Divine Retribution for Sin

Introduction: The Necessity of Preaching on Hell and the Disciples' Approach

0:02 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.

0:56 No man can focus before his mind the biblical doctrine of hell, hell, and sin with a high hand, sin with delightful abandonment. He may be able to go on sinning still, but there'll be a worm in the gourd of every pleasure. And the more he thinks upon it, the more likely he is to break off the course that leads to hell and to seek salvation by God's appointed Redeemer. It's because of this principle and the sense that I, have not given due proportion to this doctrine as found in the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we are breaking our normal exposition of verse-by-verse, chapter-by-chapter, book-by-book studies, and considering for these few weeks this great theme of Holy Scripture. In our two previous studies, I have set before you, first of all, the approach to the subject. It must not be the approach of the rationalist who makes his own understanding the bar of judgment to which the statements of Scripture are brought, and thereby accepted or rejected. No, we do not come as the rationalist, for we realize we are creatures, and as the heavens

2:20 are high above the earth, so are his thoughts above our thoughts, and his ways above our ways. And we come recognizing we are sinful creatures. And that our minds are darkened, and we cannot trust our emotional reactions to the thought of divine vengeance, and say that it is too harsh, for we are sinners looking at sin. We are creatures looking at offense against a Creator, and against a holy Creator at that.

2:49 No, our approach is that of disciples whose minds, as well as wills, are subject to Jesus Christ. Whose minds say, Lord Jesus, Thou art God. Whose minds say, Lord Jesus, Thou art God. God, Without the Truth, I give my mind to Thee to be led into any path that Your explicit statements lead me.

3:09 First then, here's an Lichtnegis script. First, now, Enterake, 1 John 18, 17. his true disciples, John 17, 8, they have received my words. When the Father says, this is my beloved Son, hear him. The Christian says, yes, Father, I will hear him. When he speaks of pardon through his sacrifice, I will hear him. When he speaks of the Old Testament scriptures as being authoritative and inspired, I will hear him. When he says, the scriptures cannot be broken, 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 that a Christian has.

Review of Previous Conclusions: Hell's Torment and Suffering of Soul and Body

3:59 So much for our approach, then we considered the focus of our study. It will be primarily the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of hell. Though we are bringing past the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of hell, though we are bringing past the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of hell, though we are bringing passages from the other inspired writers, they are but supplementary. The main focus of our study is the teaching of Christ. And I'm doing this purposely because the issue is just as simple. If we accept the Gospels as a valid account of the life and teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ, we are driven to the conclusion we have Christ and his hell or we must make another Christ to be rid of Christ and his hell. No other conclusion. In the Gospel of Matthew, alone, there are approximately 30 distinct references in the teaching of Christ himself to the future of impenitent sinners. As we have sought to analyze the teaching of our

4:55 Lord, we have come to two conclusions. I'll simply mention them, and then we shall move to discover, with God's help, the third this morning. First of all, our Lord Jesus Christ clearly taught that hell is a place and a condition of unspeakable and unalleviated torment, misery, and woe. And we saw this, basically, for two reasons. One, the figure of outer darkness used by our Lord three times, the figure of the furnace of fire, unquenchable fire, Gehenna, resulting in, both cases, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Our Lord is describing the state of the impenitent as a state of unspeakable torment, misery, and woe, so that the impenitent definite article is used. There shall be the wailing and the gnashing of teeth, as though every wailing and gnashing of teeth known to man is but a preview to the unspeakable misery and woe of that awful place. Last week we saw that in the teaching of our Lord, hell

6:02 is a place and a condition where soul and body shall suffer. The express statement of our Lord, fear not them which kill the body, but rather fear him who can destroy the body. Destroy both soul and body in Gehenna, Matthew 10, 28. The rich man died, his body was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes. And our Lord, again and again, speaking in Matthew 5 and Matthew 18 and in other portions, where he says it's better to enter into life maimed than having two hands or two eyes or two feet to be cast into hell. Then the whole context of hell is the judgment. The context of the judgment is the resurrection. The resurrection spoken of in John 5, 28 and 29, where Jesus said, The hour is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth, they that have done good to the resurrection of life, they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. I wonder, have the impressions

7:07 of those two messages all been lost? There was an unusual sobering in our midst last Lord's Day morning. What's happened? What's happened to those impressions?

