Unspeakable Torment

The point: Preach all of God's counsel, even distasteful truths, to be free from the blood of all men.

Paul's declaration to the Ephesian elders, 'I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God,' is used to set the ambition for a true minister of Christ.

In speaking to the Ephesian elders in vindication of his own ministry of some three years among them, the Apostle Paul could declare, I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. And then he gives the reason why he had this testimony borne to his conscience. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. But perhaps there is no greater ambition in the heart of a true minister of Jesus Christ than to be able to say with the Apostle, I take you to record that I am pure from the blood of all men.

0:03 - 0:44 Read in full sermon

The point: Preach all of God's counsel, even distasteful truths, to be free from the blood of all men.

Paul's statement, 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus,' illustrates the personal cost and suffering involved in preaching offensive truth.

With him the price was very vividly and indelibly stamped upon his very flesh. For he could say, I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. He could show you the scars he received from his beatings for preaching such offensive truth. Truth that was to the Jew a stumbling block, to the Greek foolishness.

1:18 - 1:41 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin warns against approaching the subject of hell with preconceived notions of human justice. He emphasizes that humans are sinful creatures, incapable of instructing God on…

The example of books written on the punishment of the wicked, not from biblical pressure but human assumption, highlights the danger of human-centered reasoning over divine revelation.

Many books have been written, books that were written not because men had their minds so impregnated with biblical concepts that the pressure of divine truth caused them to pick up their pens and write. No. Books that were written because men dared to assume that human beings, have in themselves some innate ability to determine what is right or wrong, just or unjust, with regard to the future punishment of the wicked. I would remind you as we embark upon this study that first of all we are creatures and God alone is God.

4:21 - 5:02 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not assume human canons of justice and impose them upon God when approaching the subject of hell.

A quotation from an unnamed 'eminent servant of Christ' is used to reinforce the point that the future of impenitent men cannot be decided by preconceived notions of right and wrong, but only by Scripture.

Bless God, we see, but we see darkly, we see dimly, we see in broad outlines and only then shall we know even as we are known. And so as we approach the subject, we do well to keep this before us. For in the words of one of Christ's eminent servants of a bygone day, it is obvious that this is not a question, the question, of the future of impenitent men. This is not a question which can be decided by any so-called a priori, preconceived notions of right and wrong.

7:19 - 7:59 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He begins with the first principle, focusing on 'outer darkness' as a figure Christ uses. Martin explains its vivid meaning to an Oriental audience, signifying privative…

A quotation from 'Strange Manners and Customs of Bible Lands' explains the vivid oriental imagery of banquets and exclusion into 'outer darkness,' making Christ's words more understandable to His original hearers.

And this man who has come in without a garment is cast outside the feasting room, outside the banquet room, into outer darkness. This was a very vivid figure. It communicated very clearly to our Lord's hearers. I read, I read from an excellent book that I've made reference to a number of times, Strange Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, the writers who spent years in the Orient and the Near East, speaking of some of the customs concerning banquets and feasts, says, Ancient banquets were usually held at night in rooms that were brilliantly lighted, and anybody who was excluded from the feast w...

17:09 - 17:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He begins with the first principle, focusing on 'outer darkness' as a figure Christ uses. Martin explains its vivid meaning to an Oriental audience, signifying privative…

The custom of keeping a lamp burning all night in Eastern homes illustrates the deep-seated dread of darkness, enhancing the meaning of 'outer darkness' as a place of terror.

In the teaching of Jesus, such exclusion is likened unto the day of judgment, that children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness. This expression, outer darkness, takes on new meaning when it's realized what a dread the Oriental has for the darkness of the night. In the east, a lamp is usually kept burning all night in the home. To sleep in the dark as the Westerner usually does would be a terrible experience. To sleep in the dark as the Westerner usually does would be a terrible experience.

17:54 - 18:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He begins with the first principle, focusing on 'outer darkness' as a figure Christ uses. Martin explains its vivid meaning to an Oriental audience, signifying privative…

Martin's personal childhood experience of being spanked (punitive) and sent to his room without supper (privative) illustrates the two types of judgment signified by 'outer darkness' (privative) and 'furnace of fire' (punitive).

