Recently the controversial Messianic Jew and pastor Steve Schlissel
died. One of the most memorable sermons of his to me was his sermon "No
Rest" which I listened to and read in the early 2000s. It was in
contrast to his sermon titled [if I recall correctly] "Rest." At present
I can't find the audio of that sermon "No Rest" online, but I think I
found a transcript of the same sermon under the title "The Horrors of
Hell." If it's not the same exact sermon I originally heard, then it's
the same or similar sermon preached at a different time. It's
reminiscent of Jonathan Edwards' sermons on hell. I'm open to
Annihilationism/Conditional Immortality, and I used to hold it. But I
returned to the traditional view of Eternal Conscious Torment with
respect to hell in the mid 1990s and still lean toward it being the
correct view. At present I'm about 75% confident of the Traditionalist
view, and only about 25% confident of Annihilationism. Here's the
transcript of Steve's sermon:
The Horrors of Hell
August 4, 2000
Text: Hebrews 4:1-11
1 Therefore, a promise being left to enter into His rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to come short of it.
2
For also the gospel was preached (to us), as well as to them. But the
word (preached) did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those
who heard (it).
3 For we who have believed do enter into the rest,
as He said, I have sworn in My wrath that they should not enter into My
rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
4 For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh (day) in this way: And God rested the seventh day from all His works.
5 And in this place again, They shall not enter into My rest.
6
Since then it remains that some must enter it, and since they to whom
it was first preached did not enter in because of unbelief,
7 He
again marks out a certain day, saying in David, Today, (after so long a
time). Even as it is said, Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not
your hearts.
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterwards have spoken of another day.
9 So then there remains a rest unto the people of God.
10 For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His.
11 Therefore let us labor to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of unbelief.
The
author is here stressing two ideas; the first is that there is a hope
of entering God's rest that is ever present; when God rested at the
creation, that rest into which He entered did not exhaust the idea rest
in Scripture; Nor did the rest into which Joshua brought the Israelites
exhaust the idea of rest in Scripture, for many years later under King
David , God continued to speak about a rest into which people would not
enter if they hardened his heart. Therefore the creation rests; even the
reoccurring Sabbath as well as the rest in the land of Canaan were
typical of a rest that is yet to be accomplished. A rest that we can
enter into today, in principle, that is in truth and reality but yet
awaiting a greater fulfillment in the great Kingdom of God and the
consummation of all things. The rest that we enter into by means of
believing the Gospel. That's his first point. There is a rest of God
that remains always. Its always today that people enter into that rest.
And
secondly, he says that we should fear falling short of entering into
it. Though we are in the Covenant, though we count ourselves among the
people of God, we must always be careful the we persevere in that faith.
The doctrine that we believe is Calvinist is called perseverance of the
Saints and this means perseverance of the Saints, not of the
profligates, not of those who despise the Word of God. Be sure that you
are continuing in the Word of God as you have received it. We noted that
the Sabbaths of Scripture are pictures and foretastes of that eternal
rest into which we will enter after our labors and battles here are
done. We look forward to a complete rest from all the labor of this
life. We noted the you really cannot have a Sabbath unless you first
work during the week. We enjoy the Lord's day because there is six days
of work that follow it until the next Lord's day; and then we enter into
the beautiful rest of God which is a foreshadowing, a taste of heaven, a
day of fellowship and communion with God and with fellow believers.
Yet,
even now we have a rest each seventh day, that is, the first day of the
week, as Gilder has so well summarized it. The Sabbath is
eschatological. That means the truth of it is found in the end times;
not the end times that people talk about, with 666 etc., but the end of
the whole plan of God. From its very beginning it was a symbol of the
rest that remains for the people of God. Under the Old Covenant the
Sabbath pointed forward to Him who was to come and bring rest. Thus the
rest followed toil and the Sabbath was the seventh day, the closing day.
The weary laborer was given a day of rest lest he die.
