Importance of These Doctrines

Introduction: The Solemn Reality of Eternal Destinies

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, June 19, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:17 Now before we seek the face of God again in prayer, let us hear a very brief but awesome and solemn and yet glorious word from the lips of our Savior, who said in Matthew 25 and verse 46, And these shall go away into eternal punishment. These shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Eternal punishment.

1:02 Eternal life.

1:05 The realities that every... person within the sound of my voice will experience.

1:13 All the horror of eternal punishment will be your portion, or all the glories of eternal life. And there is no other alternative. Let us pray that God will help us to hear, as those who are convinced that one of these two realities will indeed be our own. Our own personal destiny.

1:45 Let us pray.

1:50 Our Father, we confess with shame that though you have stamped eternity upon our consciences, and though there is not one in this building who can escape the haunting awareness that the grave is not the end of it all, how careless we are, how natively indifferent we are, to the great realities of heaven and of hell. We confess, O Lord, that it is the fruit of our sin that we can be marked for eternity and live so carelessly. We pray that your Holy Spirit will so come upon us that we, as an assembled people, will taste the powers of the world to come. Lord, we would not...

2:51 Lord, we would not merely acknowledge that there is a world to come, nor would we merely confess that there is such a thing as the powers of the world to come. We would taste them in this building tonight. Come by the Holy Spirit and do the work which you alone can do for the sake of your dear Son, by whose righteousness we draw near to you. Amen.

3:20 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:20 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:20 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

3:21 Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

Setting the Stage: The Importance of Heaven and Hell Doctrines

3:22 Amen. Amen. I announced to you this morning that we would be commencing this evening a series of studies during various Lord's Day evenings through the summer months on the biblical doctrines or the Bible teaching on the subject of heaven and of hell. And surely there is no doctrine in all of the Word of God more weighty, more sobering, and we may even use the word more horrifying, than the biblical doctrine of hell. On the other hand, there are few doctrines, if any, in all the Word of God that are more glorious, more exhilarating, and in many ways more amazing than is the biblical doctrine of heaven. And as we stand on the threshold of examining some of the major doctrines of heaven, we will see that there is no doctrine in all of the Word of God that is greater than the biblical doctrines of heaven and of hell. And so, as we stand on these major blocks of biblical testimony with respect to the doctrines of heaven and of hell, what I propose to do tonight is to set before you some introductory

4:41 concerns relative to the biblical doctrines or the biblical teaching on heaven and hell. And I won't use those terms interchangeably, because in our day, alas, there is an aversion to the very word doctrine. And the word doctrine simply means the doctrine of heaven and of hell. And I will use those terms interchangeably, because in our day, alas, there is an aversion to the doctrine of heaven and of hell.

5:00 And the word doctrine simply means linguistically, in the original language, teaching. And in examining the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell, we are simply coming into a concentrated exposure to the teaching of the Bible on these weighty subjects. And as I lay these introductory concerns before you, I will do so under the following categories. Hopefully tonight I want to set before you first of all the information about the Bible, and the." importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell. I doubt I'll get beyond that, but if I do, then I want to set before you the primary focus of our studies in the doctrine of heaven and hell, and then thirdly, the attitudes which must characterize our minds and hearts in approaching the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell. First of all, then, the importance of the doctrines of heaven and of hell. Why should you sit here for the next fifty minutes or so and concentrate your attention upon the teaching of this book with respect to

6:14 heaven and hell? Why should I urge you to come back on subsequent Lord's days if the

6:23 Bible spares you and spares me? Why should you engage your mind for a number of hours on the doctrines of heaven and of hell? Of what importance are these doctrines? Well, as I seek to demonstrate from the Scriptures the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell, I will be using terminology that I want to explain on the very threshold. I will be using the terminology, the orthodoxy. The orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. And what do I mean by that terminology? Well, I mean simply this. I mean the doctrines of heaven and hell believed and confessed by the true people of God in every age of their existence since God deposited His complete revelation in their hands in the Scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. When I use the terminology, the orthodoxy, I mean the doctrines of heaven and hell. I mean the doctrines of heaven and hell as embodied in the great creeds of the Church, in the confessions of faith of the people of God, in the hymnody and in the theological writings and above all else, in the ordinary day-by-day preaching of the true servants of God throughout

7:48 the ages. Whenever the Church has been true to her identity, she has been true to her identity as the pillar and ground of the truth. Upholding the truth of Holy Scripture to its own generation, the Church has spoken with one voice on the essential lines of biblical revelation with regard to heaven and hell. And a distillation of the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell are as follows. Heaven is a place to which the righteous and the righteous will be taken, and in body and soul be made perfectly happy forever in the immediate presence and enjoyment of God. When I refer in our study tonight to the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell, and I make reference to the orthodox doctrine of heaven, the orthodox doctrine has always been that heaven is a place where the righteous and the righteous will be taken, and in body and soul be made perfectly happy forever

9:03 in the immediate presence and enjoyment of God. Now the biblical materials that have led to that orthodox doctrine of heaven must await subsequent studies, but that's the essence of the doctrine. Now with reference to the orthodox doctrine of heaven, it is this. Hell is a place to which the wicked will be sent and in body and soul shall be made completely miserable forever as the just punishment for their sins.

