing down from the cross, but who
will not bow to the implications of his crown will be found to
hear those frightening words. Salvation is in a person, and
that person is the Lord Jesus Christ, and he is not received
in installments as many as received him, all of them. To them gave
he power to become the sons of God. Hebrews 5, 9 says, He became
the author of eternal salvation unto all that obey Him. 1 John
2, 3 and 4, Hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep
His commandments. He that saith, I know Him, trusting
in His blood, resting in His finished work, and keepeth not
His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in Him. All those who seek the benefits
of the cross without vowing to the demands of His crown will
hear those words. All those who claim to believe
without repenting. All those who say, I trust, but
who haven't turned for faith and repentance are inseparably
joined in scripture. Paul said he testified to Jews
and Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord
Jesus. Acts 20, 21, Jesus himself preached. Mark 1, 15. From that time, Jesus
began to preach, saying, Repent and believe the gospel for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand. You claim to believe. in the
Lord Jesus. Do you claim to trust in him
who died and rose that sinners might be forgiven? What do you
know of repentance? That repentance So beautifully
described in the Shorter Catechism, repentance unto life, that saving
grace whereby a sinner, out of a due sense of his sin and an
apprehension, a laying hold of the mercy of God in Christ, does
with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God with
full purpose of an endeavor after a new obedience. True repentance
is always a universal thing. It respects every area of sin. The Bible does not teach that
true repentance means that every area of sin is immediately conquered. No. But it does teach that when
the heart is touched with the grace of repentance, there's
a disposition of hatred to all sin. Jesus said, the sin that's
as dear as the right hand in the right eye. For what did our
Lord say? Five times it's recorded in the Gospels. If thine eye
offend thee, what are you to do? Pluck it out. Or, he says,
if you don't, what will happen? you'll enter into hell. If by
hand, defend me, cut it off, it's better to enter into life
main than having two hands to go into hell. What's he saying?
The sin is dear as right hand and right eye must be dealt with.
Why? For true repentance is universal. It respects all sin. For the
truly penitent man or woman, fellow or girl, recognizes All
sin opened up the wounds of my Savior. All sin is destructive. All sin is dishonoring to Him.
And He never takes the pen from His pocket and sneaks in a corner
and signs a peace treaty with any of it. He may not know the
victory that He longs for. He may at times be miserably
and powerfully overcome, but even at His point of deepest
defeat, He's whispering, if not shouting, no, no, I will not
sign a treaty. I will not sign a treaty. I will
not sign a treaty. Have you signed any treaties?
How about you fellas and girls? Any treaties with lies, uncleanness,
pride, stubbornness, deceitfulness? How about you adults? Any treaties
with temper, anger, lust, passion, envy, covetousness, gossip? The
mark of true repentance, it's universal. Secondly, it's always
internal. It respects the disposition of
the heart and then moves out into the life. Jesus said, make
clean first the inside of the cup. He said, make the tree good
first and then the fruit will be good. What are the most damning,
delusive practices that's gone on for years, is the idea that
we tell a person, now you admit you're a sinner, now pray the
publican's prayer after me, oh God, oh God, be merciful to me,
be merciful. Listen, the publican wasn't giving us a point to be
put in a personal workbook. He didn't know anybody was looking
or recording his words. He came up to the temple, and
as he thought of his own sin, he didn't even press to the inner
court, but he stood afar off. And the inward pain was so great,
the only way he could express it was to beat upon his breast. Not for stage effects. He was
conscious of one thing. And as he thought of his God
and thought of his own sin, it pained him. His repentance was
internal, and the internal pressure produced the beating upon the
breast. God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Have you known any inward pain? True repentance involves That
breaking up of the heart, that's why David said, The Lord saveth
such as be of a contrite spirit. And that's the only ones that
he saved. And all who come to that awful
day claiming to believe, but strangers to that repentance
that is universal, internal, and perpetual. 2 Timothy 2.19,
Let everyone who nameth the name of Christ continually depart
from iniquity. Repentance is not the act of
a moment, but the acquisition of an attitude. It's not the
fit and start of a day, but it's the pattern of a life until there's
no more sin. As long as sin is around, there
needs to be repentance. And if I read my Bible right,
But the problem of sin will be with us until that day when we
look upon his face, and seeing him as he is, we shall be like
him. So the child of God is continually marked by repentance. His repentance
is not something in the memory of the past, but it's a present
experience. Jesus said in the Sermon on the
Mount, Blessed are they who mourn present tense, for they shall
be comforted. Love it, I'm dead in earnest
when I asked you this morning, are you claiming to believe without
the obvious? clear biblical evidences of repentance,
then unless that condition is rectified by true repentance
and faith and casting yourself upon the mercy of God in Christ,
you will hear those words, Depart from me, for not only will all
open violators of the law of God hear it, all self-righteous
moralists, but all who claim to have the benefits of the cross
