Importance / Primary Focus / Our Attitude

Opening Prayer and Scripture Reading: The Solemnity of Eternal Destinies

0:04 This sermon was preached on Sunday evening, June 26, 1983, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:18 Now let us once again seek the face of God in prayer together. Our Father, we bow in quietness of heart before you,

0:42 confessing once more that we are not sufficient of ourselves to think anything as from ourselves. We acknowledge that left to ourselves we will have no lasting, no life-transforming impression, even from the most solemn truths of heaven and hell and the great realities of eternity. We confess that sin and the world and the archenemy of our souls, the devil himself, so conspire that left to their influence, we shall be utterly indifferent to the most weighty matters of our own highest interest. O Lord, will you not come, and as you have done for many of us in the past, making the great issues of heaven and hell to become in a sense the only issues that mattered to us. So we pray that you would do that tonight for careless sinners, for men and women and boys and girls who are making, who are making the swift and straight line to the pit of destruction. O Lord, arrest them tonight.

2:00 And for any of your weary saints who need to catch, as it were, that glory of the world to come by their eye with fresh clarity and faith tonight. O Lord, minister to them we pray. Come to us in all of our need, and glorify yourself by answering the cry of God, O Lord, minister to them we pray. Come to us in all of our need, and glorify yourself by answering the cry of God, of our hearts through jesus christ our lord amen now will you hear again the word of god as i read just several verses from one of the most solemn passages in all of the word of god and surely one of the most solemn from the lips of our lord himself matthew's gospel chapter 25 and i shall read verses 31 to 34 and then verse 41 and 46 matthew 25 31 to 34 but when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the angels with him then shall he sit on the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all the nations and he shall separate

3:29 them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left then shall the king say unto them on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world verse 41 then shall he say also to them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels verse 46 and these shall go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life if our lord spoke to them on the left hand he shall say unto them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed into the eternal fire which is prepared for them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed with any intention of conveying reality that our lord spoke in such a way as to indicate that there was no doubt in his mind that heaven and hell and only heaven and hell are the ultimate destiny of

Recap: The Importance of Heaven and Hell Doctrines

4:49 every single human being who has ever been born upon the face of the earth and in the light of this clear teaching of our lord and in the light of many other nations of the earth and in the light of this clear teaching of our lord and in the light of many other nations of the earth other strands of biblical witness, we commenced last Lord's Day evening a series of studies that we'll carry for a few weeks this summer on the very sobering themes of heaven and of hell. And in our opening study last Lord's Day evening, I began to set before you the importance of the biblical doctrines of heaven and of hell. And as I did, I used terminology which I explained at the very outset, the terminology being the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. And by the orthodox doctrines, I mean nothing more or less than the teaching of hell as understood by the Christian church throughout its history, that understanding embodied in its confessions, its creeds, its hymnology. And in its ordinary preaching by the ordinary foot soldiers of Jesus Christ, as well as by its most eminent preachers, teachers, and theologians.

6:14 And the orthodox doctrine of heaven and hell can be briefly stated in these words. Hell is a place. Hell is a place of conscious torment of body and soul for all. And the unrighteous will know full and complete bliss in the with the body and soul of the unrighteous.

6:47 And heaven is a place where body and soul of the righteous will know full and complete bliss in the immediate presence of all mighty God. . And as we. .

7:02 Begin to study this great. . Segment of biblical truth for these many segments and these great doctrines. .

7:04 something of the weight of the centrality of these doctrines in Holy Scripture. And last Lord's Day evening, I had time only to develop two lines of thought respecting the importance of the doctrines of heaven and hell. I affirmed in your presence that integrity in handling the Word of God demands the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell, and secondly, that sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion was impossible apart from a belief in the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. And we traced out from many passages the great place that these doctrines have in biblical religion, all the way from a motivation to conversion, motivation to mortification, an integral part of gospel preaching, a major dimension of comfort and consolation, the doctrines of heaven and hell are brought forward again and again and again, so that we may say without any fear of contradiction from anyone who accepts the testimony of the Bible as true, that there can be no sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion.