7:19 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 the serious impressions of last Lord's Day? Have the world and the devil just dissipated them like the dew before the burning sun?

Hell as Divine Retribution: Definition and False Conceptions

8:00 Oh, may God grant that it shall not be so, but that the Lord will continue his work as we come to this third aspect of this teaching as found in our Lord's words. What is the third conclusion we're warranted in making from the teaching of our Lord on the subject of hell? It is this. Hell is a place and a condition of divine retribution. Don't let the words scare you.

8:27 I'll define them. I'm using them purposely. Hell is a place and condition of divine retribution for sins committed in this life. What do I mean by divine? I mean that which is of God.

8:43 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. And I submit that the teaching of our Lord Jesus Christ on the subject of hell is this, that hell is a place and a condition of divine retribution, God meeting out what sin deserves in punishment upon the sinner. Now, to clear the way for the words of our Lord, let me deal first of all with several false conceptions of the purpose of hell, for this is what we're dealing with. The purpose of hell is this. What is the purpose in the plan of God for that hell which was prepared for the devil and his angels, but which will be not just the place to which he is consigned, but all who have followed him? Well, the first false conception of the purpose of hell is this. It's a sanctified ruse. You know what a ruse is? A trick. Let

9:44 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's dangerous. A good, strong limit. No, it's too many memories. I remember when Mom was with me. I remember the kiddies. They can't get him out. So one day they conceive a plan, and they can't get him out. So they come over with a big five-gallon can, and they put some old rags in it and soak them with kerosene. They put the top back on it, and they sneak in down into the basement. One of the sons does, and the other one's up engaging the dad in conversation. And they

10:36 put a match to that until they begin to get all this black smoke and all the rest. And so the other son is sitting upstairs, and, do you smell anything? Yes, I smell something strong. So he goes to the cellar door, and he opens the door, and the smoke bill is out.

10:49 He says, we've got to get out of here. They said, well, Dad, let's just grab a few of your belongings. So they run into the bedroom and grab some of his most valuable things, and out the door they run. He gets in the car. The other son puts the little smoking thing out, and he takes him off to his house. After he's there for a little while, he says, but what's happened to my house? They say, well, Dad, really, nothing. It's still standing. We're putting it on the market. How do you like it here? And he says, son, well, you know, I never thought I would, but I really do like it here. I don't want to go back.

11:17 Someone would say that was a sanctified ruse. Since you couldn't get him out of the place of the house, you couldn't get him out of the place of the house. So they run into the danger and into the place of safety by honest means, use a dishonest means, but since it has a good end, that's all right. Some actually teach that's what the doctrine of hell is. They can't miss the doctrine in the Bible. They do not deny that our Lord taught it, but this is the idea. Men are so wedded to their sins that all of the appeals of the gospel can't prevail upon them to forsake that house of sin, to turn their backs upon it and come to the house of grace. So you know what God has done? He's played a trick on us. He's told us this terrible, frightening thing called hell in order that this might prevail upon us to forsake the house and flee for refuge. Well, I think the answer to that some of you children could give. How do we know this is not true? Why this idea completely undermines the whole truth of the word of God? Jesus said, thy

12:20 word is truth, and something that is true is that which is according to the word of God. According to reality. According to reality. That's something that's true. If you ask me how old I am and I say 50, that's not according to reality. It's not true. And if Jesus said, in the end of the age he shall send forth his angels and gather out of his kingdom all things which do offend and commit iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire, and there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, if that's not according to reality, Jesus spoke error. If he spoke error, he's a sinner. If he's a sinner, he's a sinner.

12:57 If he's no Savior, if he's no Savior, let's go out, eat, drink, for tomorrow we die. Undermines the whole veracity of the word of God. God is called the God who cannot lie, Titus 1, 2, and Hebrews 6, 18. And the second thing that's wrong with this, it's an absolute travesty on the power of God and on the ability of grace to bring men to Christ. Is God so helpless that he can't pry men from their sins? Without using a lie? No, no. The power of grace is such that on the basis of truth, God pries men loose from their sins until they come freely and willingly into the house of mercy. The second false conception about the purpose of hell is that it is an extended