without the demands of the crown, all who claim to believe without
repenting, And in the third place, all who profess salvation by
the blood, but who were not sanctified by the Spirit. For in the work
of God's grace, according to Hebrews 10, 15, and following
in other passages, whenever the blood of Christ cleanses a man,
the Spirit of Christ renews him, and the blood and the Spirit
are inseparably joined in God's salvation. And in that day there
were people who think they were cleansed by the blood, but what
does Christ say to them? Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Oh, you had gifts? You preached
in my name? I don't contest that. You made
a credible profession. That's how you came into the
pale of the professing church and rose within the ranks to
the place where you spoke in my name. You cast out demons
in my name. You labored in my name. But listen,
though you had ministerial gifts and success, you lacked sanctifying
grace. You were still workers of iniquity. And I plead with you this morning
to ask the question, Has the Spirit begun His work of sanctification? For whenever the blood cleanses,
the Spirit sanctifies. Who will hear those words? They're
terrible, because those three great segments of humanity shall
hear them—impenitent violators of the law, self-righteous moralists,
deceived religionists. In short, all who fail a true
biblical salvation will hear those words. That salvation so
beautifully described in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, if any man be in Christ,
what's the essence of true biblical salvation? Union with Christ. What's the effect of it? He is
a new creation. And what will be the fruit of
it? All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become
new. Having considered that these
words are terrible because of the one who speaks them, secondly,
terrible because of the number to whom they are spoken, They
are terrible in the third place because of what will follow,
the utterance of these words. Will you look back at the text?
What will happen after the Lord of Glory, seated upon a throne
of glory, says, Depart from me ye cursed? Verse 46 tells us,
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment. terrible
because of what will follow their utterance. Notice in the first
place the certainty of the judgment to follow. These shall go away. In time, when the Lord Jesus
beckoned them through the word and the gospel, Come unto me,
all ye that labor, they said, We will not come. When preachers
like this one stood before them and said, don't be deceived,
don't trifle with your soul, make your calling and election
sure, search your heart, they said, we will not. And when conscience
probed them in the word, pricked them and said, repent, flee to
Christ, they said, we will not. My friend, when the Lord Jesus
says, as the judge depart, it says they shall go. Though when
he said come, they would not come, when he says go, they shall
go. The certainty of the judgment
to follow, these shall go away. And then they're terrible because
of the nature of that suffering that will follow. They shall
go into everlasting punishment, body and soul joined together
to bear the brunt of the wrath of God forever. Matthew 10, 28
says, Don't be afraid of those that kill the body, but fear
him which after he hath killed him cast those soul and body
into hell. Some of the most frightful words
are right here. Depart from me. That's hell enough. Christ, the
source of all light, of all love, of all purity. He says, Depart
from me. Depart from me. Can you imagine
what this world would be like if it were cast out away from
the influence of the sun, the source of all our earthly light,
warmth, life, and sustenance of the same? To depart from the
sun is to depart from the source of all life and light. And when Jesus says, Depart from
me, that's hell enough. But that's not all. It's not
only depart from me, but he says, into. There is the negative and
the positive aspect of the judgment of God. Cut off from all light
and shut up to all darkness into everlasting punishment. Terrible,
because the judgment that follows is certain. It's a judgment that
has in its very nature the shutting off from all light and the positive
infliction of all darkness And then it's terrible because of
the duration. Notice, these shall go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal,
and the word everlasting and eternal are exactly the same
in the original. The translators used a little
different word so it would sound better to the ear, but it's the
same word. How long will the glorified saints,
whose record in heaven has been changed by the blood whose rebel
hearts have been subdued by the Spirit, who in time embraced
a Savior and a Sovereign, who believed and repented, who were
cleansed and sanctified, how long will they be in His presence?
Scripture says, forever and ever. The same word is used to describe
how long. those who openly violated His
holy law and died in that state of impenitence, those who deceived
themselves, those who built upon a wrong foundation. Fuse omnipotence to wrath and
then focus the two upon the head of a sinner and extend it to
eternity. I dare not spend too much time
even thinking about it, because I think it would probably drive
me to a state of being demented. And so I just proclaim it to
you, without trying to go beyond the words of Scripture. These
shall go away into everlasting punishment. And as I look out
into the faces of people here, to think that these terrible
words could be fulfilled in some of you. Some of you boys and
girls. Some of you young people. It's a terrible thing. It'll knock the giddiness out
of anybody when he just soberly thinks. Terrible words. The very
words that have heard the gospel from my lips could hear these
words. Then I close with my fourth point
this morning. These words are terrible because
none of you here need hear them. None of you here need hear them.