Under the
New Covenant, a remarkable change took place. Based upon the Mediator,
who in principle has brought rest, who has risen from the dead, who
henceforth reigns and lives through all eternity. Therefore the Sabbath
of the New Testament falls on the first day of the week. It means our
rest has come. It is a change in principle. Under the older economy, the
laborer struggled toward the day of rest. Under the new economy he
begins with rest. He no longer needs to seek rest lest he die; he has
been richly endowed. An anointed partaker of God's feasts performing
works of gratitude the rest of the days of the week. It is very
important that the day be celebrated on the first day of the week. This
is God's way. Never-the-less, the Lord's Day remains as a sign and seal
of that greater and final rest which is to come. It is a guaranty sign
which now occurs at intervals every seventh day; but eventually there
will be a day without intervals. We will be in Christ, ushered into the
eternal rest which is depicted in Scripture as a wedding feast, which is
the epitome of happy community; the consummation of the covenant God
and His people in the most intimate and loving union; joy everlasting
and full of glory. That is the rest that we look forward to. The rest
that encourages us as we labor through the trials of this life. As we
face so many difficulties, emotional, physical, and spiritual, we look
forward to deliverance from them all at the great consummation, the
joyous feast, the true and ultimate Sabbath in God.
Quite a
different portion belongs to all who fail to enter that rest.. now.
Their end is described this way in the book of Revelation. They will be
tormented in the presence of the Holy Angels and of the Lamb and the
smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. For them there is no
rest day or night. The Scripture teaching about hell is exceedingly
dreadful, even in its contemplation. The thought of this reality fills
the sensitive soul with horror. Thus most orthodox treatment of this
doctrine contain sentiments such as the following expressed by Bucer in
the book, The doctrine of Eternal Punishment The author says, This book
is not written because the author takes delight in the subject. The
thought of Hell terrifies. It ought to make us all shudder, but it is a
fact taught in God's Word and to deny or to ignore any Scriptural
teaching is a serious matter. Or in the words of another theologian, Dr.
Edward Morris, The doctrine that there will finally be a universe of
human beings that have passed at the day of judgment into an estate of
authoritative and righteous condemnation as a consequence of sinful
living on the earth has been held, painful beyond expression that such a
thought must ever be, by the Christian Church universally on the basis
of Holy Scripture. It may be added that those who hold to such
conclusions, would rejoice as heartily as any if the Word of God were
found on fair investigation to disclose any other brighter view; but
they reverently accept the doctrine with all the mystery and awfulness
of it simply because God's Word so unquestionably teaches it. Even as we
look into the Scripture doctrine of Hell (as it begins to gain the
slightest place in our minds consideration) we recoil from it and we
wish it were not so; but we have no choice; except to attribute that
very harm to our own sin and to our own basic rebellion against the
Wisdom and the Holiness of God.
Since the Word of God teaches it;
so must the Church; but I am afraid that the Church has wandered far
from its appointed path when it comes to warning people plainly about
hell. I can tell you one reason; Church Growth is not well served by the
preaching of hell as it is understood by the devotees of that movement
today. I think they are wrong, but they believe it drives people away.
Hell has virtually dropped out of American pulpits with devastating
spiritual consequences. One sign of its disappearance is the use of this
word hell in everyday conversation. Hell is mentioned too casually, too
often, today. It is with good reason that people were once afraid to
use the word hell and would have been blipped out of public
communication. Its casual use was rightly viewed with deep offense. If
people thought rightly about hell as often as they mention the word, it
would be mentioned less frequently and only with fear. Further, as one
man observed, when hell drops out of religion. justice drops out of
politics. A profound observation. When the ultimate judgment and the
consequences of that judgment are denied by omission, then all
subordinate judgments are then lessened in a culture. Rushdoony adds,
when hell drops out of religion, justice also drops out of religion;
where justice belongs just as much as it does in the civil arena.
Justice and a whole lot more. Perhaps most notably the Antithesis is
blurred (in this life) because hell is not preached and taught; for you
see at the end, after the judgment, there are only two compartments, as
it were, two destinies, two places, Heaven and Hell. One, A place of joy
and fellowship and communion. The other a place of conscious torment
and punishment, and both Eternal. Only two, and when we keep this in
mind, the distinction of the people of God in this world is something
that is treasured and maintained but when that distinction is blurred so
is the distinction between the people of God and the people of the
world.
There is a downplaying of the Holiness of God. A
distortion of His love expressed in the notion, that I don't believe a
God of love can ever send somebody to hell. Well, this only reveals the
ignorance of the person uttering that, who neither knows God nor hell.