To sleep in the dark as the Westerner usually does would be a terrible experience. To sleep in the dark as the Westerner usually does would be a terrible experience. pulling the shade down. I don't know why that was, but that was part of the ritual. And then I was spanked.

18:24 - 19:30 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Either you must utterly reject the authority of Jesus Christ in any area or you must submit your mind to these frightening descriptions of the future of the impenitent

The historical account of the Valley of Hinnom, where Moloch worship occurred and later became Jerusalem's dumping ground with perpetual fire, explains the origin and symbolic meaning of 'Gehenna' as a place of cruelty, misery, pollution, and perpetual burning.

when he stands there on that mount and delivers as it were the Magna Carta of the kingdom that he has come to establish he uses this term Gehenna several times in the sermon on the mount he uses it with his disciples fear not those which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do but fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna he uses it with the Pharisees he says how can you escape the judgment of Gehenna of hell Matthew 23 33 for the word itself is a compound word from two Hebrew words which mean the valley of Hinnom it was a valley southeast of Jerusalem a valley ...

28:55 - 30:23 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Either you must utterly reject the authority of Jesus Christ in any area or you must submit your mind to these frightening descriptions of the future of the impenitent

The etymology of 'paradise' from a Persian hunting ground, which evolved to mean a place of bliss, is used to argue against a literalistic interpretation of 'Gehenna' as merely a dumping ground, emphasizing its evolved symbolic meaning of punishment.

and awful a fire there continually burned and so that valley by a natural law of all ideas became a symbol of cruelty of misery of pollution and of perpetual burning this by a law of language thus by a law of language its name was transferred to the place of the punishment of the wicked you have a similar thing with Paul when our Lord said to the thief on the cross today thou shalt be with me in paradise he used the word the original meaning of which was a Persian hunting ground walled in and well stocked with animals the delight of a hunter but it became more and more in the evolving of the w...

30:23 - 31:53 Read in full sermon

The point: Realize that nothing is worth anything unless you are certain you will not come to the place of woe.

The analogy of a time bomb in one person's pocket or one coat on a rack illustrates the intense urgency and thoroughness with which one should seek assurance of salvation if there's even a remote chance of eternal damnation.

which our Lord gives to us again and again if there is such a place of unspeakable misery torment and woe then I trust every one of you realizes that nothing is worth anything unless I'm certain that I'll not come to that place of woe if I were to say this morning that while we met someone planted a time bomb in the pocket of one person in this place you look around and say well there are about 80-90 of us here one chance in 90 that it might be in mine oh that's not a very high percentage I won't be bothered to look in my pocket not on your life if I said on the basis of valid authority there'...

37:42 - 39:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not wait for a miracle or someone to return from the dead; be persuaded by the words of Christ (the law and the prophets).

The story of the rich man in hell asking for someone to return from the dead to warn his brothers is used to show that if people will not believe Moses and the prophets (God's Word), they will not be persuaded even by a miracle.

to live in these areas of truth for these past days is that the bible says that many go into destruction why does our lord teach us of hell to warn us that we enter not into that place ah but you say if there was some kind of miracle to show that it was true if someone could come back from that place reeking of the brimstone and speaking of his experience ah then I'd believe it ah that's exactly exactly what somebody thought who's there remember what the rich man said father Abraham send some of my brothers from the dead then they'll listen Abraham says they have Moses and the prophets if they...

39:10 - 40:39 Read in full sermon

The point: Make your calling and election sure with holy joy and holy fear, fulfilling God's counsel and enduring to the end.

A hymn by Charles Wesley is quoted to impress upon the heart the solemn weight of eternal things and the urgency of making one's calling and election sure.

from that awful judgment notice my answer do I have biblical grounds to believe I am united to Christ and that there's no condemnation to those that are in Christ Jesus not that I have some vague notions about salvation some vague hopes that I may be a child of God do I have biblical grounds to believe that I've passed from death unto life and that in that awful day I shall hear him say to me enter thou into the joy of thy Lord and I'll see you I close with one of the great hymns of Wesley it's not in our hymn book I want to read it to you low on a narrow neck of land twixt two unbounded seas ...

40:39 - 42:07 Read in full sermon