Our reading and our subject shall
come from Mark's gospel chapter 9 today. So if you'd like to
open there, chapter 9 of the gospel of Mark, and today I want
to preach on an awesome and a fearful subject. I want to speak on the
subject of eternal punishment, the doctrine of hell as laid
out in the scripture. Eternal Punishment, Mark chapter
9. We will begin our reading in
verse 42 and read down through verse 48. We might have had many
texts today, we'll have them during the course of our study,
many other references, but we'll start here with these words of
our Lord. Now, in Mark chapter 9, looking
back at verse 38, John came and he asked the Lord about a matter. He said, Master, we saw a man
casting out devils, but he did not follow us, and we therefore
forbid him. And the Lord in verse 39 through
verse 41 instructs him about those who are doing the work
of the Lord and what the attitude to have. Then in verse 42, he
switches to the other matter. And we'll read from there to
verse 48. Whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that
believe in me, It is better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck and he were cast into the sea. Now watch. And
if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, for it is better for
thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into
hell, and the fire that never shall be quenched, where the
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot
offend thee, cut it off, for it is better for thee to enter
into life It haught than having two feet to be cast into hell,
into the fire that never shall be quenched. where their worm
dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye have
been thee, pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter
into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes
to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the
fire is not quenched. Now, there's a great argument
about this passage. Some say that in verse 44 and
verse 46, the words are not there, where their worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched. But it is clear that they are
in the 38th verse, where their worm dieth not and the fire is
not quenched. Now, in the ears of many, this
probably is about the most offensive teaching that one could bring
forth out of the scripture, even among those who number themselves
among the children of God. plus the fact that the subject
may well be a candidate for the least preached upon subject in
all of the scripture. For example, how seldom do you
hear a sermon on this subject. Do you hear the mega church pastors
regularly declaring this great subject of eternal punishment? No, the emphasis is almost always
put upon the love of God, that God's love is set forth as the
great incentive to follow and accept the salvation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now I think there might be two
factors that enter into that, not preaching on this subject,
plus the matter that they're timid and they fear the face
of the people. But I think there are two factors
that we must consider why it is not preached upon more and
why it is so offensive. Number one, I believe, would
be the weakness and or the ignorance of the true state of human nature,
of the ignorance and the denial of the doctrine and the fact
of depravity. There is a strong belief today
in our society, permeated even into the churches, that people
are basically good, that they basically have a good heart,
that all are born pure and innocent until some fancied age of accountability,
and that even if they are sinners to some degree, they can at any
time make a decision to change their life about and thus change
their destiny by an act of their choice. And then secondly, I
believe that it flows out of a great weakness and or ignorance
of the doctrine of the holiness and the righteousness and the
sovereignty of Almighty God. I don't think that people understand
how much God hates sin, how odious it is unto him, and that it requires
that every transgression receive a just recompense of reward,
as stated in Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 2, and that a just
recompense of reward must either be given in, by, and through
Christ, or by the person of the sinner himself. And I think that
we ought also to recognize a third reason why you hear little about
this subject, and that is it is insulting and it is offensive
to the proud moralists and the human religionists of our day,
the philanthropists. that gives and helps the needy
and looks out for others. Such expect heaven for their
practice of doing good or being honest or paying their bill or
taking care of their family and they expect the reward of eternal
happiness based upon those things that they practice and their
fellow man is able or willing to grant them the same, because
when they walk into a room, they light up that room. We hear that
all the time about those who have passed away. Thus, in our
present society and the prevailing religious climate of our day,
hardly anyone is looked upon as perishing in everlasting damnation
and everlasting punishment. What's more, the denial of the
existence of such a state or a place is growing by leaps and
bounds in religion today, as are the perversions of this doctrine
as it is laid out in the scripture. Now, I want to give some examples
of some views of this hell that are held in the world today,
most of them posited and pushed by religion. First of all, have
you ever heard this? that God is love, God is a God
of love, and a good and a loving God would never send or never
allow one of his creatures to fall into a place like hell and
perish, to be lost forever, or to endure everlasting misery. To that I would say, tell those
people in the days of the flood, when it came upon the ungodly,
or those in Sodom and Gomorrah, suffering the vengeance, says
Jude, of eternal fire. No, the love of God does not
automatically save one simply because he is a God of love. Others teach that hell in the
scripture only refers to the grave and to death and nothing
more or beyond, and not eternal torment, that death and that