13:51 day of opportunity. Now, the idea goes like this. Since the overtures of grace, that is the preaching of the gospel, the thing that goes on here. When your preacher looks at you and pleads with you to repent and believe and warns you to flee the wrath to come, the idea is that since the overtures of grace, with only the threat of hell, do not prevail upon too many, when the overtures of grace are no longer attended with the mere threat of hell, but with the fact of hell, this will prevail upon people to accept the offered grace. So that hell becomes an extended, more persuasive day of opportunity. You get the idea? This is the teaching of some. Hell is an extended day of opportunity. How would you answer that? There is not a shred of evidence

14:47 of it in the Bible. And it flatly contradicts the whole emphasis of Scripture that, behold, now is the day of salvation. It contradicts the whole emphasis of Scripture that this life and this life alone is probationary. The Scripture says, it is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.

15:14 And the whole teaching of Scripture can be summarized in this little couplet. As death leaves you, the judgment finds you. And as the judgment finds you, eternity will fix you. You got it? As death leaves you, the judgment will find you. It is appointed unto men once to die, after this, judgment. And as judgment finds you, eternity will fix you. These shall go away into everlasting punishment. These shall go away into everlasting life.

15:56 So the idea that hell is an extended day of opportunity will not stand the test of Scripture. There is a third false conception about the purpose of hell, and it is this, that it is a means of grace. The idea is that the suffering, of the sinner in hell, will have some kind of a purifying effect upon his own soul, thus causing repentance and purification, and in some measure, his sufferings will satisfy the demands of God's law. That's the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory. To purge something is to do what? To clean it out. And so the concept is that the fires of hell shall be purgative in their influence. Therefore, hell becomes a means of grace.

16:42 Well, how do we answer that? Again, not a shred of evidence of it in the Bible. And not only that, it flatly contradicts human experience.

16:51 Torment and suffering have no power to sanctify. Let me show it to you. If it's true that torment and suffering have power to sanctify, then the worst torment should have the most power to sanctify, right? But when God is pouring out the vials of His judgment upon men in the worst manifestations of His anger upon men here on earth, He will not purge them. He will not purge them.

17:14 But what is the effect of that? I read now from Revelation 16, 8 to 10. And the fourth poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given unto it to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat. And what did they do? Cry to God for mercy and repent? No. They blasphemed the name of the God who had the power over these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory. And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. And they gnawed their tongues for pain. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they repented not of their works. It's utterly contradictory to human experience to think that suffering is a means of grace. It never was and never shall be.

18:11 Well, there's a last false concept of hell and its purpose, and it's this. That hell, is God's, as it were, incinerator for the very last vestiges of the influence of evil. A place to consume all evil. The idea is not that hell will be primarily a display of justice in punishing evil, but a display of God's power to annihilate and obliterate evil.

18:43 Now, there are various brands of this thought. Some say that immediately upon the sentience of hell, just like that, every vestige of evil is consumed, and the devil and his angels and all who followed him and all who are not in the book of life are sent back into non-existence, utterly obliterated, annihilated. Others say, no, the Bible teaches degrees of punishment, therefore the degrees will be meted out in terms of time. And after a period of time, the Bible being, they say, indefinite, ultimately hell itself will even be non-existent.

19:18 Well, the answer to this? I'll deal with this most fully when we come to the fourth aspect of our Lord's teaching on the doctrine of hell, namely, the endlessness found in his figures of the worm that dieth not, the smoke of the torment that ascends forever, eternal fire, unquenchable fire, the meaning of the word eternal, etc. But listen carefully. The basic answer to this false concept of hell is this. It contradicts the biblical idea of the purpose of hell, set forth. It is set forth by our Lord, and we're going to look at it now in a moment. Hell is primarily not a place where God displays his power to obliterate evil, but it's a place where he displays his justice in the punishment of evil. So much, then, for the false concepts.

Biblical Evidence: Christ's Teaching on Hell as Punitive

20:08 Will you come with me now to the biblical statement of the purpose of hell? And I remind you of that which our Lord teaches. It is a place and condition of divine retribution. God will subject, the sinner to punishment for sin committed. Turn to the Gospel of Matthew and very quickly work through a number of passages with me. And what I want you to do as I read these passages, I want you to feel the climate of our Lord's teaching on the doctrine of hell. We're not going to pause to exegete carefully every verse, but I want you to catch the flavor, the mood of what our Lord is teaching. What does our Lord set forth as the purpose, the purpose of hell? Is it instructive? Is it sanctifying? Is it exhortative? Or is

20:57 it punitive? Is it to punish? What is it? Begin with Matthew 5, verse 22.