We see a lack of fear of God, a lack of reverence for the Judge of all
the earth. a cheapening of the message of salvation so that it is
something that is not declared but something that is hawked and pushed
by salesmen and not by ministers called by God. We see a degradation of
the cross of Christ, emptied of its values, for how could you measure
the sacrifice and the benefits that come to us as a result of it unless
we see what befalls those who are not included in that sacrifice. Christ
has delivered us from hell. We see much more. The refusal to preach the
Scripture truth about hell results in weak, vacillating Christians,
accommodating Christians who may be deluding themselves of their true
estate. Also, we see depressed Christians, as a result of not knowing
and meditating on what they have been delivered from, and above all, I
think I see ungrateful Christians. Ingrates, who think that God is their
servant to do their bidding and to demand this or that or the other
thing, when, if they understood what they have been delivered from they
would fall before God and say, Lord, that you spared me from hell. I ask
nothing. That you spared me from hell. Let me serve you. I don't ask
for riches. I don't ask for personal fulfillment. Let me serve you and
honor you in view of what you have done in Christ. Ingratitude finds no
place in such a spirit.
The revelation of hell in Scripture is
one of the most needful doctrines imaginable. It affects every other
doctrine. And if it weren't so needful it would not be so ubiquitous. It
is taught throughout the Old and New Testaments, and to the surprise of
many no one preached about it more than the Son of God, incarnate,
Himself. No one, no prophet, taught more about hell and eternal
retribution than Jesus Christ our Lord. Let us consider some of what our
Lord has said on this most solemn truth. In Matt. Chpt 5. The one who
knew God and who alone perfectly reveals God and reality , this one who
has come to us, to make the truth known, this one speaks, the Son of God
cannot err, and what He speaks is truth and must be attended to. Our
Lord Jesus Christ in the 5th Chapter of Matthew said at verse 27, You
have heard that it was said to the ancients, You shall not commit
adultery. But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after
her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And if your
right eye offends you , pluck it out and throw (it) from you. For it is
profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not that
your whole body should be thrown into hell. And if your right hand
offends you, cut it off and throw (it) from you. For it is profitable
for you (that) one of your members should perish, and not (that) your
whole body be thrown into hell.
In Matthew the 7th Chapter at
verse 13 Our Lord said, Go in through the narrow gate, for wide (is) the
gate and broad (is) the way that leads to destruction, and many there
are who go in through it. Because narrow (is) the gate and constricted
(is) the way which leads to life and there are few who find it. He said
that destruction awaits many.
In Matthew Chapter 8 verse 11. And I
say to you that many shall come from the East and the West, and shall
sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven. (That
Great Marriage Feast) But the sons of the kingdom ( those that have
failed to enter into that rest) the subjects of the kingdom, will be
cast into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In
Matthew Chapter 10 verse 28 the Lord said, And do not fear those who
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear Him
who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Matthew Chapter 18
verses 8 & 9. And if your hand or your foot causes you to offend,
cut them off and throw (them) from you. It is better for you to enter
into life lame or maimed , rather than having two hands or two feet to
be cast into everlasting fire. And if your eye offends you, pluck it out
and throw (it) from you. It is better for you to enter into life with
one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into the hell of fire.
Which is called eternal fire. The consequence of our sin.
In
Matthew Chapter 25 at verse 28. In the conclusion of a parable Jesus
says, Therefore take the talent from him and give (it) to him who has
ten talents. For to everyone who has, (more) shall be given, and he will
abound. But from him who has not, even that which he has shall be taken
away from him. And throw the unprofitable servant into outer darkness;
there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
If you have deluded
yourself into thinking God will not judge you, that God will not send
you into hell because God is a God of love, simply consider, apart from
the sacrifice of Christ and your personal interest in that sacrifice,
you will be very much mistaken and very sad for all eternity. For Jesus
Christ has revealed another matter all together.
In Matthew
Chapter 25 verse 41 Jesus said, Then He also shall say to those on (the)
left (hand), Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared
for the Devil and his angels. The very same fire, the very same
judgment that will come upon the Devil and the demons is that which
awaits those who do not believe.
And in verses 42-46. For I was
hungry, and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty, and you gave me no
drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked, and you
did not clothe Me; I was sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me.
Then they will also answer Him, saying, Lord, when did we see You
hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick or in prison, and
did not minister to You? The He shall answer them, saying, Truly I say
to you, Inasmuch as you did not do (it) to one of the least of these,
you did not do (it) to Me. And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into everlasting life.
You see how the two are contrasted. Eternal life; eternal punishment.