8:26 The biblical religion, if there is not a conviction concerning the biblical, the orthodox doctrines of heaven and hell. Richard Baxter, in what is rightfully called a classic work on heaven, called The Saints' Everlasting Rest, 672 pages, expounding the glorious biblical doctrine of the saints' everlasting rest in the presence of God. In the introduction, when Baxter is seeking to open up the importance of the doctrine of heaven, he writes as follows, I have found, says he, by reason and experience, as well as scripture, that it is not our comfort only, but our stability, our liveliness in all our duties, our enduring tribulation, our honoring of God, the vigor of our love, thankfulness, and all our grace, and all our grace, and all our grace, and all our grace, and all our grace, and all our grace, K. To our grace is, yea, the very being of our religion and Christianity itself, that depends on the believing serious thoughts of our rest in heaven. Baxter is affirming that the liveliness of all our duties, our endurance in trials,

9:48 our honoring of God, the vigor of our love, and all our Christian graces, that these can only flourish, K. believing serious thoughts of heaven. The end directs to and in the means. To know what is indeed your end and happiness, and heartily to take it to be so, is the very first stone in the foundation of religion. Most souls that perish in the professing Christian world perish for lack of being sincere in this point. In a word, we can neither live safely, profitably, and godly, or comfortably, nor die so, without believing serious consideration of our everlasting rest. Baxter goes so far as to say that it is not only a matter of sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion. That is, unnecessary, that is impossible without a belief in these doctrines. But he says that the very

Importance: Honesty in Dealing with Souls Demands Preaching Heaven and Hell

11:00 essence of religion is gone without these doctrines being prominent in our thought, and being part and parcel of our deepest convictions. What I want to do tonight is to trace out one more line of thought with respect to the importance of this doctrine, and then touch briefly on two other matters, and that, we'll conclude our introduction to the subjects of heaven and hell. The importance of these doctrines is not only seen in that integrity in handling the word of God demands them. Sympathy with dominant elements of biblical religion is impossible without them. But the doctrines of heaven and hell are important because honesty in dealing with the souls of men demands a faithful, proportionate preaching and teaching of the orthod люд делать, JK, orthodox doctrines. of heaven. And hell! Now, the great longing of every true servant of Christ is beautifully captured in the language of the Holy Spirit, orlam fade to c10 and if its used to provide us with the Holy Spirit that It à l' inval recommendation, but it is a question that the Alliance of the DOC PERMIT.

12:20 That principle has no head when it has been practiced, beautifully captured in the language of the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20. As he looks back upon his three and a half years of ministry amongst the Ephesians, he can say, not with poetic license, nor with mere desire and wishful thinking, but as a matter of fact in the presence of God, Acts 20 and verse 26. Wherefore, I testify unto you this day that I am pure from the blood of all men. And I testify to you, looking back upon my years of ministry amongst you, that concerning all those whom I contacted in that ministry, there is not a one of them who can charge me with being guilty of his sins. Furthermore, I am confident that as I face the day of judgment and give account of my ministry, that my God and Father will not charge me with the blood of anyone to whom I ministered in Ephesus. Now, what does he mean by this language, free from the blood of all men?

13:45 Well, as with so much New Testament terminology, it has its roots in the Old Testament, and this terminology, finds its root system in Ezekiel chapter 3, Ezekiel chapter 3. Here we have the record of the Lord's commissioning of Ezekiel as a prophet to Israel. And his position as a prophet is likened to a watchman upon a city wall. Now before the days of radar, and before the days of missiles, when warfare was conducted in a hand-to-hand manner, cities were walled in for protection, and watchmen were set upon the walls to look off into the distance to see if there were any signs of the approaching of an alien army, of hostile forces, and it's that imagery that is captured by the Lord in his commission of Ezekiel. Follow as I read Ezekiel chapter 3, beginning with verse 17. Son of man, I have made you a watchman unto the house of Israel. Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.