Hades and Sheol in the scripture only refer to death or under
the grave. And yet, in opposition to that,
consider the rich man in Luke chapter 16, who is said to have
died and be buried. And I could imagine Oh, what
a fine funeral and send-off it must have been, with many mourners
there speaking well of him and of all the good that he had done
with his money. But we read in verse 23 of that
chapter of him lifting up his eyes in hell, being in torment. Then we read in verse 24 of his
being tormented in this flame. I am tormented in this flame
and desiring water from the hand of the beggar who once lay at
his gate. Now, while these deny the existence
of hell, there are others who deny that the punishments of
hell are everlasting. Yes, they may be temporal, but
they are not everlasting. They are not never-ending. They
are not eternal. And there are two such schools
of thought in history you will find upon this matter. Number one, there are those that
hold to the doctrine of annihilation. using the Latin word nihil, and
meaning nothing, and teaching that some, or even in some cases,
all souls cease to exist either at death or some point thereafter. Now historically, the doctrine
and the teaching of annihilation appears in two forms or in two
views in the minds of men. Not all annihilationists are
in full agreement. There are two of them, and here
they are. Number one, the view of the materialist,
and that is that the body and the soul all cease to exist after
the time of death. from this one must conclude that
there is neither a hell nor a heaven, there is no everlasting torment,
therefore is there no everlasting happiness. But the other leg
of that doctrine is it, the view of what some have called conditional
immorality. that there is such a thing as
conditional immorality, that all people are born and naturally
they are mortal. So then only, they say, the redeemed
are granted or given or have immortality bestowed upon them,
while the others, unredeemed and have not immortality, fall
into nothingness. Now, they have their text, and
they might use that verse in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 17, or
in chapter 6 and verse 16, that God only hath immortality. Now, another view, which is part
and partial of absolute universalism. and it goes or answereth to the
name Restorationism, that there is such a thing as Restorationism. And this teaches that all people
will be ultimately reconciled unto God, even those who fall
down in torment for a time will ultimately be reconciled unto
God, that after a proper time of punishment for their sin. Thus it's said that such punishments
are temporary and they are remedial, if you put that word in your
memory bank, that God will accept their repentance in the afterlife
and they'd be reconciled. Well, I ask you, what is this
but another form of purgatory? Some say that restorationism
was developed by and can be traced to the man origin early in the
history of the church. And he based it upon ultimate
free will, that free will may turn to God at any time, even
in the place of torment. Now, this position, however,
begs the question, whether the sufferings of those in hell are
for what purpose? Number one, are they to bring
them to conviction and repentance such like to educate and to correct
them of the error of their way so that even at such a late time
they might be repent they might be repent and be restored unto
God by the way some restoration is teach that even Satan and
the fallen angels might ultimately be reconciled to God ultimate
reconciliation of or restorationism is its name. Second, is this
punishment in hell to satisfy the justice and the law of Almighty
God and to give sin its just reward and its just due? Now, In all probability, every
last one of us have heard someone say, and they hold this view. They say, well, I believe that
the only hell there is, is in this world and in this life. We have all of our hell here,
that our troubles, our tribulation, our trials, our suffering, our
sorrows in this present world, that this is all of the hell
that there ever is. As we can see, this gives no
incentive to live under God, and it begets a false hope of
heaven in many that have no right to that hope. Have they told
you? I have had people tell me. Surely
she or he is in heaven, for they had hell in this life. But scripture teaches that death
is but the entrance into the afterlife, or into hell, or if
you wish, the eternal state of the individual. It was after
the rich man died. It was after the rich man was
dead, and some call his name Davies, that he lifted up his
eyes, being in torment. It is appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment, as saith Hebrews chapter 9 and
verse 27. so that death is the transition
from this life into the next, both for the saint and also for
the sinner, both for the believer and for the unbeliever. And if
the felicity of the righteous is everlasting, how can the misery
of the sinner be but temporary? And if one might be saved after
being a while in hell, can one be lost after being a while in
heaven. If death does not seal forever
the state of the sinner, then does it also not seal the state
of the righteous or of the believer. Now, granted, all of these that
we have mentioned, such as the universalist and the annihilationist
and the restorationist, all have text of scripture that they might
appeal to and use as proof text for their position. We would
say, however, that they are texts that they misuse or that they
pervert. When it comes to the teaching
of the punishment of the wicked in the New Testament, when we
study out this subject and search it out in the New Testament,
who do we find is the strongest proponent of the doctrine of
everlasting punishment. Who in the New Testament, what
servant of God, was the most able advocate and the chief spokesman
for the doctrine of everlasting punishment? Would you say? Well,
it would be the apostles of our blessed Lord. Would you say? Certainly, it must be Paul in
all of his writing. Would it be the apostle Peter
in his epistle or the writing of John the Beloved or Jude in
that strong little book? that we find in the scripture.