9:39 Hell is a place, not an idea, not a notion, nor merely a state. Hell is a place to which the wicked will be sent in body and soul and shall be made completely miserable forever as the just punishment for their sins. So as we approach this matter of the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell, and I make reference to the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell, I want you to place upon that place. I want you to place upon that terminology precisely the same meaning that I am placing upon it when I use it. Now with that introductory perspective before us, in what way is this doctrine of heaven important? In what way is this doctrine of hell important? Well, I want to set the importance of these doctrines before you under three headings.

First Importance: Integrity in Handling God's Word

10:44 And the key words are integrity, sympathy. Integrity and honesty. I think you can all remember those. Integrity, sympathy, and honesty.

10:58 The importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell is first of all seen in the fact that integrity in handling the word of God demands the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. Integrity in handling the word of God demands. commands the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. In 2 Corinthians chapter 4, and I would urge you to turn to that passage with me, the Apostle Paul describes the way in which he, as a servant of Christ, handled the Word of God.

11:40 2 Corinthians chapter 4, beginning with verse 1. Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not. But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness. He first of all vindicates the pattern of his life, not walking in craftiness.

12:08 Now he vindicates the pattern of his official ministry. Nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. He starts with the negative. We did not handle the Word of God deceitfully.

12:24 It is not enough that men dabble in religious truth with the Bible in their hands. For the Bible can be handled deceitfully. And Paul said, concerning his own ministry, we did not handle the Word of God deceitfully, but positively, notice the language, by the Word of God. By the Word of God.

12:48 By the Word of God. By the Word of God. The manifestation, and the word there means the open display of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. So the apostles' handling of the Word of God was characterized negatively, non-deception, and full display or manifestation of the truth.

13:15 In other words, he simply let the truth, shine forth in its own native glory, beauty, and accuracy. And I contend that the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell are to be seen in that any honest handling of the Word of God, any handling of Scripture marked by integrity, will demand these doctrines as understood, confessed, and preached. Now Peter in 2 Peter chapter 3 describes what many have in the past and alas many in the present hour attempt to do with the biblical doctrines of heaven and of hell. In 2 Peter chapter 3, the apostle Peter describes the manner in which some handle the message of God. 2 Peter. 2 Peter.

14:21 Chapter 3.

14:24 Verse 16. Perhaps we should back up in verse 15. Peter, writing, says, And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation. Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, wrote unto you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and the unsteadfast rest, w-r-e-s-t, it's a word we don't often use, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.

15:09 Now the verb, they rest, the scriptures, is a verb which comes from a root, which means to put on a torture rack. Now some of you kids have seen pictures, of the Middle Ages, when people were tortured for one reason or another, and they put them on racks in which they tightened winches, and stretched out their hands and their arms until they were taken out of their sockets or their legs. And if you were hunting for a word to describe what was happening to someone who was receiving such cruel treatment, you would say he was being rested, he was being stretched and tortured out of his own naturalness, his own spiritual shape. Now that's the word Peter uses. He speaks of ignorant and unstable people, who handle the scriptures. They come with their Bibles. This is what the Bible teaches.

16:04 They come like Mr. Armstrong. Nobody understands the Bible but me. They come like the Russellites and the Jehovah's Witness.

16:10 No one understands the Bible but us. They come spouting Bible, like a machine gun spouting Bible, like a machine gun spouting Bible, like a machine gun spouting Bible, like a machine gun spouting Bible, like a machine gun spouting Bible. But what are they doing with it? Stretching it out of its plain and obvious sense.

16:31 They are resting. They are torturing the scriptures. And there have been in the past and are many present in this present hour who deny the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. But they deny those doctrines at the price of integrity in handling the documents of Holy Scripture.

16:55 They cannot say with Paul, not handling the Word of God deceitfully, but by the full open display of the truth, they cannot say that.

17:07 I saw one of them on one occasion in my presence say, well, do you know what eternal fire is? And what it means to be destroyed by the fire of hell? Well, let me show you. And he very cleverly and histrionically took out a match, lit a piece of paper and said, now watch it.