15:00 As a watchman upon the walls, seeing an enemy approaching, is not to be silent, but he is to warn the inhabitants of the city. He's to speak to the proper officials who can marshal the forces and go out against the enemy. The imagery is carried right through. Son of man, I've made you a watchman unto the house of Israel.

15:21 Therefore, hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning. When I, Jehovah the living God, when I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and you give him not warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life, the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thy hand. Amen. As a watchman who sees an enemy force coming, and is silent, and the city is invaded and its inhabitants slain, that watchman will be charged with the blood of the slain. So God says to Ezekiel, I have given you a task to tell men of the realities of my judgment upon sinners. I have said to you, Ezekiel, that the soul that sinneth shall die. I have told you that sin will be damned.

16:25 Sin will bring death, and you are to warn men. Now if you do not warn them, they will die in their sin, on account of their sin. They'll not perish because of your failure, but your failure will be charged to you. And God brings that charge in this vivid, graphic language, that he will hold the watchman of God guilty of blood.

16:48 His blood I will require at your hand. And Paul takes the imagery. From the charge to Ezekiel, and he says to the Ephesians, I have been a faithful watchman, and throughout all of these years I have not failed in my task. I am pure from the blood of all men.

17:10 Why? Look at verse 27. For I am pure from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole countenance. And I am the Bethlehem council of God.

17:28 I have not shrunk back from declaring everything that God has revealed about himself and his dealings with the sons of men. I have not only declared to you that God is your creator, God is your maker and the sovereign ruler of his world and all creatures in it. I have not only declared that you are sinners. I have not only declared that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, I have not only declared repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus, Acts 20, 21, but He also declared to men that there was a place where the impenitent would be found, and that for all eternity. He declared to them what God had revealed about this place called hell and this place called heaven. And He recognizes that if He were to be honest in dealing with the souls of men, if He were to escape being charged with their blood, He had to be a man who would not shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God. Now, since so much of the Scriptures points to the realities of heaven and hell,

The Necessity of Proportionate Preaching and Critique of Contemporary Trends

18:51 honesty and fidelity in dealing with the souls of men, demands the clear, proportionate proclamation of these things. I am not saying that heaven and hell must be the dominant note of every sermon. That would not be proportionate preaching. There is much more in the Bible than the doctrines of heaven and of hell.

19:17 But a Bible without the vigorous doctrines of heaven and hell is a mutilated book. There is no way. A man can give proportionate, faithful exposition to this book and not frequently touch upon these great themes of heaven and of hell. Now, you see, there are many who, upon being pressed, will admit their belief in these things, will make an occasional allusion to these things, but of a living faith that leaps out with burning contention, eviction in preaching.

19:57 This is the solemnity of these issues upon the consciences of men. They know precious little. I'm sad to say our generation is a generation marked by many forms of deviation from the norms of Scripture, even in the ranks of those who claim to believe the Bible. But certainly one of the most glaring evidences of this is the absence of an overall pattern, a serious, earnest affirmation of the biblical doctrine, both of heaven and of hell.

20:40 The great emphasis in many branches of evangelical Christianity is away from heaven as the place of the believer's rest, the place upon which he fixes his eye amidst all of the inequities and injustices of this life. And we are being told more and more that if we're to have anything, but the kind of credible Christian testimony, we must have a greater concern for the now, and social consciousness, and social involvement, and the social implications of the gospel are not the great themes of the liberals anymore. They are the dominant themes of the majority of many circles of evangelicals. And the whole idea that we hold up before the people of God this great hope, this great gospel, world is a mess, but God in grace has come to us in Jesus Christ and offers us deliverance and tells us that He is preparing a place where all will be sorted out. We're told that's pie in the sky by and by religion, and that will not do for this generation that has had its social conscience greatly honed by all of the injustices in the area of the unequal

22:00 distribution of wealth and racial prejudice and all of the rest. This is the day when if you're to preach the gospel with relevance, you've got to take heaven out of the world to come and press it into this world. My friend, I'm where God put its treasures on its forced distribution of wealth. It is still going to be moth-eaten and it's going to corrupt.