21:06 But I say unto you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha, shall be in danger of the council. And whosoever shall say, Thou fool. Shall be in danger of the hell of fire. What is our Lord saying? He's saying if you give vent to a spirit that is characterized by this kind of derisive, abusive speech, contempt for your fellow men, the punishment will be the henna of fire. You see? The whole mood of the passage being, if you do this, that action will be met with this commensurate action. Humble judgment from God. You find essentially the same thing in verses 29 and 30. If thy

21:57 right eye causes thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. The context being adultery. And our Lord says if you find that lust is inflamed by the eye, by the hand, far better to mutilate the physical body if this would have any sanctifying effect. It doesn't, but he's saying far better.

22:21 To undergo the pain, the excruciating pain and loss of a right hand or a right eye, for if you go on in the adulterous course, there's only one thing. The henna of fire. You see? Judgment for the adulterous life and ways. Chapter 7, verse 23. Speaking of the day of judgment, notice our Lord's words. Perhaps you could back up to verse 22. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in thy name, and in thy name cast out demons? And in thy name do mighty works? Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Depart from me. Why? You are iniquity workers. And because of iniquity, you must depart from me. You must be punished. You must be judged for your sin. Chapter 8, verses 11 and 12. The context set in verse 10. Our Lord has seen the tremendous

23:21 faith of this nobleman. He has seen the tremendous faith of this nobleman. He has seen the tremendous faith of this nobleman. He has seen the tremendous faith of this nobleman. He has seen the tremendous faith of this nobleman, a Gentile. And Jesus said, verse 10, when he heard it, he marveled and said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. And I say unto 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. But the sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. There shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. Why are they cast forth? Not to be taught, not to be purified, but to be what? To be punished for the sins of the world. To be punished for the sins of unbelief. In the midst of all the privilege, the sons of the kingdom cast forth in punishment for unbelief. Chapter 10, verse 15, our Lord commissioning the twelve and saying, if you go into a town and there people don't want to receive the message you bring, verses 14 and 15 of chapter 10, whosoever shall not receive you nor hear your words as you go forth out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment for that city. Why are they judged? Because of their terrible sin of impenitence in the face

24:33 of great light. They shall be punished for the sin of rejecting the servants of God and their message. You find essentially the same words in chapter 11 and verse 22. He begins to upbraid the cities where he did mighty works because they repented not. And he says in verse 21, woe unto thee, Chorazin, woe unto thee, Bethsaida. The mighty works have been done in Tyre and Sidon, which were done in you. They would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashage. But I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And thou, Capernaum, shalt thou be exalted unto heaven. Thou shalt go down unto Hades, for if the mighty works, etc. What is our Lord saying? He's saying the day of judgment will be a day of inflicting punishment for the terrible sin of unbelief in the face of great privilege and great late. And we could go on and multiply passage after passage from the gospel of Matthew alone.

25:31 I have another six or seven, and that's not exhaustive. There's one more I want you to consider that brings this out very, very forcibly. It's the 18th chapter of Matthew, where our Lord is teaching the duty of forgiveness and the maintenance of a forgiving spirit. Peter has asked the question in verse 21, how oft shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? And he thought he'd really set that standard high.

25:56 And he says, up to seven times. The Lord says, no, you missed it by a long shot, Peter. The very fact that you've set a figure shows you've missed it. Forgiveness doesn't have figures. The spirit of forgiveness doesn't keep a notebook, Peter. You missed it. The spirit of forgiveness is that in the heart of a man which is like the heart of God. It doesn't keep figures. So he says 70 times seven. He said, now I want to enforce it with a little story. So he gave the parable. You remember, there's the man who had a debt.

