[b]The best way to be preserved from falling into hell[/b](Thomas Brooks, "Apples of Gold" 1660)"Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels!" Matthew 25:41The sinner's delight here is momentary;that which torments hereafter is perpetual. The best way to be preserved from falling into hell, is to think often of hell. Ah!that you would often consider . . . the bitterness of the damned's torments, the pitilessness of their torments, the diversity of their torments, the easelessness of their torments, the remedilessness of their torments, the eternity of their torments. Ah! may these thoughts of hell be a means to preserve you from lying in those everlasting flames!
_________________SI Moderator - Greg Gordon
Amen, may the Lord keep eternity before our eyes.
I just added this sermon to the index at the recommendation of a brother:Hell of Hell by Reg Kelly
Funny you post this, Greg. Just yesterday I burnt my finger on a kerosene heater. I just touched it for a fraction of a second and the result was a white blister on my fingertip. Extremely painful. Driving home yesterday, it was really hurting. That one little raw blister just screamed and screamed. My head started to hurt from the sharp pain, and I longed to plunge it into a cup of ice. But there was no ice, of course - only a cool steering wheel which provided minimal comfort as long as I pressed my finger against it.As I cooled my finger on the rim of the steering wheel - and as the pain abated a bit - I began to think about hell. About an intense burning pain for all eternity, the entire body wracked in flames forever and ever, a trillion times worse than a little finger blister from a kerosene lamp, and with never a luxury to cool down for even one day. No cool steering wheels, no cups of ice, not a single drop of water. Just the endless pain of fire and screaming forever in eternal darkness. Then my mind shifted to the temporal pleasure sin affords in this vapor of time we call life: The thrills of fornication, the drunkeness, the quest for success and money, the little white lies to gain an advantage at a job or in school. All of those things quickly vanished when I took my finger off the steering wheel. The only thing in the universe at that moment, for me, was the searing pain returning.And then I thought of the endless multitudes falling into this eternal pit of flaming torture as most "Christians" watch football games and tirelessly debate Calvinism/Arminism while harboring secret sins and idols, unaware that they too, are heading for the pit. I had to stop myself from going there, for felt I would lose my mind in grief and anger. So, returning to your post, I agree with Brooks: The more we think on hell and eternity, the more safeguarded we may be from going there.Brother Paul
_________________Paul Frederick West
Brother Paul,I think like this many times, and yes it just about drives you crazy. Is it no wonder Jesus suffered so cruely so people would not have to suffer so badly in eternity?! And many willspurn it for whatever reason? Yes, thinking about the realities of hell will instill some holy terror within which is not bad. Works like an electrical prod to keep us on the straight and narrow. (When I was a child men used electrical prods to assist them in the loading of cattle. They pressed it onto the animal's body which then discharged a shock which made them move!) ginnyrose
_________________Sandra Miller
sermonindex wrote:I just added this sermon to the index at the recommendation of a brother:Hell of Hell by Reg Kelly