In
Luke the 16th Chapter, our Lord Jesus Christ shows us that this
judgment of hell begins at death. And the rest of Scripture teaches us,
as we just saw, at the resurrection, at the final judgment, the
consummation of hell. Jesus says in this story of the rich man and
Lazarus. Beginning at the 22nd verse. And it happened that the beggar
died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man
also died and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in
torments, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he
cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus so
that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that you in
your lifetime received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil
things. But now he is comforted and you are tormented.
And in
verse 26 He adds, And besides all this, there is a great chasm fixed
between you and us, so that they desiring to pass from here to you
cannot, nor can they pass over to us from there. The NIV Study Bible
rightly points out that the suffering in the intermediate state between
death and the resurrection includes the torment that characterizes the
final hell; that is fire, agony, and separation.
You see, as
Christians, death for us is an advancement. It is a move toward that
final eschaton, that final Sabbath. We are brought, (in our souls) into
the presence of God. And then at the resurrection our bodies are united
with our souls once again to stand before the judgment seat of Christ
and to be welcomed into the Eternal Kingdom in our bodies.
But
for those who died impenitent unbelievers, death, for them, is a step
downward into torment. But even that torment is intermediate, until
their bodies are reunited with their souls at the resurrection of the
wicked and they are then cast into hell to suffer unspeakable agony
forever and ever.
The Scriptures speak of hell, as it does of
heaven in metaphor. Its revelations are indeed closed, as they must be,
in imagery drawn from our earthly life. The realities are beyond our
comprehension. Eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for
those who love Him. Nor is it comprehensible what He has in store for
those who hate Him and refuse to bow before His Son. Whether these are
descriptive of woe or blessedness this imagery, it should be noted, is
the strongest, the most vivid and impressive which life can supply. And
the manner in which such symbolic representations are introduced and
used always suggest the momentous truths, that the realities which they
seek to represent are, in themselves, incomparably greater.
Do
you realize what this means? I confess that I cannot bear the
contemplation of hell. Many times in my Christian life, I have tried to
think about it. I cannot bear it. I cannot bear the thought of another
human with no hope; Suffering countless ages without end; with no hope;
sinking eternally under the wrath of God. I cannot bear it. But the
Scriptures teach that the reality is worse than our imagination can
provide. Even informed by the Scripture figure. Far worse than we can
imagine because no description can do justice to the severity of the
Divine vengeance on the damned; if suffering and torment are pictured to
us by means of physical things such as darkness, howling, and gnashing
of teeth, undying fire, or under the image of the worm which gnaws
endlessly. For it is certain the Holy Spirit, by such modes of speech,
has aimed at overwhelming all our senses with fear.
Jonathan
Edwards asked, If a man were brought to the mouth of the great furnace
to be cast into the midst of it. If at the same time he knew he should
suffer torment but for one minute, yet that minute would be so terrible
to him, that fearfulness should surprise and astonish him, would it not?
How much more if you were to be cast into a fire much fiercer; The fire
in which wicked men are hereafter to be tormented. And if the thought
of suffering this devouring fire for one minute would be enough to fill
one with such surprising fearfulness, what will seize them when they
shall know they shall bear it not for one minute; not for one day; not
for one year; not for one age; not for a hundred ages; nor for a million
of ages, one after the other, but for ever and ever without any end!.
And never! never! to be delivered! They shall know that the fire itself
will be everlasting fire. Fire that never shall be quenched. To go into
hell into the fire that never shall be quenched, where the worm dieth
not and the fire is not quenched sayeth the Lord. And they shall know
that their torment in that fire will never have an end. They shall know
that they shall for ever be full of quick sense, feeling within and
without. Their heads, their eyes, their tongue, their hands, their feet
and their loins and their vitals shall for ever be full of glowing,
melting, fire fierce enough to melt the very rocks and elements and also
that they shall eternally be full of the most quick and sense to feel
the torment. They shall know that they shall never cease restlessly to
plunge and to roll in that mighty ocean of fire. They shall know that
those billows of fire which are greater than the greatest mountains will
never cease to billow over them, one following after the other for ever
and ever.
Hell is not where your bodies are! As fools so
flippantly speak of it! In one instant that thought will be banished,
forever! Oh yes, let me go to hell, they say, defiantly, I'll see my
friends there. You'll see no one there! Hell, is not, as some say, here
on earth. This is hell! Hell is not merely separation from God and
heaven and privative or negative. It is not merely that. It is eternal,
conscious torment! It is everlasting punishment! And those in hell have
no rest! No interval!