26:29 He went to his creditor. He forgave him. He said, I want to enforce it with a little story. He gave the debt. He turned around and found somebody who had a very little debt to him and he took him by the throat and said, you give it to me, buddy, or you've had it. The master heard about this. And what did he do? Notice carefully. Verse 32. Then his Lord called him unto him and said unto him, thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all thy debt because thou besoughtest me. Shouldest thou not have had mercy on thy fellow servant as I had mercy on thee? And his Lord was wroth, angry, and delivered him to the tormentors till he should pay. Pay all that was due, so shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not everyone his brother from the heart. He shall deliver you to the tormentors till you pay what is

Biblical Terminology: Punishment, Vengeance, and Wrath

27:14 due. The judgment and the punishment of hell being retribution, God paying back for the evil that he's done. Hence the words of scripture used in connection with hell are not sanctification, instruction, exhortation, persuasion. But the words are punishment, vengeance, and wrath. And I want you to look at these three words with me this morning. It's the second line of my argument, the development of our thought. Hell is a place of divine retribution. How do we know? The very flavor and climate of all that Jesus taught about hell is that climate of retribution. God paying the sinner his due. Second thing, the very words that are prominent in scripture to describe hell are words of retribution, punishment, vengeance, and wrath. What does the word punishment mean in a biblical setting? It means this. Punishment is suffering inflicted by a competent

28:18 authority upon an evildoer as satisfaction to justice. What is punishment? It is suffering inflicted by a competent authority, that authority is God, upon an evildoer as satisfaction to justice. And it's the word punishment that is found in the lips of our Lord in Matthew 25 and verse 46. Having given the sentence in verse 41, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire. Having given the wonderful invitation to his own, enter into the joy of thy Lord. Verse 46 says, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. Punishment, punishment.

29:05 Inflicted by a competent authority upon an evildoer as satisfaction to justice. That sinner has broken the law of God. That law demands punishment. And punishment that sinner shall receive if he goes to the judgment, a stranger to the covering of the blood of Christ. And this is confirmed by the usage of the other writers in the New Testament.

29:30 In Hebrews 10 and verse 29, the writer to the Hebrews says, speaking of this whole matter, of judgment, of how much sorer punishment shall he be thought worthy who hath trodden underfoot the Son of God. Of how much sorer punishment. 2 Peter 2.9 speaks of those that are kept under punishment awaiting the judgment of the great day. In 2 Thessalonians 1.9 speaking of the coming of our Lord to judgment says, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction. If words mean anything, the purpose of hell is not instructive. It's not sanctifying. It's not exhortative. It is punitive, punishment. And then the word vengeance. The word vengeance.

30:21 What is vengeance? It's the return of an injury for an injury in punishment. The return of an injury for an injury in punishment. The avenging of an injury. Now it's interesting that God claims the sole priority. It's not prerogative of exercising vengeance, but he does claim that prerogative. There's only one other source of authority that ever has the right to render injury for an injury. Romans 13 indicates that God has put a limited amount of the right of vengeance in the hand of human government. And he uses this very term. He is an avenger of the wrath of God upon evil doers. Human government has, as it were, a loan from God of a little of the right of vengeance. So that when a person in society does wrong, he is to be returned an injury for that injury to satisfy justice. But outside of that, again and again, God says, vengeance is mine. I will repay. Give no place to vengeance. A classic passage that

31:26 quotes this is Romans 13. And I want you to look at it for a moment, please. Romans, I'm sorry, Romans 12, verse 17. Render to no man evil for evil.

31:40 Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, be at peace with all men. Now notice carefully. Avenge not yourselves, beloved.

31:50 Why? Because this is something contrary to the character of God? No. It is a right reserved to God and God alone. But give place unto the wrath of God. For it is written, vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. Some say, oh no, the concept of vengeance. My God isn't a God of vengeance. Well, I don't know who your God is. He's one you must have made. I've heard people when confronted the doctrine of hell, the thought that God like a big bully will punish sinners. That's abhorrent to me. I'm sorry if it is. Maybe that's why you're not going to heaven. You couldn't be happy with a God like that. I read of the souls in his presence in Revelation 19. When they see his judgment in vengeance upon men, they cry out, true and righteous are thy ways.

32:47 Thou hast judged the great war. And they praise a God of vengeance. Oh no. No right of vengeance in me. God prohibits it, but he reserves it for himself. Why? For this simple reason. That all sin is against God. An injury done to his person. An affront to his law. A slap at his glory. Now follow closely. God who alone knows all the thoughts, all the intents, all the actions, all the motives. He alone knows the full extent of the injury done to his person, to his law, to his glory. And so with perfect accuracy, he can measure out precisely what those injuries to his law and to his character deserve. They've been against him. He has perfect knowledge of them.