17:25 And as I watched, the piece of paper went up in smoke and was consumed and was gone. He says, it's just that simple. That's what it means to be burned up with fire unquenchable.

17:38 What was he doing? He was taking the plain, obvious sense of Scripture and twisting it, resting it, putting it upon a torture rack. For you see, there was no smoke of the agony of that paper going up forever and ever. But my Bible says, the smoke of their torment, not of their annihilation, the smoke of their torment shall go up forever and forever and they have no rest nor night.

18:18 And there isn't a Russellite, there isn't a Seventh-day Adventist, there isn't a liberal, there isn't a man alive. Who can be honest with that text and deny the orthodox doctrine of hell?

18:39 And when people call heaven pie in the sky by and by,

18:44 look upon it as some fanciful notion which gives poor weak people a crutch and some stability. What do they do when they read the words of our Lord Jesus? Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, but believe also in me.

19:04 In my Father's house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a lovely, idealistic notion for you.

19:18 Is that what your Bible says? I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and be with you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, and there you may be also.

19:41 Now there's only one way heaven can be turned into a wispy, ethereal notion, and that's to rest the Scriptures, to handle the Word of God deceitfully. And so the importance of this doctrine cannot be underscored too forcefully in that first of all, integrity in handling the Scriptures demands, demands, demands the orthodox doctrine of heaven and of hell. Now, this has been so evident to some who profess no faith in the Bible as the Word of God or in the salvation taught in the Bible, but when they've read the Bible, the plain, obvious sense of the Bible has so clearly taught the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell, the orthodox doctrines, that they have openly said, I cannot accept, the testimony of the doctrines or the teaching of the Bible because I cannot buy its doctrine of hell or its doctrine of heaven with a bodily resurrection. And because they knew the only way they could come to the faith of the Bible was to embrace the Bible's teaching on heaven and hell, they've rejected the whole thing. They've been far more honest than those who say they do accept the testimony of the Bible

21:06 while rejecting the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell. Hodge, in his excellent volume entitled Popular Lectures on Theological Themes, makes the most perceptive comment on this very point. Listen carefully as I quote him. The question is not what can we with skillful exegetical management, that's just a big term for saying, playing loose with the words of the Bible, the question is not what can we, the question is not what can we, the question is not what can we, the question is not what can we, with skillful exegetical management, get out of the Bible on this question by breaking up the text and bringing the stress of our strong wills to bear against the natural sense of each separate clause. The question is not what may the several passages possibly mean in the way we wish, but what upon the whole and along the entire line, of Scripture, did God the Holy Ghost intend us to believe? What impression did He intend to make upon us as to these stupendous subjects by the language He has chosen,

22:28 by the general method in which He has conducted the argument? You see what he's saying? It's not a question of what can we do, enforcing the Word of God, or the words of the Bible to bend to our own predisposition, but what is the obvious sense and meaning of the words of the Bible in their cumulative testimony from Genesis to Revelation. In one case we come to the Bible as though it were a nose of wax to be shaped according to the whim of our own predisposed notion.

23:07 In the other we come as humble disciples, saying, O God, whatever you have said, I am prepared to believe and to live in the light of it. And it's very interesting that in the history of the Church, more than on a few occasions, individuals, whole denominations, whole seminaries and schools of higher learning have ultimately rejected every distinctive doctrine of the Christian faith when they began to put a gray question mark over the orthodox doctrines of heaven and of hell. Often the first thread that was pulled that ultimately dismantled the whole fabric of evangelical Christianity in individuals, denominations and institutions, the first thread pulled was the thread of the orthodox biblical doctrines of heaven, end of hell. Often while they were pulling at that thread with the right hand, they were with the left hand pointing to the glories of Jesus, to the wonders of His cross, to the benefits of His salvation, and all the while pointing with this hand they were pulling

24:31 here until ultimately they had nothing left but religious humans. My dear people at Trinity Church, hear me. The moment a gray question mark begins to form in your mind about the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell, treat that gray question mark as you would treat a physical, visible manifestation of the devil before you proposing to drag you into hell with him in the next three minutes. Reject it! Turn from it! With every fiber of your being! Send it back to the pit from whence it came, for ultimately that gray question mark will become a big, bold, red question mark, and the hook on the bottom of that question mark will then pull in its train doubt and unbelief regarding every basic cardinal doctrine of the Word of God. We are not trifling in peripheral issues. How important are the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell?

25:44 Integrity. Integrity. Integrity. Integrity.