22:34 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust corrupt and feed. Do not break through and steal, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be. And in the history of the church, never, never has the church been more effective in bringing real, godly change in society here and now than when it has had its heart and its affections most firmly fixed in heaven and upon the world to come. When the church has been most otherworldly, she has been most otherworldly.

23:16 She has been most powerful to influence this world. And I stand to protest against this carnalizing of the Christian message. Likewise, with the doctrine of hell, we are told, how can you go to a ghetto and tell poor people who have been pressed down by all the social inequities and by all of the exploitation and tell them that they are wretched rebel sinners and there is something awaiting them? It makes the ghetto look like heaven. You can't do that. You'll be turned off.

23:56 Well, my friend, I have no warrant from God to manipulate his message. And I say to the affluent upper middle class man with his three cars and his yacht and his summer home, as well as to that poor man who has been exploited and manipulated, I say to them both, you are sinners. You are bound for hell. Repent and believe. You are not a sinner. You are bound to get the face of hell. I say to the affluent upper middle class man, who thinks that his heaven is now amidst his affluence, my friend, small comfort you'll draw from all of your possessions when you join those who weep and wail and lash their teeth. And I say, I trust with compassion to that penniless man cast upon the good graces of the state for his daily bread. I say to him, my friend, the poverty you now know and the grinding inequities is nothing compared to the agony of the hell that awaits you.

25:03 You should come to grips with what you are as a sinner in need of a Savior and repent and believe and come to the Lord Jesus Christ. Honesty in dealing with the souls of men, my brothers and sisters, demands, it demands a faithful, proportionate preaching and teaching of the orthodox doctrines of heaven and of hell. And it demands that we preach them to all structures and all segments and classes of society. We don't have 1,600 different gospels.

25:45 For every different class, surely we adopt language and illustration and style. Surely we do that. Those of you who come to a wedding, you know that. Some of you wonder, why at some weddings does Pastor Martin talk about St. Mark and St. Matthew and St. Paul the Apostle?

26:05 That's because I happen to know, upon inquiry, we have a lot of Roman Catholics there. And I talk about the gospels and the epistles because that's the terminology. Sure. Our love makes us enterprising in our terminology, in our illustrations.

26:20 I am not talking about a wooden, insensitive approach. But I'm saying that the heart of the message is utterly unchanged. Its dress may be a bit different, the shape of its hat, the color of the shoe, but the heart of the message.

The Cruelty of Disguising or Explaining Away Hell

26:40 We cannot be faithful to the souls of men unless we proclaim both the frightening horrors of the dead. And who go to hell and the glories, the wonders, the beauties, the ravishing delights of those who go into the immediate presence of God in that place the Bible describes as heaven. I want to read just a brief quote from Hodge, who's speaking of those who feel they are wiser than God. In bypassing the preaching of this doctrine, he writes as follows.

27:20 More than all. In this we should recognize the superficiality and essential cruelty of that mock love which makes so many professed theological reformers disguise from sinners or explain away the real facts as to the attitude of the word of God on this subject, even if mistakes should be made in the way of rendering the aspect of scriptural teaching more menacing than it really is. In other words, some men preach hell. In a rather extravagant manner.

27:54 While it might give unnecessary pain for the present, it could not betray souls to unexpected dangers in the world to come. But there is no more deadly injury, no more high-handed cruelty, which any man can perpetrate upon a fellow creature, than that which the theological reformer is in danger of when, against the apparent meaning of God's word, against the unanimous...

