The Restless Bed

Here is an excerpt from James Smith’s Food for Hungry Souls. This was sent out by Grace Gems last week and is worth taking the time to read and then meditate on what he said.

[I have added some comments throughout]

The Restless Bed

• What is sown now--will be reaped in eternity.
• Eternal life is the free gift of a gracious God.
• Eternal punishment is the just wages of eternal sin.
• We deserve Hell now [this is an important point that we would all do well to remember]--but we may escape it by fleeing to Jesus.
•  If we refuse to do so--then we can only expect to reap the fruit of our folly. 
• Heaven is the gift of God's grace--but Hell is the wages of sin. [see Romans 6:23]
• Every sinner makes his own Hell. In this light, let us look at the words of the Psalmist:

"If I make my bed in Hell." Psalm 139:8

THE RESIDENCE. "In Hell." 

WHAT is Hell?

• Hell is the prison--in which the prisoners of God's justice are confined.
• Hell is where punishment is inflicted on all who die at enmity with God.
• Hell is the place where Satan acts the part of the chief tormentor.
• Hell is the place where conscience, armed with terrible power, torments the guilty soul.
• Hell is the place where reflection, aided by a strong and tenacious memory, afflicts without mercy or cessation.
• Hell is the place where God frowns justly and eternally on the naked soul.
• Hell is the place where everything calculated to . . .satiate with terror, fill with agony, and
  torture with pain, exist.
• While everything calculated to inspire hope, give pleasure, or impart relief--is excluded forever.

WHO is in Hell?

• Satan and his demons--all those foul, wicked, and degraded spirits--who are filled with envy, malice, and enmity against God and man.
• All unrepentant sinners--of all classes, creeds, places, and periods.
• All who have . . .stained the world with their crimes, afflicted others with their cruelties, and degraded themselves by their vices.
• All the lowest, vilest, and basest of the human race!
• God is there too, in his glorious majesty, almighty power, impartial justice, and awesome holiness! O how it will aggravate the sufferings of the lost--to have God's eye always fixed upon them, and the justice, holiness, and majesty of God ever shining before them!

[This is a point we often overlook; I have heard many people say that Hell will be Hell because God is not there, but I contend that Hell is Hell because God is there, and those in Hell will face His holiness and justice and wrath against sin, in their fullness, without the shield of Jesus Christ, for all eternity – that is what makes Hell Hell]

WHAT is in Hell?

• Justice with its flaming sword--is there.
• Memory stored with the whole history of one’s life--is there.
• The worm that gnaws the vitals of the soul, but never dies--is there.
• The fire that cannot be quenched, which tortures but never destroys our nature--is there.

• But there is no Bible there.
• There is no gospel with its joyful sound.
• There is no gentle, loving Savior.
• There is no loving friend or dear relation.
• There is nothing to lessen or alleviate suffering!
• Hell concentrates in itself, all the elements of misery, degradation, wretchedness and woe!

THE REST. "My bed." "If I make my bed in Hell."

• Rest in Hell? A bed in Hell? What kind of a bed could that be?
• A bed composed of the thorns of bitter reflection.
• A bed made up of the terrible inflictions of incensed justice.
• A bed embracing . . .the horrors of a guilty conscience, the blackness and darkness of despair, the ceaseless outpouring of the vials of the wrath of God!
• This bed is . . .ever heaving--like the restless ocean; ever sinking--like a millstone, in the bottomless depths; ever burning--like a lake of liquid brimstone; and ever inflicting torments--beyond description or conception.
• "MY bed"--the bed I procured by a life of sin.
• "MY bed"--the bed I deserve for rejecting the Savior, and neglecting the great salvation.
• "MY bed"--the bed awarded me by a just and holy God.
• My OWN bed--the only bed I can claim; the only bed I can expect; that bed for which I labored; and which is the righteous wages of my sin.
• My OWN bed--the only bed I shall have forever!
• My OWN bed--on which there can be no rest day nor night. Ever wakeful, ever weary, ever cursing and condemning myself--here on my infernal bed--I am doomed, and justly doomed to lie forever!

THE EMPLOYMENT. "If I make my bed in Hell."

Every man makes his own bed, and on the bed he makes for himself--he must forever lie.

What are sinners on earth doing? Making their bed in Hell!