This place is prepared for the devil and his angels, and enough
have already been cast off in their sins to be an eternal monument
to the judgment and justice of God. But God takes no delight
in the death of the sinner. He says so in Ezekiel 18. I have
no delight in the death of the sinner, but that he turn and
live. God has made an adequate provision in His dear Son, the
Lord Jesus, who is an able Savior. He is able to save. He's a willing
Savior who says, Come, and then promises all who come, I will
receive. God takes no delight in your
death in a state of impenitence or deception or empty moralism. God has made an adequate provision
in His Son. And in the third place, God has
sent His saving Word to you. If you go out into eternity with
a clenched fist to the law of God and die in a state of impenitence,
who will you blame? Will you be able to say, oh God,
I didn't hear any preaching that warmed me? Listen, there are
people dropping into hell beneath the shadow of pulpits all over
the world who've been fed the kind of business that God's too
loving to judge. He doesn't have a law that's
inflexible, and no morality, and no morality, and religionless
Christianity and all of this business. Some are fed a diet
of it week after week. Few, dear people, have sat beneath
the sound of the gospel of Christ announcing God's holy law and
His righteous claims and the fact that we've broken it and
we need a mediator. You go out into eternity a self-righteous
moralist, thinking that what you are and what you've done
will gain acceptance. What excuse will you have? And
if you go out deceived, thinking you can have a Savior without
a Lord, thinking that you can have salvation from wrath, without
sanctification from pollution, thinking that you can have faith
without repentance. Who will you blame? These words
are terrible because none of you here need hear them. And
oftentimes I wonder when that day comes and I stand before
the Lord and all whom I've ever preached will stand, who will
I see going away from the presence of Christ? into everlasting fire. I can say with all my heart,
I don't want to see one of you. The thing for which I pray and
plead and is the life and meat and drink of my ministry is to
see some of you wakened up from wrath to flee, hidden in the
Savior's by the Spirit sanctified. Oh, boys, girls, men, and women,
I plead with you. Don't rest until you know that
you'll never hear those terrible words. And if you've been able
to sit here this morning and reflect and say, Thank you, Lord.
Though my repentance isn't as deep as it ought, I have signed
no peace treaty. There is evidence of universal
repentance, internal, perpetual. Thank you, Lord, I do know that
you've not only blotted out the record, but you've begun something
in my rebel heart. How your heart should be filled
with hallelujahs that your ears will never hear those words.
They could have. They ought to. But grace has
intervened, a debtor to mercy alone. And may that sense of
debtorhood bind our hearts to our lovely Savior. and more deeply
bring us beneath his gracious yoke, that we may be instruments
to rescue others as brams from the burning. Let us pray. O Lord our God, left to ourselves
we shall trifle even in the face of the most sobering words of
your lips. We know in that day there will
be no trifling. Oh, bring that day near now by
the ministry of the Holy Ghost to our hearts, and grant that
some in our midst shall mark this day as the day when they
fled the wrath to come and found refuge in an exalted, crucified
Lord. To this end, seal your word and
magnify the name of your dear Son. Just in this moment before we're
dismissed, I want to say that if the Lord has been pleased
to pierce the heart of any of you, young or old, and as you've
sat here this morning, you've heard the voice of God, and you
say, I must, I must no longer trifle. Though we don't give
the kind of invitation where we ask for overt response in
the meeting, I don't want that ever to be construed as indifference
to your salvation. And if you have been brought
by the Spirit of God to a place of being exercised and you desire
more light and direction from the Word, then you're not imposing
on me to speak to me at the close of the service, to call me. But
if the path to Christ is clear, repentance and faith, looking
to a pierced Savior, then you don't need me as a spiritual
midwife or as a priest. But you lay hold of the Lord,
and when you have, then you declare it openly. Present yourself as
a candidate for baptism, wanting to declare outwardly what God
has wrought inwardly. And I plead with you not to regard
lightly either the content of the message or the invitation
to close with Christ, even today. Now, Father, seal, we pray, to
our hearts, this your word and the exhortation of your servant
to the hearts of men and women, fellows and girls. We pray in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.