These all hail to the fact that sinners would have a bad end
in the world that is to come. But when we study the New Testament
and when we read from the four Gospels, we learn that the Lord
Jesus Christ had more to say about endless misery of the lost
and of the wicked than those of his servant. So I'll say,
he was the strongest advocate for this fearsome, awesome doctrine
that we are considering this morning. Christ Jesus out in
public openly declared a place and a state of everlasting misery
for the wicked and unbeliever, those that die in their sin. And shortly we must consider
the words and the warnings on the subject. We cannot ignore
them or gloss them over. for our Lord warned of hellfire
and damnation. And he did so in the text that
we read at the beginning. But first, maybe this is a digression,
but let us consider a point and make in this manner. And that
is that the preaching of the apostle and the disciples immediately
after the ascension of our Lord and which are recorded for our
reading, study, and admonition in the book of Acts. These men,
these apostles, where do we find them preaching? And what do we
find them emphasizing? Is it everlasting punishment? Preaching hellfire and brimstone
in the book of Acts. No, and because their hearers
were at the first Jews, they did emphasize two things in their
preaching. And it comes out repeatedly in
the book of Acts again and again. Number one, they emphasize their
audience being principally Jew. They emphasize the guilt of the
Jew in putting the Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth to death. Now, especially did the Apostle
Peter bring this subject before them again and again. I'm going to give you some verses
in Acts where you'll find the Apostle Peter charging the Jew
with the death of Christ. Acts 2.23. Acts 3 13 through
15 chapter 4 verse 11 chapter 5 and verse 30 and then Paul
in chapter 13 and verse 27 lays the death of the Lord at the
feet of the Jew then secondly that the very same Jesus Here's
their second point of emphasis. Not only did they kill the prince
of life, they slew him and they hanged him up on a tree. But
this very same Jesus they preached to the Jew, which they slew,
had been raised up from the dead and made Lord and Christ. He was the long-awaited and the
promised Messiah. He answered the prophecy made
by the ancient. There is none other name under
heaven given among men whereby we must be saved other than the
Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said he is the one that
David wrote about in the 16th Psalm. You'll find that in Acts
13, 33 through verse 37. Paul told some in Antioch of
Pisidia, Acts 13 and 38. He said to them, be it known
unto you that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness
of sin and by him all that believe are justified from all things
from which they cannot be justified by or through the law of Moses. And as you know, a special dispensation
of judgment came upon that generation of Jew who used their wicked
hands to kill the Prince of Light and the Kingdom of God taken
from them and given instead unto the Gentiles, exactly as the
Lord predicted in the Gospel of Matthew. But now let's turn
to consider that the strongest words on the doctrine of eternal
punishment were spoken by Christ himself, the judge of the quick
and the dead, the one who was very God come in the flesh. He took the lead in setting forth
the doctrine everlasting misery. And to prove that, let's don't
leave it with any doubt hanging whatsoever, let's hear some of
the sayings of our Lord on this particular subject. We read Mark
9, 43 through 48, spoke of a fire that never shall be quenched
where this worm dieth not. but in Matthew 25 and verse 41. Of some to whom he will say,
depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for
the devil His angels the words of our Lord Matthew 25 and verse
46 and these shall go away into everlasting Punishment but the
righteous into life eternal Matthew 10 and verse 28 and of the one
to be feared, able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now that cannot mean the grave,
for the soul is not destroyed in the grave. John 5 and verse
29, of a resurrection of damnation, or unto damnation. Matthew 13
and verse 50, of those cast into the furnace of fire. Mark 16
and 16, he that believes not shall be damned. And in the 23rd
of Matthew again, to the hypocrites and the Pharisees, he said unto
them, Ye generation of vipers, how can you escape the damnation
of hell? In Matthew 25 and 30, he spoke
of some who shall be cast into outer darkness, where there shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13 and verse 20, the
tares are to be gathered, bundled up, and to be burned. Now to
these sayings of the Lord, we add some facts such as the number
one, the Old Testament belief of a hell or a place of punishment
by the ancient. and a good many of the Old Testament
scripture that warned the wicked of a future danger and misery
that they would be cast down into Sheol in the Old Testament