Second Importance: Sympathy with Dominant Elements of Biblical Religion

25:45 Integrity in handling the Word of God demands the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. But secondly, sympathy. From the word integrity I pass on to sympathy. Sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion is impossible without the orthodox doctrine of heaven and hell. Sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion is impossible without the orthodox doctrine of heaven and hell. Revealed religion is the religion of special revelation, that is, the religion of the Book of God, the scriptures of the Old and the New Testaments. Now that religion, both in its objective realities and in its subjective experience of the Lord, has what we could call dominant major emphases and subdominant or minor emphases, if I may

27:01 liken it to a symphony. Often a symphony, one of those majestic works of musical art, will have a basic theme. That theme will be introduced early in that musical composition. It will be picked up and developed in the various movements, if it has three movements, and it is what you would call the dominant melodic line of that symphony.

27:27 Now there are subdominant or secondary musical lines. Now my thesis is this, that the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell constitute the very melodic line of the symphony of revealed religion. They are not subdominant, secondary, or tertiary. They are not subdominant, secondary, or tertiary. They are not subdominant, secondary, or tertiary.

27:50 They are not subdominant, secondary, or tertiary elements, but they stand to the forefront so that if I simply cannot stand the major melodic line of a given symphony, there is no way I can listen to that symphony and find any enjoyment. Because everywhere I turn in my listening, that line confronts me, developed in different ways with different tempo and with different loudness and softness and all the rest. But every time I hear it, it will grind me. And I'll say, I don't want to listen to that thing again.

28:23 Well, it's the same way with the religion of the Bible. If you find yourself indisposed to embrace the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell, you cannot experience sympathy for revealed religion. You cannot have heart affinity for the religion of the Bible if you do not embrace the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell. Let me give a specific example.

Hell as a Powerful Motive for Conversion

28:52 And I'm only doing this in a very cursory way. This is by no means exhaustive. Take, for example, the biblical doctrine of hell. When we turn to the scriptures, we see, first of all, that its awful, terrifying reality has made a powerful motive to conversion.

29:12 Why should you, sitting here tonight, be concerned as to whether or not you've ever experienced repentance and faith? Whether you have, in the language of Jesus, been converted. And become as a little child and entered the kingdom of heaven. Well, according to the Bible, it's a matter of escaping hell.

29:30 Listen to Jesus in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 7. He has been teaching about the nature of the kingdom He has come to establish in the hearts of men. And He's not content simply to teach, though He teaches with authority as we read at the end of this Sermon on the Mount. But as He's drawing the sermon to a close, He presses on the conscience.

29:54 The conscience is, of all His hearers, the necessity of entering the kingdom He has just described. And notice His language in Matthew 7, 13. Enter ye in by the narrow gate, for why should I be concerned about the narrow gate of true conversion? It's a difficult thing to own the reality of my sinnerhood.

30:17 It's a humbling thing to see myself for what I am. And to come naked and stripped before a holy God. Confessing I have nothing, can do nothing, and am worthy of nothing but the judgment of God. And to look away from myself to God's own gift of righteousness in His Son is a humbling, flesh-withering thing.

30:39 Why should I struggle in the language of Luke 13 to enter the narrow gate? Well, the Lord is going to tell you if you listen to Him. Enter the narrow gate, for there's only one other alternative. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, to destruction.

31:01 And many are they that enter in thereby. For narrow is the gate, and straight in the way that leads unto life. And few are they that find it. When Jesus would give motives to conversion, He sets the doctrine of hell right smack in the middle.

31:18 He says enter, be converted under the imagery of pressing through a narrow turnstile. And He says, oh, enter that gate. Take seriously the call to conversion. Why?

31:30 Because the only other alternative is destruction. And when we let Jesus Himself interpret what the word destruction means right in this very chapter, it means to be sent away from Him, depart from me into everlasting fire. It means to go body and soul into death. To go body and soul into the place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.

32:01 You see how totally out of step is the so-called gospel of Robert Schuller? What is the motive for conversion? Well, you will never have proper self-esteem until you look at the cross. And there, behold, not the wrath of God against human sin, the same wrath that will send you to hell unless you repent and own yourself to be a hopeless hell.

32:25 But the cross is God's declaration of unconditional love to all men regardless of what they are. Look at the cross. Accept the unconditional love. Then you can look in the mirror with self-esteem.

32:40 That's being converted. That's heresy. It will send you to this place of destruction. It's totally out of sympathy with the biblical teaching of conversion, in which escape from hell is a dominant motive.

33:04 Listen to John the Baptist back in Matthew 3 when he calls the covenant nation to repentance. Imagine what this meant for years, for centuries. You've been the nation where the light of revealed truth is shown while all the nations are in darkness. This particular crowd have come to be regarded as the religious experts, the holy of the holy, the sanctified of the sanctified, Pharisees, religious leaders, Sadducees.

33:34 Verse 7 of Matthew 3. They come to John's baptism. And what does John say? You offspring of vipers.