• Drunkard--you are making your bed in Hell, and a terrible bed it will be!
• Dishonest man, by your tricks in trade, and various dishonest practices--you are making your bed in Hell, and an awful bed it will be!
• Liar, by your falsehoods and deception--you are making your bed in Hell--and a liar's bed will burn with brimstone and with fire!
• Profane swearer--you also are preparing for yourself, a dreadful couch!
• Promiscuous man--the lusts you indulge now, will entwine about your soul like serpents, and sting and poison you, on your bed in Hell forever!
• Hypocrite, pretending to be religious, when you know that you are not--I suppose few will have a more racking or torturing bed to lie on forever--than you will!
• Careless sinner--you are making your bed in Hell, and you will perhaps repent of it when it is too late.
• Trifling professor, worldly-minded church member--you too are making your bed in Hell, and it is to be feared that many will go from the church of God on earth--to be tormented forever on a bed in Hell!

There is a Hell--an eternal Hell. Justice provided it originally for the devil and his demons--but there is room in it for rebellious men, and if they die impenitent--they will be forever doomed to it! No one will have a place in Hell, who does not richly merit and deserve it. Hell is just wages--for present sinful work. "The wages of sin is death"--eternal death. O terrible thought, to be working so hard on earth--only to receive the wages of eternal punishment in Hell!

"If I make my bed in Hell."

• Young man--what if you should make your bed in Hell? It will be your own act and deed.
• Young woman--what if you should make your bed in Hell? And you may--for the dance, the ball-room, pride of dress, and neglect of God, without any grosser vices--will be sufficient to prepare for you a bed in Hell!
• Aged man--what if you should make your bed in Hell? What a dreadful close--to a long and trying life on earth.
• Aged woman--is it possible that you should make your bed in Hell? It is--and more than possible!
• Religious man--what if you should make your bed in Hell? What if after all your prayers, sacraments, and contributions to religious societies--your bed should be in Hell! And it will--if you are not found in Christ!

It does not matter--whether young or old, whether professor or profane--unless you are washed in the blood of Jesus;unless you are sanctified by the Spirit of God; unless you are reconciled to God by the death of His Son--you will certainly make your bed in Hell.

Look well to it, then, I beseech you--that you have saving faith in Christ, and that you are regenerated by the Holy Spirit--for without true holiness, no one can see the Lord. [see Hebrews 12:14] Without holiness--you will certainly make your bed in Hell!

~James Smith

Does Man Have Free Will?

Here is a really good video that answers the question above from a Biblical perspective.

No Man Ever Thought Too Much Of Christ

Let us embrace this truth reverently, and cling to it firmly. Christ is He who has the keys of death and hell. Christ is the anointed Priest, who alone can absolve sinners. Christ is the fountain of living waters, in whom alone we can be cleansed. Christ is the Prince and Savior, who alone can give repentance and remission of sins. In Him all fullness dwells. He is the way, the door, the light, the life, the Shepherd, the altar of refuge. He that has the Son has life--and he that has not the Son has not life. May we all strive to understand this. No doubt men may easily think too little of God the Father, and God the Spirit, but no man ever thought too much of Christ.

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels Vol 1: Matthew & Mark pg.409

The Wrath Of God

Heaven & Hell

What really happened on the cross, and what does that mean to you? Pastor R.W. Glenn answers those questions in this sermon.

The Doctrine Of Propitiation

J.C. Ryle On The Eternality Of Hell

As I was reading this morning I found this by J.C. Ryle talking about Hell being eternal. This is something that we all should think about daily, because we all know many people who do not know Jesus Christ and if they die in this state, this is their end.

Jesus said:

"The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to the man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."

Matthew 26:24

Of this verse J.C. Rule wrote:

Let us learn... from [this] verse, the hopeless condition of all who die unconverted. The words of our Lord on this subject are peculiarly solemn. He says of Judas, "It would have been better for that man, if he had not been born." This saying admits of only one interpretation. It teaches plainly, that it is better never to live at all, than to live without faith, and to die without grace. To die in this state is to be ruined forever more. It is a fall from which there is no rising. It is a loss which is utterly irretrievable. There is no change in hell. The gulf between hell and heaven is one that no man can pass. This saying could never have been used, if there was any truth in the doctrine of 'universal salvation'. If it really was true that all would sooner or later reach heaven, and hell sooner or later be emptied of inhabitants, it never could be said that it would have been "good for a man not to have been born." Hell itself would lose its terrors, if it had an end. Hell itself would be endurable, if after millions of ages there was a HOPE of freedom and of heaven. But universal salvation will find no foot-hold in Scripture. The teaching of the word of God is plain and express on the subject. There is a worm that never dies, and a fire that is not quenched (Mark 9:44.) "Except a man be born again," he will wish one day he had never been born at all. "Better," says Burkitt, "have no being, than not have a being in Christ."