passage. Secondly, from history and the
writings of Edersheim, who wrote about the times of Jesus, claim
that two schools of the Jew at that time, that of Shammai and
Hillel, both of them taught and held to the doctrine of the reality
of eternal punishment. Both Hillel and Shammai were
influential rabbis and they oversaw two of the best known schools
of that time, just before the earthly ministry of Christ, just
before Christ came into the world. Now thirdly, the third thing
to remember is that Christ Jesus, who is very God and came from
God and is all-knowing and speaks with absolute full authority
from God, he is the one into whose hands all judgment is to
be committed. He is the judge of all. He has been given authority over
all flesh. John 17 and verse 2. That he might give eternal life
to as many as the Father hath given unto him. He will act as
the final judge. Matthew 7, 21 through 23. He declares himself to be the
one having the power of judgment. It is he who will say to many
or to some, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work
iniquity. Again, Matthew 25, 31 through
34, he tells of the son of man upon a throne, before him gathered
all nations, separating the sheep and the goats, the one on the
left hand and the other on the right. And then he will say under
the sheep, verse 34, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Verse 34, he calls himself the
king, the king with supreme authority. Matthew 25 verse 41, he will
say under the goats to those on the left hand, depart from
me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. And in Matthew 16, 27, the Son
of Man shall reward every man according unto his works. Now, with that behind us, what
does the Bible tell us about hell are those to whom Solomon
referred to who go to that place that he called in Proverbs 7
and 27, the chambers of death, the chambers of death. Her house is the way unto the
chambers of death. If perhaps God should let one
look into it, its resident they would hear Matthew 25 and 51
weeping wailing gnashing of teeth now Matthew uses this phrase
six times and Luke uses it one gnashing of teeth and of weeping
now gnashing here is the same word that you find in Acts chapter
7 and And verse 54, when hearing Stephen preach, they gnashed
on him with their teeth. Not that they bit him, or that
they literally chewed upon Stephen, but being cut by Stephen's words
that they heard, and the things that he said, the charges that
he leveled against them, and the way that he used the scripture,
they were filled with furious anger and resentment at what
Stephen had said. And the scriptures give us a
glimpse of this dreadful place in the case of Diabes or the
rich man. And one painful point in that
is this. what Abraham said unto David,
the word remember, remember, remember. We look at that remember
in Luke 16, 25, remember in your lifetime you received good things
and Lazarus evil things. In reading the Puritan, Thomas
Goodwin, on that passage of the scripture, I wanted to see what
he had to say about it. He spoke like this, if it were
possible, somehow possible, if perhaps God would allow it, to
look through a screen and see and hear what he called the oldest
sons of perdition there, unquote, such as Cain, Cain remembering
how he slew his brother Abel. Here, Balaam and Ahithophel lament
their cursed counsel and policy. Here, Ahab remember the murder
of Naboth and the theft of his vineyard. And much later, then,
Judas, betrayed the Holy One of God. And yonder's Pilate,
as it were, with no water to wash the blood of this just and
holy and innocent man off of his hand. Goodwin, therefore,
spoke, quote, of the horrors, the yellings, and the groans,
unquote, as Davies is portrayed as saying, I am tormented in
this flame. I'm in grief. I am in constant
anguish. This is a place of sorrow and
a place of misery. I've often thought of that part
of the word of the Lord's description in the text that we have been
reading. I've often meditated and wish to fully understand
this phrase, where their worm dieth not. Think about that if
you would. Where their worm dieth not. The fire is not quenched, and
the worm dieth not. By the way, you may see in your
cross-reference Bible that this is a reference from Isaiah chapter
66 and verse 24. Isaiah uses almost these words,
fire not quenched, and their worm dies not. You have it in
Mark 9 48 as stated. It mirrors the words of Isaiah
66 and verse 24 and that was a closing rebuke of the prophet
of God unto them to make a distinction between the apostate Jews of
that time and those that were faithful and did believe. And
it ends in that chapter, in verse 18 through verse 24, with a prediction
of the union of believing Jews and converted Gentiles in that
day. The enemies of the Lord shall
be slain and their carcasses looked upon in contempt. Calvin calls this a metaphor,
and some old-timers that dealt with this word worm were their
worm dieth not. I read every one that I had the
time for, understood this to be the worm of remembrance and