28:21 In this judgment of Christ's church, he softens the emphasis of warning and assures the impenitent sinner that it is not, after all, so certain that he must die the second death of eternal pain and torment. You see his point? If a man believing the doctrine of hell is carried away beyond the explicit testimony of scripture and allows that testimony to be somewhat embellished with his own...

28:52 His own imagination, Hodge's point is he may make the doctrine a little more unpalatable, but surely he cannot be charged with fatal infidelity to the souls of men. But if anyone waters down the clear teaching of the word of God one iota, and is wiser than God, and feels that men do not need to be told of that place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth...

29:21 You see, such a one is guilty of abandonment. Betrayal of the souls of men that is tragic indeed. Tragic beyond description. And therefore, if I would be honest with your souls, dear boys and girls, men and women, friends, visitors, I must declare to you as surely as your body sits upon that seat, an hour is coming when that body and that soul will either be cast into hell, out or ducking and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and that forever, or that...

29:56 That very body and soul with which you are present here will know the unspeakable bliss of looking upon the face of Jesus in the company of all that is redeemed, and perfected in soul and body, will be forever with the Lord. In other words, in the language of the passage I read at the outset of our study tonight, your ears are going to hear one of two words, Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom.

30:28 Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting.

30:35 My friends, that's all I can say for certain about everyone sitting here. I look back and forth through these rows and I can say, well, I think that this one and that one, this may yet await him in his or her future. I would suppose that, but I cannot say anything for certain about any one of you except this, the ears with which you hear me tonight, these ears, the ears with which you listen to my voice, they're going to hear, Come ye blessed! And there'll be no smart-mouthing the living God, there'll be no evasion, there'll be no debate, there will be nothing but immediate compliance. Come ye blessed!

31:29 Go into his presence. When he says, depart ye cursed, thee shall go away into everlasting punishment. My friend, am I being honest with what Jesus said? Then don't go out and say, I'm not going back to that church, that's all hell, fire and damnation stuff.

31:51 My friend, bad-mouthing this preacher won't rid you of hell, won't rid us of that glorious place, you are on our way there. You can't escape these issues. Come to grips with them, take them seriously. I've tried to convince you of their tremendous importance along these three lines of biblical evidence.

Primary Focus: The Eternal State, Not the Intermediate State

32:26 And now very quickly, I'm drawing this to a conclusion. Let me just say a word about what will be the primary focus of our study in these nights together. The primary focus of our study will be this. Not the intermediate state, you may have heard that terminology in the past, but the eternal state.

32:48 And what do I mean by that terminology? Simply this. The Bible has a very adequate doctrine of what happens the moment a person dies in this life. And his soul leaves the body.

33:02 And when that happens, that's when the undertaker takes over. The Bible has an adequate doctrine of what happens from that moment that you die until the moment when our Lord Jesus returns and in his own words, all that are in the graves come forth. They that have done good to the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil to the resurrection of damnation. The Bible has an adequate doctrine of that period from the time the individual dies until the coming of Christ and the general resurrection which leads to the judgment and then what we read in Matthew 25, the eternal disposition of all men in soul and body into the everlasting kingdom of bliss or into the lake of fire and everlasting torment. Now that period is called the intermediate state. And I say the Bible does have an adequate doctrine of the intermediate state. Luke 16 is one of the clearest passages on the fact that the souls of all men and women who are strangers to grace immediately upon death and while the body is buried, the soul is conscious and alive and is in torment.

34:19 Likewise, Philippians 1 and 2 Corinthians 5 speak of the intermediate state for the believer. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. But the dominant emphasis of the Bible with regard to the doctrines of heaven and hell is not upon the intermediate state, but it is upon the eternal state that follows the resurrection of the body and the great judgment. Now it should be evident to us why this is so.

34:49 God made us a body-soul entity. As human beings we were made body and soul. As body-soul entities we live. As body-soul entities we die.