Let us grasp this truth firmly, and not let it go. There are always people who dislike the reality and eternity of hell. We live in a day when a morbid charity induces many to exaggerate God's mercy, at the expense of His justice, and when false teachers are daring to talk of a "love of God, lower even than hell." Let us resist such teaching with a holy jealousy, and abide by the doctrine of Holy Scripture. Let us not be ashamed to walk in the old paths, and to believe that there is an eternal God, an eternal heaven, and an eternal hell. Once depart from this belief, and we admit the thin edge of the wedge of skepticism, and may at last deny any doctrine of the Gospel. We may rest assured that there is no firm standing ground between a belief in the eternity of hell, and downright infidelity.

J.C. Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels Vol 1: Matthew & Mark pg. 354

What Is Reformed Theology?

I have just finished listening to one of the best sermon series I have ever heard on the subject of Reformed Theology. This is not by any means an exhaustive series on the subject, but Pastor Brian Borgman gives a pretty thorough overview and I highly recommend this.

If you have any questions dealing with election, or predestination, or foreknowledge, or the free will of man this would be a good place to start. So get your Bible, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and spend a few evenings working your way through this series; you won't regret it.

And as always, feel free to leave your comments; who knows, we may even get Pastor Borgman to respond.

No One Knows That Day And Hour

This morning I was reading Matthew 24 which includes the following verses:

“But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.
 

“Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 24:36-51

Here are some thought on this passage from the pen of J.C. Ryle:

The... thing that demands our attention, is the dreadful separation that will take place when the Lord Jesus comes again. We read twice over, that "one shall be taken and the other left."

The godly and the ungodly, at present, are all mingled together. In the congregation and in the place of worship--in the city and in the field--the children of God and the children of the world are all side by side. But it shall not be so always. In the day of our Lord's return, there shall at length be a complete division. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye; at the last trumpet, each party shall be separated from the other forever more. Wives shall be separated from husbands--parents from children--brothers from sisters--masters from servants--preachers from hearers. There shall be no time for parting words, or a change of mind, when the Lord appears. All shall be taken as they are, and reap according as they have sown. Believers shall be caught up to glory, honor, and eternal life. Unbelievers shall be left behind to shame and everlasting contempt. Blessed and happy are they who are of one heart in following Christ! Their union alone shall never be broken. It shall last for evermore. Who can describe the happiness of those who are taken, when the Lord returns? Who can imagine the misery of those who are left behind? May we think on these things and consider our ways...

[We also see that] True Christians ought to live like watchmen. The day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. They should strive to be always on their guard. They should behave like the sentinel of an army in an enemy's land.

They should resolve by God's grace not to sleep at their post. That text of Paul deserves many a thought--"let us not sleep, as the rest do, but let us watch and be sober." (1 Thess. 5:6.)

True Christians ought to live like good servants, whose master is not at home. They should strive to be always ready for their master's return. They should never give way to the feeling, "my Lord is delaying his coming." They should seek to keep their hearts in such a frame, that whenever Christ appears, they may at once give Him a warm and loving reception. There is a vast depth in that saying, "Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing so when he comes." We may well doubt whether we are true believers in Jesus, if we are not ready at any time to have our faith changed into sight.

J.C.Ryle

Expository Thoughts on the Gospels Vol 1 Matthew and Mark pg 327-329

It is my prayer that you will take a few minutes today and think about what Jesus said in these few verses.

The Poor Creature Went On Eating The Cheese!

Here is a quote by the great preacher Charles Spurgeon that was sent out the other morning by the folks at Grace Gems:

"A mouse was caught by its tail in a trap the other day--and the poor creature went on eating the cheese!

"Many people are dong the same. They know that they are guilty before God, and they dread their punishment--but they go on nibbling at their beloved sins!

'Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows!' Galatians 6:7"