33:43 Vengeance is mine, God says. I will repay. And so when I read in my Bible words like those in 2 Thessalonians 1. 8, I'm not surprised. Where the apostle says the Lord Jesus will come in flaming fire, taking what? Vengeance on all them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Vengeance. Vengeance. God's paying back. May I say it reverently? There's a day coming when God's going to get even with sinners. He's going to get even with some of you. You've snubbed the overtures of his grace. You've trampled the authority of his holy law under your foot, and God's let you go scot-free.

34:31 But oh, my friend, there's a day coming when God's going to get even. The word should cause us to shudder. I'm not surprised then to read in Hebrews 10 and 30, another quotation of those words given in Romans chapter 12 when speaking of the coming judgment of God upon the impenitent. These are the very forceful words used.

34:59 For we know him. And it saith, Vengeance belongeth unto me. I will recompense. I will pay back. I will get even. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Fall into his hands. Why is it fearful? For they are hands of vengeance. But I'm not found in those hands in the day of mercy. And then the third word that is used to speak of the purpose, the mood of hell. Is the word wrath. And the very mention of the word brings up so many wrong connotations.

35:41 May I say at the outset, we must not identify this with that blind animal passion in men that only leaves a trail of blood and of broken hearts. No, every emotion of God is suffused with his holiness. It's holy love. It's holy vengeance. It's holy wrath. But it is wrath nonetheless. And what is wrath? It is that in God which stands actively opposed to man's sin and manifests itself in punishing that sin. That in God which stands not indifferent or neutral, but actively opposed to man's sin and manifests itself in punishing that sin. John the Baptist preached, who hath warned

36:32 you to flee the wrath to come. John chapter 3, which is so often used in a sentimental way to concoct an oomph. So Paul, in describing the day of judgment, says in Romans 2, 5, it will be of people who are misusing God's goodness. He says, you treasure up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath.

37:09 1 Thessalonians 1, 10 speaks of Jesus. You want an interesting study this afternoon if you have a concordance? I challenge you to look up the word wrath in your concordance and check all the references that have some connection with God. Then take the word love and see all the uses that have something to do with God and you'll have a very interesting discovery. You will find dozens of more passages which speak directly of the wrath of God. 1 Thessalonians 1, 10 speaks of God in precept, principle, and example than of the love of God. Oh, I don't believe...

37:52 That's your Bible. That's all I ask you to do in a concordance. Go ahead. You do it.

37:58 You do it. Now, what do these words tell us? Punishment, vengeance, wrath. They tell us that the purpose of hell, and this is the one principle that we're trying to focus upon this morning, is not to instruct the sinner, not to extend the day of opportunity, not to be a means of grace, not to display God's power in obliterating evil, but to manage the day of opportunity.

38:19 1 Thessalonians 1, 10 speaks of God in precept, principle, and example than of the love of God. That's the glory of His character as a righteous and holy God in the punishment of sin.

Theological Implications: God's Character and Salvation

38:30 Very briefly in closing, and I can only be suggestive, perhaps I'll have to work these out in detail next week, God willing, but I don't want to leave this hanging without application. May I just give you my headings, and perhaps this is what I'll have to do. I don't know as I think through and pray over it. There are some tremendous theological implications in what we've said this morning. The two greatest are these. A tremendous implication about the character of God, and secondly, about the salvation of God. Those people who say, well, you know, I love the teaching of Jesus. He taught that wonderful teaching about the universal fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, and He changed that old Jewish idea of a vengeful, wrathful God, and He showed us that God is all love. Anybody says that?

39:13 You know what they're telling me? They never read the Bible. They're just parroting what somebody else said. Just parroting. What did Jesus teach us about the character of God?