35:04 And there is that violent, abnormal wrenching of the soul from the body. And it is at the reuniting of soul and body in the resurrection that we will be formally judged and consigned to eternal darkness or ushered into the consummate bliss of the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And our focus then, will be upon not the intermediate state, but the eternal state, because that is the primary focus of the teaching of the Bible. You remember Jesus said, don't fear those who kill the body, Matthew 10, 28, but fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. And likewise all of the focus of the word of God is upon the resurrection of the believer at the coming of the Lord Jesus. The words with which we are to comfort our grieving brothers and sisters who have lost loved ones points not to the blessedness of the intermediate state, though that has some elements in the passage. But what are the words of comfort?

36:21 This we say unto you, 1 Thessalonians 4, this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that you do not sorrow and grieve as those who have no hope. This is what we say. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, the voice of the archangel, the trump of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. He points us to the resurrection and to the eternal state.

Required Attitudes: Humility, Sobriety, and Simple Faith

36:44 So that will be the primary focus of our study. And then just a word about the attitude with which we approach this study as we come to contemplate the biblical doctrines of heaven and hell. With what spirit should we approach these doctrines? God has said in Isaiah 55, My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways, for as the heavens are high above the earth, so are my thoughts above your thoughts, and my ways above your ways.

37:17 Dear people, it behooves us to come in a spirit of humility. Humility that does not dictate to God what is just and right and fair with regard to the doctrine of hell, or what is possible, or best with respect to the doctrine of heaven. You see, the biblical doctrine of hell, when faithfully preached, often raises objections from men. It doesn't seem just to me that a man, a woman should suffer forever and ever and ever for the sins of a relatively brief time.

37:56 It doesn't seem just to me. Well, my friend, I don't mean to be coarse or boorish, but may I say, you aren't God. Your sense of justice does not govern the world, so I could care less what you think is just. Your sense of what is just and right and fair does not determine your destiny, nor mine, nor anyone else's.

38:27 It is what is just and what is fair, according to the just, that will determine men's eternal stay. You better get down off your high horse, of thinking you have a right to determine what is fair and just, and then absolutizing that into truth. Almighty God has declared of Himself that as the judge of the earth, He will do what is right. He has the worship of seraphim and cherubim and all the glorified spirits.

39:05 Holy and righteous art thou, O God, just and holy are thy ways, though I may not be able to reconcile in my own, the finite sinful mind, the perfect parallels between the revelation of God's utterly just character and the biblical doctrine of hell. It is not my responsibility to be a reconciler, but to be a humble receiver of the testimony of God. Likewise, with regard to heaven, some say, how can it be possible that the body long since turned to dust, or eaten by the sharks, and the shark in turn has died, and its remains have become part of the ocean floor? How can there be a resurrection of the body? Paul had that objection in 1 Corinthians 15. You know what he says to the person who objects?

40:02 Thou fool. That's what he says. Thou fool. Thou fool.

40:09 Then he uses some analogies from the human experience and human observation, but he says, thou fool. May I say, we are fools, to bring God to the bar of what we think possible, and what we think best, with regard to the doctrines of heaven and hell. We must come in that humility that is prepared to receive the plain and obvious sense of the testimony of God in Holy Spirit. Oh, may God give me that spirit as I preach on these doctrines.

40:46 May God give it to you as you listen. And then surely, not only a spirit of humility, ought to mark our approach to this awesome set of doctrines, but sobriety. If ever Isaiah 66, 2 should mark a congregation, to this man will I look, to him that trembles at my word, surely trembling before the word of God should mark us, as we stand as it were, and look over the precipice, and with scripture alone, to forge our, our concrete thoughts and conceptions of hell. Dare to look with scripture as our eyes, and scripture as our light. A frightening abyss. Oh, my dear friend, how can anyone preach with a felt sense of the reality of heaven, and be a clown in the pulpit? I'll never know.

