Divine Retribution for Sin

Driving home: When he says, outer darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth, unquenchable fire, where the worm dieth not and the fire is never quenched, I will hear him. My mind is subject to Jesus. That's the only approach to scripture th…

Martin paraphrases John Bunyan, who said the devil tries to keep thoughts of hell out of men's minds because he knows serious consideration of it leads to repentance and seeking salvation. This sets the stage for the sermon's theme.

of messages concerning the general theme of the future of impenitent sinners or the biblical doctrine of hell. We do well to remember the thoughts of John Bunyan who said, and I'm merely paraphrasing in 20th century language, the following words, the devil labors to keep the thought of hell out of the minds of men because he knows that if they begin to think seriously of hell, it won't be long before they break off from their sins and seriously inquire after the way of salvation in Jesus Christ. I believe that's the truth of the matter.

0:02 - 0:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: He reviews two previous conclusions: hell is a place of unspeakable torment (outer darkness, furnace of fire, wailing, gnashing of teeth) and a place where both soul and body…

Martin quotes Flavel, who compares the minister's work to a craftsman whose work is undone between sessions due to the world and the devil's influence, highlighting the challenge of maintaining spiritual impressions from one sermon to the next.

Flavel, great old master in Israel, speaking of the great problem of the minister, he said, Unlike the ordinary workman who, perhaps in building a table, can get the table half-constructed and leave it in his workshop and come back a week later, he finds his work precisely where he left it. Whereas the Christian minister, because of the influence of the world and the devil, finds that from one sermon to another, the work that was done by the Lord, the work that was done by the Lord, the work that was done by the Lord, the work that was done by the Lord, has been undone. What has happened to th...

7:19 - 7:59 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Retribution is the giving of deserved punishment, a paying back for wrongs done. When retribution is made, there is the meeting out of deserved punishment.

A story of children tricking their elderly father out of a dangerous house by simulating a fire, then revealing it was a ruse, is used to illustrate and then refute the false conception that hell is a 'sanctified ruse' by God to scare people into salvation.

me illustrate. There's an old man who lives in a rickety house, and his parents, I mean his loved ones, his daughters, and his progeny, they're concerned about him. He's got a son. They love their dad and their granddad. But he's so attached to that house, there's so many fond memories, they can't get him out of it. And one of the children has a beautiful home they've actually built an addition on so he can have his own privacy, has his own little kitchenette and all the rest, and they've begged him, Dad, come. No, no, he says, I just love this house too much. But Dad, the house is rickety. It...

9:44 - 10:36 Read in full sermon