33:44 Doesn't sound like Schiller, does it? You lovely people with all kinds of worth. You say, why am I going after Schiller? Because this man is listened to and heeded by multitudes and there are evangelical leaders who are actually promoting his heresy.

34:01 Pastors by the thousands attend him. Thousands attend his conferences. Swallow that heresy and send people to hell. What did John say?

34:16 You offspring of snakes. Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come in the form of the verb is? It's coming wrath. It's already on its way.

34:27 It's like a mighty tidal wave that has already gathered momentum. It's moving towards you. In a short time it will break upon you. Who has warned you to flee from it?

34:38 It's coming. It's a reality. The wrath to come. Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of repentance.

34:50 Don't think to say within yourself, we've got the right bloodlines. Abraham's our papa. I say unto you, God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. Even now the axe lies at the root of the trees.

35:05 Every tree that does not bring forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire. Wrath to come. Cast into the fire. The doctrine of hell was central in the motives to conversion in the preaching of John the Baptist.

35:28 It is found again and again in the message of our Lord. I just quote the text now quickly. Jesus said don't fear them which kill the body and after this have no more that they can do. Fear him who after he hath killed the body can cast both soul and body into hell.

35:47 If by hand offend thee, cut it off. It's better to enter life maimed than having two hands to be cast into hell. And again and again the infinite embodiment or the embodiment of the infinite love and wisdom of God, our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, set the doctrine of conversion in a context in which escape from the wrath to come and the burning anger of God in hell was a dominant mount. So you see, you can't be in sympathy with revealed religion at this most fundamental point of conversion unless you embrace the orthodox doctrine of heaven and hell.

Hell as an Incentive for Mortification of Sin

36:29 Furthermore, its awful terrifying reality is made a powerful incentive to mortification of sin. It's awful terrifying reality is made a powerful incentive to the mortification of sin. I already quoted the Matthew 5 passage five times in the gospels. That language of cutting off right hand, plucking out right eyes is used, but it's not peculiar to our Lord.

36:55 Paul says in Romans 8.13 If ye by the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. But if ye live after the flesh, ye must die. Suppose I'm too lazy to mortify the deeds of the flesh.

37:13 He says you'll die. Suppose I'm too weary, and I say I'm discouraged. I have to fight the same sins day after day, week after week, month after month. What's the use?

37:26 I'll tell you what the use is. It's heaven or hell. If you live after the flesh, you'll die. But if you do the Spirit to mortify the deeds of the body, you'll live.

37:41 You can't afford the luxury of quitting. Go for the battle, and say by the grace of God, I'll go to my grave with my hand cleaving to my sword, hacking and hewing at the deeds of the body. It's the way all of us are called. Hacking and hewing till we cross the river and we leave our sword.

38:23 And we shall be like when we see him as he is. It's a pretty powerful motive, isn't it? How central is mortification of sin? As a Christian duty?

38:36 Well, you see, the doctrine of hell is put right in the midst of it. Furthermore, its awful, terrifying reality is made an integral part of the presentation of the Gospel. The awful, terrifying reality of hell is made an integral part of the presentation of the Gospel. Take the best known Gospel text.

Hell as Integral to the Gospel and Comfort for Saints

38:57 Hell is set in the midst of it. God so loved the world that He gave His only becoming, His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not what? Perish. Perish.

39:15 Perish. Perish. What does the word perish mean? Let the Bible interpret it.

39:23 You simply look up the verses in which perish is used and you realize that packed into that word perish is all of the orthodox doctrine of hell as a place of conscious torment of soul and body, away from the presence of God and the glory of His own face in conscious eternal torment in all of its horrors. But it's a part of the presentation of the Gospel. In the book of Romans, Paul says his great theme, Romans 1, 16 and 17, is the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith to faith. As it is written, the just shall live by faith. Why should I take the Gospel seriously? I mean, frankly, that doesn't turn me on.

40:20 Righteousness of God? I mean, man, talk about something that turns me on. My friend, listen, you better get turned on by an announcement that there's a righteousness of God for needy sinners. Why?

40:33 Read the next verse. For, for, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And it's not only revealed now, but on into chapter 2 he uses this graphic language in the book of Romans. Listen to it.

40:55 But after thy hardness, verse 5, after thy hardness and impenitent heart, you treasure up unto yourself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteousness and judgment of God, who shall render to every man according to his works. What a picture! What a picture! Every day you live in your sin and impenitence, you're putting something in the bank of heaven.

41:25 You are treasuring up more and more capital of divine wrath. That's the language. It's commercial language. You treasure up wrath when against the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

41:45 That's why Paul could say, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. We persuade as gospel preachers because we are convinced of the terror of the Lord. And in the context of 2 Corinthians 5 from which I've quoted what is the terror of the Lord, it's the day of judgment leading to the ultimate consummate bliss of heaven. Or the ultimate horrors of the damned in hell.