In this life rest comes to the suffering,
The prisoner in his cell lies down on his bed and though it may be hard,
he sleeps. The overworked slave also has intervals of sleep. The eyes
of those who mourn are locked in repose and for a moment if not hours
they can forget their sorrows. No pain that we endure on earth can be so
certain and prolonged that nature will not sooner or later find the
luxury of sleep or will find rest from it in the grave, but it will be
one of the bitterest ingredients in the cup of woe in the world of
despair, that this luxury will be denied forever. And that they who
enter that gloomy prison sleep no more. Never know the respite of a
moment. Never even lose the consciousness of their heavy doom. Oh, how
different from the conditions of sufferers here. And oh how sad that any
of our race will persevere in sins and go down to those unmitigated and
unending sorrows.
Hell is everlasting shame! It is everlasting
contempt! It is everlasting sorrow! It is everlasting isolation!. It is
the consummation of covenant breaking! You would not have God to rule
over you! You would not be in fellowship with your fellow man through
God and His Word in Christ! You have broken covenant. You have denied
community in principle. Instead of community you have established
yourself as god! You want to live by your law! You want to do things
your way! You want to be supreme!
Therefore, God will give you
that isolation. Instead of light, black is darkness forever! Instead of
life and glory, endless death, pain and contempt! Hell is the
fulfillment of unbelief. It is the just desserts that befall those who
rebel against their Creator and despise His Redeemer whom He has sent!
Who is in hell? Who is experiencing this now and will even more so at
the resurrection of the just and the unjust? The Bible tells us.
If
anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown
into the lake of fire. Anyone who is not a Christian is thrown into that
lake. In the next chapter of Revelation it says the cowardly, the
unbelieving, the vile, the murders, the sexually immoral, those who
practice magic arts, the idolaters, all liars, their place will be the
fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Why are they in
hell? Because they hate God. And let it be known, God hates them! You
would fear to know that someone very powerful hated you. Do you fear to
know that as you remain in your sin outside of Christ that God Almighty,
Creator of this vast universe hates you and will call you to account
and will blow you away in and instant into that lake for your sin? Do
you not fear to have God as your enemy, yet you fear the kid or the man
down the block?
Brothers and sisters! The wonder of all Scripture
teaching is not that any are in hell. The wonder is that any escape it!
The problem that we face philosophically is not the problem of pain.
The problem that we face is the problem of pleasure. Being what we are
in our selves, how could God be so kind to us, as to allow us pleasure?
How could God deliver us from hell? As Wescott put it, The great mystery
of religion is not the punishment but the forgiveness of sin. That's
the mystery that will be our contemplation forever. Those in hell will
know that they are getting what they deserve and they will hate God
forever for it! They will never repent! Never yield! Never bow! But will
for ever increase their sin and their judgment and their own torment!
The
Larger Catechism is correct when it says that every sin, even the
least, because it is against the Sovereignty, the Goodness and Holiness
of God and against His righteous Law, every sin deserves His wrath both
in this life and in that which is to come and cannot be expiated, that
means cannot be paid for, except by the blood of Christ. Our view of sin
is so cheap! We wink at it. We forgive ourselves for all that we do
without regard to whether God will forgive us. Every sin deserves hell!
To
escape from the consciousness of this reality, men have resorted to all
sorts of devices, which I think, we can reduce to three falsehoods.
Each contradicted by the Word of God. The first doctrine they have
invented to refute this is called Universalism. Universalism teaches
everyone will eventually be saved. And there are all varieties of this
teaching. It has been advocated even within the CRC I am sorry to
report. Universalism.
Another way around this doctrine, this
truth, is called annihalationism. That is, there are various forms of
annihalationism but generally, they hold, at the resurrection, the
righteous will be ushered into eternal life but the wicked will be
annihilated so that they exist no longer. They are destroyed, kaput,
there is nothing left of them. They're gone.
And a third doctrine
that many of you have heard of is called purgatory, where people can
atone for their own sins and so eventually attain to the beatific
vision, the blessed vision. But all three of these heresies are buried
by one single verse. One single passage from the lips of Christ. They
will go away to eternal punishment but the righteous to eternal life.
He
puts away universalism by showing that not everyone will be saved,
there will be those that will be eternally punished. He puts away
annihalationism by saying that it is not a temporary punishment. Not a
punishment the effects of which will last for ever but the punishment
itself is eternal. And He puts away purgatory by showing that there are
only two categories at the judgment. No third, that we would wait for
their purification as they come out of the flames of purgatory which is
from the word to purge or cleanse from their sins and somehow come into
heaven.