41:45 I'll never know. How one can contemplate the glories of heaven, the glories of what it is, for a mere mortal, to look upon the unveiled face of Christ, and in some sense to see the very throne of God. You remember those incidents in scripture, when people had what the theologians call a theophany, a visible appearance of God. Why they were shocked that they were alive to record it.

42:24 I have looked upon God, and lived. But Moses said no man can look upon God, in his burning essence, and live. You see, not only is the frightening abyss of outer darkness, something calculated to sober us, but even the glories of heaven, to contemplate the wonders that God has prepared for his own. Though it will be a sobriety, that will bring us to the borders, perhaps of a kind of joy, and a dimension of exultation, we've never known.

42:59 It'll nonetheless, be a sober joy. We will rejoice, with tremor. And then may God give us not only an attitude of humility and sobriety, but one, of simple faith. You remember what Jesus said in Luke 24, 25.

43:19 Oh fools in slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have said. Fools in slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have said. We need to cry to God, to remove our folly, and our sluggishness of heart, that would keep us from believing all that God has said in his holy word. I remind you again of a text that we looked at briefly this morning, John 17, 8.

43:52 One of the evidences that we are the children of God, is that we fit the description of John 17, 8. I have given unto them thy words, and they have received them. And what are many of the words of Jesus, words about heaven and hell. Words that cannot be misunderstood, with respect to that place of conscious eternal torment, that place of conscious eternal bliss, in the immediate presence of God.

44:24 And that same Jesus said in Mark 8, 38, Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous, and sinful, generation of him, shall the son of man be ashamed, when he comes in his glory. I tell you that verse impinges on me as a preacher. If I am ashamed to declare clearly and faithfully, what Jesus says about heaven and hell, he said, he'll be ashamed of me, when he comes in his glory. If I draw back from confessing faith, in his clear state, he will draw back from confessing me, in the presence of his Father. And if for no other reason than the salvation of my own soul, I must preach. May each of us find in our hearts the disposition of faith, to embrace what we cannot fully fathom, to embrace in faith, what is at some points utterly repuntment, to our sense of all that may be right and fair. And I say solemnly, that more than one person has ended up an apostate,

Concluding Exhortation and Prayer

45:49 when he was confronted with the biblical testimony about heaven and hell, and in the pride and unbelief of his heart, refused to embrace it. Don't you play. Cry to God for a heart that will be quick to the fall, that the script. Well, I trust dear ones that, these lines of thought as to the importance of the doctrine, the primary focus of our study, as we examine the doctrines of heaven and hell, and this word about the attitudes with which we ought to approach our study, will prepare us all to cry mightily to God, that in the days to come we may taste of the powers of the world to come, that we'll make every effort to bring our unconverted friends, and loved ones and neighbors under the sound of the word, and that God may be pleased to use even this series to rescue some from hell, and prepare them for heaven, that they may know the bliss of which we will speak, that they may escape the horrors of the damned, of which we must by truth be constrained to speak in days to come.

47:13 Let us pray and ask God to help us by his grace. Our Father, we cry to you once again, that by the Holy Spirit you will take your own word, and indelibly, indelibly inscribe it upon our hearts. O our Father, we are grieved when we see the worldliness of so much professing Christianity, when we see, even in large segments of the evangelical church, a movement away from faithful, proportionate preaching on heaven and hell, a socializing of the gospel, a distorting of the major strands of biblical emphasis. O Lord, have mercy upon the professing church. Have mercy upon our hearts. Have mercy, we pray.

48:10 And, O God, may you raise up in our day men who will dare to preach and thunder into the ears of this generation these great doctrines of heaven and hell, that they may once again have their formative influence upon the minds and hearts of men and women and boys and girls, to the good of their own souls and to the praise of your grace. Seal then your word to our hearts. Receive our thanks for this day, for your goodness in drawing near to us. Hear us as we make our plea before you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

48:50 Amen.