of conscience, where their past sins and their guilt gnaw on
them and eat away like it were a worm in a dead carcass. Calvin wrote this, quote, The
wicked shall have a bad conscience as an executioner to torment
them without end." And Gill said this, quote, a figure of their
consciences and the horrors and the terrors that shall seize
them, which they shall never get rid of. unquote. Thomas Manton wrote, the worm
is the worm of conscience, reflecting on past folly and disobedience,
unquote. A living man can sometimes manage
to stifle the conscience or to bribe his conscience with religion
or getting drunk and forgetting everything and so forth. but
not there where the lost are punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and
verse 9. Now we close with the words that
are used such as the word Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, Hell, Topheth,
Lake of Fire, Lake of Fire burning with brimstone, outer darkness,
the blackness of darkness, Jude 13, everlasting destruction,
and in 2 Peter 2 and verse 4, the word one time in the scripture
and one time only that this word is used, is it the word Tartarule
and the apostate angel. are cast down to hell. And that's the one word that
is used here. Now, the same Sheol and Hades,
Sheol in the Old Testament and Hades in the New Testament is
translated most often by the 70 in the Septuagint by the word
Hades or hell. And there are three words that
are used in the New Testament for the eternal state of the
punishment of the impenitent. Number one, Hades. Number two,
Gehenna. And number three, that word,
Tartarus. All of them translated hell,
at least in the King James. And the Lord, of those three
words, the Lord Jesus Christ used the word Gehenna at least
11 times in the gospel, James once in chapter 3 and verse 6,
which refers to a place of suffering and of torment, of pain and of
misery, and that everlasting. Now, these words and their origins
and the uses and the meaning deserve a complete and a separate
study of the word. Perhaps, brother, Baker would
do better than I upon that. It would be a tedious study indeed
to trace out all of these words, some of them brought over from
paganism and then used and put in the sacred writing of the
scripture. Some of their origin of the words
we confess were paganism. But to deny the Christian doctrine
of hell and to have a proper view of hell requires a proper
view of the two things that we mentioned earlier in our study. Both of them are missing in modern
theology and in modern preaching and in teaching. And that, of
course, again, is the true nature and state of the fall of man,
the truth of depravity, the corruption, and the guilt and the sin of
every person of the human family. Everyone dead in trespasses and
in sin. If man is not this, if he's not
a sinner, if he's not corrupt, if he's not dead in trespasses
and sin, then I ask from what does he need saving? If he is not this, what then
is salvation? What is he saved from, if no
hell? What is he saved from? If not
a guilty sinner, why do all die? Because death and sin are connected. Why is it appointed unto man
once to die, then a judgment? Hebrews 9 and verse 27. But then
I want to speak even more emphatically of the inflexible judgment and
justice and righteousness of God. His righteousness, His justice
requires that sin be properly punished. So wicked is sin in
the sight of a just and a holy God, that only two remedies are
acceptable in the eyes of God. A, that Christ die for the sins
of his people, that he pay their debt in full and answer everyone. And upon the basis of that, God
fully and freely forgives, and he justifies, or be, that the
sinner outside of Christ suffer everlastingly. Everlastingly. Now, I confess. This is a most
sobering truth. But as A.W. Pink wrote, it needs
stressing in our time. It is a part of the sacred scripture. It is a part of the teaching
of the word of God. And therefore, it needs to be
preached. And it particularly needs stressing
in our particular day or time. All that we hear is of the love
of God and hardly a mention of the total depravity of man or
of the sovereignty of God. What an awful thing it will be
when sinners fall into the hands of an angry God. He shall die
in his sin and seize upon them that time will the justice and
the wrath of God and everlasting punishment. Now what a sad thing
and a sad thought is that. But Christ is the deliverer. Christ saved. He has destroyed
the power of death. And the devil is a competent
savior from all of our sin and from condemnation, and is able
to justify fully, freely, and eternally forever those that
are sanctified by the death of Christ. He is our escape. He is our savior. He is our deliverer. Only he can save one from hell,
and only he has full authority to judge, and everyone will be
judged by Christ, the sheep and the goats, the left hand, the
right hand. Come, ye blessed, depart eccursed
into everlasting punishment. Let us think upon that. How serious
are these matters to those of our day and particularly our
day?