As a murderer seeks to escape the police, so sinners seek
to escape from the terrifying reality of the final judgment, but to no
avail. It stands as the Word of God and it will come to pass. We have
seen what hell is. We have seen who is consigned to it. We have seen why
they are consigned to it. For their sins and for the Glory of God and
the manifestation of His justice. We have noted when they will be cast
into it, at death. The sentence is final. And again, finally at the
resurrection and the judgment it is executed. And for how long they will
remain in it, that is, for all eternity.
It remains only for us
to make a few applications. First, seeing what awaits those who walk in
the broad way which leads to destruction. Should you not make every
effort to enter in by the narrow? Can any of God's commandments seem
burdensome to those who know what awaits those who defy those commands?
Can the commandment seem like a burden compared to what awaits those who
defy the Commander?
Secondly, Since, my will be done, is the
creed of those who will be cast into hell forever, for there God says,
go ahead , your will be done, depart from Me ye cursed. Since that is
their creed, should not our creed be now and always, Thy will be done?
At that last judgment sinners shall get a new and horrible sight of the
use they made of their tongue in profane swearing, cursing, mocking at
religion, lying, reproaching, cruel and unjust threatening, etc. In
undue silence when God's honor and their own soul's interest and their
neighbors good require them to speak. They will get a new insight into
the use they made of their bellies in gluttony and drunkenness and
pampering their flesh, of their bodies in uncleanness, lasciviousness
and wantonness. On their hands in pilfering, stealing, unjust beating
and abusing their fellow creatures. Immoderately busying them in the
things of this life to the neglect of their souls. In a word, of the use
they made of their whole body and every member thereof with the
qualities and endowments thereof. Even its use, its beauty, comeliness,
health and strength, all misused. They even misuse the memorials of
dying that God has put to us. As hurts and wounds and weakness, sickness
and old age, all of which are to be improved for God, for the good of
man and for our own eternal welfare. Oh, says Thomas Boston, if men
could look upon these things now, as then they will appear, the sweet
morsel of sin would be accounted as the poison of asps and we would run
far from it!
Thirdly. Should we not earnestly warn sinners what
awaits them if they do not sincerely repent and flee to Christ? Now, I
am not saying that you should run out of here and broadcast the fires at
some great volume on every street corner. I don't know that that is the
better part of wisdom, but in earnest conversation should we not make
known to those we seek to bring to Christ, what awaits them if they
refuse His Lordship and His redemption? Should we not warn them?
Fourth.
Should we not ourselves give earnest heed to the exhortation found in
our text in Hebrews? After hearing what awaits those who fail to enter
the rest, can we not take more sincerely, the verse, Let us therefore
make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will fall by
following their example of disobedience and unbelief.?
Fifth.
Should we not worship, love and adore our Savior, who in enduring hell
in His infinite person, infinite sufferings, eternal because of who He
is, banished from the presence of God, and God's favor and God's warmth,
God's love, who entered into hell on our account, should we not love
Him? Should we not adore Him? The One who rescued us from this fate? The
One who took us from the clutches of the Devil? The One who brought us
to His own bosom? The One who secured us in His hands so that we can
never perish? How should we love Him who has made us, instead of objects
of wrath, children of the living God? That is what you are! Let none of
you delay. Make your peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Enter into His rest! The only alternative is no rest, ever!
Let us pray.
O
God, deliver us. You have delivered us once, continue to deliver us and
accomplish that in us which You have begun in Christ Jesus. O Lord,
search hearts. Cause us to be honest with ourselves and our condition.
Cause us to flee to Christ even now. To be found in Him, not having a
righteousness of our own but clothed in His glorious Righteousness.
Thank you, oh Lord God that You have made a way. And this the way is
sure and certain. Thank you that You have revealed that hell does await
the impenitent. We need to know that. It moves us to greater obedience
and more fervent devotion. Forgive us if our lips have casually uttered
this word. That we have not taken it seriously, perhaps in our lives,
that we have not warned others of it. Grant us O Great God Almighty,
that we might glimpse you, who was to us once a consuming fire but now
in Christ You have been made to us our Eternal Father who loves us and
will never turn away from us for the sake of Christ. It is in His name
that we pray. Amen
Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20071012133939/http://www.messiahnyc.org/articlesDetail.asp?id=122