42:16 You see why I say this doctrine is important? There is no sympathy with revealed religion apart from it. The awful terrifying reality has made a powerful motive for conversion in the scripture. Its awful terrifying reality is a powerful incentive for the mortification of sin.

42:34 Thirdly, its awful powerful terrifying reality is made an integral part of the presentation of the gospel and this may surprise you. Its awful terrifying reality is made a major dimension of comfort to suffering saints. Did you know the doctrine of hell is redeemed for the comfort of saints? It is.

42:56 Look at one or two specimen passages. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. Here these young Thessalonian believers were being greatly persecuted. They were born as it were in the very cradle of intense persecution.

43:13 Now Paul writes to comfort them. Notice the doctrine he uses to comfort suffering and afflicted saints. Verse 6. If so be, 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 6, if so be it is a righteous thing with God to recompense affliction to them that afflict you.

43:32 And to you that are afflicted rest with us at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire rendering vengeance to them that know not God and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus who shall suffer eternal punishment suffer punishment even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and the glory of his might when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and be marveled at in all them that believe. He takes the doctrine of hell and uses it as a powerful instrument of comfort and consolation to persecute his saints. Now my friend let me ask you. What is the religion of the Bible without powerful motives to conversion to get us into the way powerful motives to mortification by which alone from the human side we are kept in the way what is revealed to us what is revealed religion without this frightening doctrine to act as we have seen as a powerful motive in our witness to others in our presentation of the gospel and in the midst of our sufferings to have comfort. Do you want a religion

Heaven as a Powerful Incentive for Conversion

44:59 that has no motives to enter the gate of conversion no motives to keep you at the work of mortification no powerful motives woven into the fabric of your soul to bring the gospel to others and a whole block of biblical truth for your consolation taken away. You see there is no symphony with revealed religion apart from the orthodox doctrine of hell and what is true of the doctrine of hell is true of the doctrine of heaven and in closing I'll just trace out a couple of lines very quickly and then I'll have to be done and we'll save the rest for another night. This is what I like about preaching here as opposed to conferences where I first preach this material. You've got three nights to get it all out and you do it and you can't go back over until the next year if they ask you to speak again and they never ask you to speak on the same subject. But let me very quickly now show you so that we balance it out with the biblical doctrine of heaven. I'm saying that sympathy with revealed religion demands the doctrine not only of hell but of heaven because it too is a dominant theme in the religion of the Bible. First of all its glorious realities are made another powerful incentive to conversion.

46:21 In the very passage we looked at a few moments ago Jesus not only says enter the narrow gate for there is a wide gate and a wide road that leads to destruction but notice how he turns the thing and says straight is the gate difficult and compressed is the way but thank God it leads to what? To life! And bound up in that little word life is the whole biblical doctrine of heaven. That place wherein soul and body the people of God shall enjoy God in his immediate presence without sin of any kind in the company of all the redeemed of all ages. You remember when Jesus was dealing with the rich young ruler in Matthew 19? What did he hold out as a motive to conversion? Good Master what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

47:23 And the Lord begins to probe his heart to bring this man to some accurate self knowledge not to some pseudo self esteem. That was the problem with this man he had all the self esteem in the world. All these things have I done from my youth my conscience is not smitten with it. Jesus was seeking to probe his heart and help him to see himself for what he really is and so he goes after the sin of idolatry that is embedded in his soul and he says go sell what you have give to the poor come follow me and what's the capstone of our Lord's holy and Christ's body?

48:08 Thou shalt have treasure in me. Oh people say that's mercenary. I don't care what it is Jesus gave it as a motive. You call it what you want but you better be careful not to impugn the wisdom of the Son of God.

48:26 He held it out as a motive and he says to this young man of whom Mark says looking upon him he loved him he said go sell come follow thou shalt have treasure in heaven. You may go through the rest of your days a pauper sell what you have. Jesus knew his heart and he knew for this man apparently there was no middle ground he was so wedded to his money the only way he could be free from his was to get rid of all of it. And that's true of some people.

49:03 The way some of you the only way you can get rid of sinning with your television get rid of the television completely. That's right. The only way some of you can get rid of other sins is to completely steer away even from the legitimate use of the thing which to you becomes sin like Pastor Nichols Presses. Those of you who are on the inn you know what we're talking about.

49:26 Some of us have our own presses. We know what they are. For this man it was his riches so the Lord Jesus said to him he didn't say that to everyone go sell what you have give to the poor come follow me treasures in heaven. He holds it out as a motive a powerful motive to conversion.