39:23 Well, listen to His words. Don't fear those that can mutilate your body. Fear the God who can cast soul and body into hell, outer darkness, bind them hand and foot, weeping, gnashing of teeth. So shall my Father do to you. What did He teach us? Oh, dear ones, He taught us that God is a God of vengeance. Oh, is He a God of love? Yes. But Psalm 89, 14 says, Righteousness and justice are the foundations of His throne. Mercy and truth are before His face. Righteousness and justice are the pillar stones of His throne. Mercy and truth are before His face. God is light before God is love. God is a consuming fire, the Scripture

40:13 tells us. He's a God of inflexible justice who said, This do and thou shalt live. This fail to do and thou shalt die. Since the law is holy, spiritual, just, and good, that can't be altered. Since God is true and unchanging, we won't go back to that. We won't go back on His word. So justice demands that if the law is broken, there must be punishment, either in the person who broke it or in an acceptable substitute if such can be found. What does this tell us about the character of God? It tells us if you've been rocking yourself to sleep and preparing yourself for hell and for judgment by an idol called this God of love who's all love and nothing but love, may God help you to turn your back upon that idol and tremble and fall down before that God.

41:01 Use a consuming fire and seek mercy through His dear Son. That's the first great implication of this principle of our Lord, that hell is a place of divine retribution. It tells us something about the character of God. Then it tells us something profound about the salvation of God. Listen carefully to what I'm going to say, and I don't say it carelessly. I've thought it through. I tried to demonstrate it historically to one of the men who was over to see me last night, and I believe it'll hold water. An inadequate view of hell as a place and condition of divine retribution always results in a low and inadequate view of sin, and a low and inadequate view of sin always results in a low and inadequate view of the atonement. The Bible concept of hell, sin, and the atonement stand or fall together.

41:55 You let the Bible doctrine of hell be undermined, it won't be long before the doctrine of sin and atonement will be undermined. Undermine the doctrine of the atonement, it won't be long before sin and hell go. Touch any one of those, they're like a trilogy, a trinity of truth, and any one dies, and the gangrene, the putrefaction affects all of us. Why do we have such shoddy views of the atonement in our day? Christ sort of died generally for everybody, but didn't secure the salvation of anybody. I would suggest it's because we've got low views of sin. If we get right views of sin and what it deserves, divine wrath, and then we see that in dying upon the cross, the Father poured out His wrath upon His Son, then you realize that He's not going to die. He's not going to die. He's not going to die. He's not going to die. He's not going to die.

42:38 He satisfied justice on behalf of certain sinners. They must be saved. God won't punish His Son and then punish the sinner. That's not just. If satisfaction has been made to His law, then the guilty criminal is free. You see, the definiteness of the atonement is tied in with the right view of sin. It's all tied together. The core of the gospel message is the preaching of the cross, and what's the core of the message of the cross?

43:11 Galatians 3.13. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Why? Being made a curse for us, for it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. My friend, may I say it reverently? There upon the cross, as the substitute of all believers, Jesus Christ was bearing the punishment, the vengeance, the wrath.

43:39 Read some of those prophetic psalms, like Psalm 88 and others, where He speaks of all the bellows of the world. Have gone over my head. Oh, what a sight it should give us of our crucified Lord.

Practical Implications: Society and the Church

43:54 Satisfying divine justice on behalf of sinners. Well, those are the theological implications, and then, in closing briefly, the practical implications. You want to understand one of the great factors that has led to the mess, to the hell of our present society? It's because our society has lost the Bible doctrine of hell that it's going to hell.

44:18 A man of great wisdom said at the turn of the century as he beheld the great affluence of Western civilization, he said this. He said, if ever Western civilization relinquishes the biblical doctrine of hell, it won't be long before Western civilization will turn into a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah. That man was a prophet.

44:42 For even where the doctrine of hell does not cause men to flee the wrath and cling to Christ, it acts as a great restraint upon abandonment to sin.

44:54 Oh, how I remember as a boy how the doctrine of hell did barely put a worm in the gourd of all my sinful pleasures. It was like a rain upon my neck so that when everything in my flesh dried out, take the bit in your mouth, run in the direction of your lust and your passions.

45:14 You know what kept the bit somewhat on the flesh of my mouth? It was the rain of this awful doctrine. And isn't it interesting? Isn't it interesting that about three, four years ago, it began to be invoked to let the word hell be used on the radio and on the television?

45:34 Up for then, that was a taboo word. No more. It's as though man, by repeating the word hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, hell, shall just completely negate the reality which it signifies. Get so familiar with the word that the thought of it will be gone.

45:50 Just like people you've checked some time who've taken the Lord's name in vain. Oh, Christ this and Jesus that. You say, I never even thought of Him when I said it. Yeah.