49:46 In that beautiful passage describing Moses notice how this motive entered his mind as he's weighing the whole issue of what he will do with his life. Hebrews chapter 11 look at it for a moment with me. Hebrews chapter 11 verses 24 to 26 By faith Moses when he was grown up when his mind and when his soul had developed to the place where as a mature man he could make responsible intelligent individual decision with respect to the great issues of his soul and of his future. When he was grown up that's the time what happened? He refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter. Bound up in that was a refusal of all the wealth and the position and the pleasure and everything associated with Pharaoh's court. Choosing rather to share ill treatment with the people of God.

50:52 Than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. Now what in the world makes a man do that? Give up security, wealth, position, influence, pleasure. He turns his back upon it and he takes in its place reproach with a bunch of slaves.

51:12 What operated in his mind? Well if you read the record you're not told in Genesis. I'm sorry in Exodus. But here we are told by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

51:26 You know what was going on in his mind? Look verse 26. Accounting the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt for he looked unto the recompense of reward. Mercenary.

51:44 Call it what you want. It worked with Moses. He looked to recompense of reward if I choose Jehovah God and his people. Reproach.

51:56 Yes. No security. Right. Possible death.

52:01 Yes. The recompense of the reward will be to be glorified with Christ for if we suffer with him we shall reign with him. You see how the motive of heaven entered? It was a powerful motive in the mind and in the spirit of Moses.

52:25 So you see the doctrine of heaven and its glorious realities are made an incentive to conversion in the general preaching of our Lord. In the specific personal work of our Lord with the rich young ruler in the example of Moses. Furthermore, the glorious realities of heaven are made a consolation in the midst of opposition, bereavement and sorrow. Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?

Heaven as Consolation and Basis for Material Priorities

52:56 Blessed are you when men shall revile you and persecute you and say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad because you're so consumed with the desire for the glory of God that's all that matters. That isn't what he said. If you're not aware of it I wasn't quoting accurately.

53:16 He said rejoice and be exceeding glad for what? Great is your reward in me. That's what Jesus said. Your consolation when men revile you and persecute you is this.

53:33 I have a reward in heaven. By faith I look upon it and I see myself with my Savior. And all the reproaches past and all the vilification and all the maligning of my name, my character, my motives, my integrity will be displayed before the moral universe. And above all I'll hear my Savior say well done.

54:00 I tell you you can take a lot of that in your eye. That's what Jesus said. Get it in your eye and keep it there. The realities, the glories of heaven are made a powerful consolation.

54:15 Again, Paul could say in 2 Corinthians 4, 16 and 17 words that never cease to amaze me. Here's a man that's treated like a common criminal thrown into jail, beaten, accused of everything under the sun. And what does he say about these things? 2 Corinthians 4, 16 Wherefore we faint not though our outward man is decaying yet our inward man is renewed day by day for our light affliction.

54:48 Think of it. Our light affliction. Everything he's born he calls it light affliction. Which is for the moment.

54:56 Here he's been bearing it for years. He calls it for the moment. Works for us more and more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory. Mercenary language again.

55:09 My affliction is working. It's in the bank gaining interest. It's accumulating interest. Go ahead, do what you want.

55:17 All you're doing is putting more capital in the bank. More interest. Working for us more exceedingly an eternal weight of glory while we look not in the things which are seen but the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal.

55:35 The things that are not seen are eternal. Paul saw by the eye of faith the things of the eternal inheritance and he says while I gaze upon those things anything you do to me put it all together it's light affliction. It's light affliction. As we said this morning what in the world can you do with a character like that?

55:57 The world doesn't know how to handle it. The world doesn't know how to handle it. Take away the doctrine of heaven from the suffering saints of God and you leave them an impoverished people. How does Paul tell us to tell the saints to minister to one another when they stand in mingled tears at a graveside?

56:21 And as we have had the painful experience in past months of seeing God take dear ones from our midst and when we've stood at a graveside and seen the coffin load and we've wept together what words have we used to comfort one another? We've used the very words God says we are to use. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Not words.

56:47 The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. The voice of the archangel of the trump of God. The dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.

57:05 So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. Words that reflect the reality of our entrance into the consummate bliss of heaven at the return of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. That's the word that we are to pump into one another's ears until our souls lay hold of it and we can see in the midst of the burning tears that course down our cheeks we can see by faith that that grave now opened and into which the coffin is lowered shall give up and we can stand and say to that grave if not audibly inwardly and I have stood and said it as I've looked into the reality and the horror and the ugliness of death grave you will give up precious brother my Lord God. And then finally the glorious reality of heaven is made the basis of maintaining proper material priorities and oh how we as Americans need that. If you don't have an adequate doctrine of heaven I doubt you are properly handling your money. So where do you get that in the Bible?