45:58 You've used His name so much, you never think of the reality the name connotes. And man, I'm convinced of it. All the hell in the speech on the radio and the TV is an indication of man trying to push that truth out of his mind. Why?

46:12 Only then can he abandon himself to his lust.

46:19 And I'm convinced that the only way to see the fear of God restored, among other things, is to return this doctrine to its proper place and perspective as found in Holy Scripture.

46:31 May I say this is why we've relinquished capital punishment? The concept of vengeance, payment for wrong. God has put a little bit of that in the hands of human government.

46:42 That's gone from our society. Why? The whole idea of our punitive system is no longer punitive, but instructive. We've got to take the criminal and re-educate him, fit him for society.

46:51 Granted, we ought to be concerned about men who've had it tough and had bad backgrounds and all the rest. But listen, when a man robs a bank, he doesn't need to be instructed. His broken law needs to be punished.

47:03 He needs to be punished for his crime. And if that's true, then he ought to be deprived of privileges. And the whole idea of setting up things so that criminals can have their wives visit once a week and have all the blessings of the conjugal relationship, having their prisons turned into universities so they can have all the benefit of a college education. Listen, I had to get up at 5.30 in the morning and go out and work and sweep walks and work till 7 at night to put myself through school. Why bother? Go out and rob a bank and get in prison. Then I'll get a college diploma at your expense.

47:39 It's wicked. It's wicked. And that never would have come to pass unless our society relinquished the doctrine of hell. And listen, it got relinquished first in the church and the salt lost its savor.

47:54 It lost its savor. Oh, may God use this little assembly to at least begin to be an influence upon this society, to return this concept in all of its sanctifying influence. May I suggest it's not only an answer to the mess in our society, but the lack of this. The concept of divine retribution is one of the reasons for the lightness in the church.

48:20 Every significant religious revival, someone has said, has been accompanied by a quickening sense of the danger and terror of hell. And it's true. Jesus said, I say unto you, my friends, fear him who is able to cast soul into hell.

48:36 My friends, you mean Christians need to be influenced by a biblical doctrine of hell? Exactly. Exactly. It's not the only influence upon their obedience, but I'm going to show, God willing, in a separate message, the motivational power of the doctrine of hell in the teaching of Christ.

48:54 And I've discovered no fewer than five or six distinct motivations which Jesus himself said the doctrine of hell should have upon his own people.

Concluding Exhortation: Monument to Wrath or Mercy

49:04 And I say we're something less than Bible Christians if this doesn't act as a powerful motivation. And perhaps much of the fabric of weakness is due to this. And then may I ask the question in closing, in the light of Romans 9 and verse 22, a question I want to press upon. The conscience of everyone in this building this morning.

49:24 Romans 9, 22. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory. This passage indicates that all men will be an eternal monument to one God, or of two aspects of the character of God. An eternal monument of the glory of his wrath,

50:03 or an eternal monument to the glory of his mercy.

50:09 And my friend, you're going to be one or the other.

50:13 Which will you be?

50:15 God is committed to the full display of his character to all rational beings in heaven and in the world below. He's committed to the full display of all his glorious personhood, his love, his mercy, and his vengeance. And that display will come to light, not abstractly,

50:41 but personally upon men and angels and devils. My friend, which will you be? An eternal monument of the glories of saving mercy,

50:54 or an eternal monument to the glory and terror of divine wrath?

51:05 So I'd like to think about that question to you. May God help me to press it into you. In your conscience, you'll be one or the other.

51:14 And your response to the overtures of mercy in Christ is the pivotal difference. May God grant that as a Savior stands in the gospel and in the promises and pleads, come unto me, flee the wrath to come, that none of you will be so foolish as to seal your own damnation by your unbelief.

51:41 Dear young people, children, adults, and I say again, in these past few weeks I've prayed by name for all but probably, as I look out here, one or two of you, simply because your names don't appear on our new expanded list.

52:00 And as I've thought of these messages and I've prayed for you by name, some of you many times, I say in the presence of God, my only motive for preaching this way and pleading is I don't want you to prove by experience that all that I've said painted but a feeble picture of the glory and the power of God. Of the awful reality of hell.

52:24 I want to see you turn. Repent. And flee to Christ. So I entreat you in his name.

52:32 To seek the sake. Let us pray.