58:29 From the words of Jesus and the words of Paul. Matthew 6, 19 to 21 Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust corrupt and thieves break through and steal but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and where thieves do not break through and steal for where your treasure is there will your heart be also. What is Jesus saying? An adequate pressing doctrine of heaven is essential to a proper perspective on material things.

59:04 And that's exactly the perspective Paul gives in 1 Timothy 6, 17 to 19. I won't take time to read it. I must close. Let me try to bring the strands together that we've opened up tonight.

Conclusion: Personal Application and Prayer

59:18 I have asserted as we stand on the threshold of this study on the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell that this is a vital and an important subject that will come before us. And I've sought to demonstrate that the doctrine of heaven and hell or the doctrines of heaven and hell are important first of all because any real integrity in handling the word of God demands the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. Secondly, sympathy with God or the major strands of biblical religion demand, demand that the doctrines of heaven and hell hold a prominent place in our thinking. God willing, next week we'll pick up the third line of thought that honesty, honesty in dealing with the souls of men demands that we give proportionate and balanced teaching on the doctrines of heaven and hell. But I close for now leaving these many witnesses of the word of God with you and to them I want to add this very personal and pointed question. Will you listen to me carefully? What place, what practical working place do the doctrines of heaven and hell have in your life?

60:42 I want me to help you to answer you. Think back over the past week. Yesterday was Saturday. Got up a little later.

60:50 Slept in a bit. Washed the car. This, this, this. What about Friday?

60:54 Well, that was the last day of working week, alright? Thursday, Wednesday. Think back over the past week. At what places did the doctrines of heaven and hell break in upon you and practically influence your thought, your perspective, your actions, your speech?

61:19 Searching questions. But I dare to assert if you are living in a healthy, biblically disciplined spiritual state, you won't have to look too far back into the week to see that somewhere, heaven and hell, made their impression upon your lifestyle. If not, my friend, why not? Could it be that the God of this world is so blinded you that you're heading at breakneck speed right into hell and don't even know it?

61:58 May God help you in the language of John to flee from the coming wrath. For if you've never entered the narrow gate of true conversion, never owned your sins, and repented and fled in faith to Jesus Christ, upon the testimony of the Word of God, the Scripture says, you are on your way to that awful place that the Bible describes as hell. Nothing but a sound and thorough conversion can change your present course. Could it be that you are a child of God, that you've allowed the eroding influence of the world, you've become so taken up with things temporal, that rather than allowing them and making them as Paul did, every pressure upon his temporal existence that caused any kind of discomfort was a pointer to the world to cover the things that are not so. Maybe you need as a Christian to learn what it is to begin to discipline the whole process of thought so that when you feel a pinch upon your person, a pinch upon your body, and a pinch upon your circumstances, instead of sitting, as it were, in the corner of the room with your face down and holding your private pity party, you look up and say, Lord Jesus, thank you.

63:24 It won't always be this way. And when you get weary hacking and hewing in right arms and plucking out right eyes, instead of wallowing in your self-pity and say, Oh, I'm making no progress, I'm tired, I'm going to quit. No, no, catch in your eye that you are not. That world to come in which you will join the spirits of just men made perfect and there'll be no remaining sin and all of its subtle manifestations to mortify, but you'll be like him and with your eye gleaming with that hope.

64:01 Pick up your sword and hack and hew and pluck and cut off and continue in the path of mortification, knowing it's the path of life. My friend, this isn't a religion of some abstract pie in the sky by and by, but if you don't have what awaits you in the sky by and by firmly fixed in your eye now, you won't be able to live as God says you should live in this life. The genius of Biblical Christianity is that it is essentially otherworldly and no one lives as well in this life as does the man or woman whose heart and affections are most fixed on the life to come. May God make us a band of such healthy Christians for his glory and for the good of our poor needy world. Let us pray. O God, our heavenly Father, we confess in your presence that we are so earthbound, so chained to the world of time and of sense and sight, that we thank you that your word sets before us the great realities of the age to come, and as we prayed

65:30 at the beginning of this hour that you would make us taste of the powers of the world to come, we now again plead that that may be so, that leaving this building those who are in their sins and unconverted may not be able to shake off the haunting remembrance of what they heard tonight, but may it graciously and powerfully track them down until they turn to you. Amen. Amen. So, begin to bless your people who are at the world's peak and whose eyes are fixed upon the living, and those we appreciate and worship as ient Alec and Jehovah and who can give us the week to come, to live to your praise, to warn men to flee from the wrath to come, to seek to entice them by the glories of heaven, to flee from their sins and embrace your Son.

66:43 Hear us and answer us for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we draw near to you. Amen.