He Will Burn Up The Chaff With Unquenchable Fire! # 1

He Will Burn Up The Chaff With Unquenchable Fire! # 1

"He will gather His wheat into the barn - but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire!" (Matthew 3:12).

This text describes in words, which should make our ears tingle - Christ shall "burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire!"

When the Lord Jesus Christ comes to purge His threshing floor - He shall punish all who are not His disciples with a fearful punishment. All who are found impenitent and unbelieving - all who have held the truth in unrighteousness - all who have clung to sin, stuck to the world, and set their affection on things below - all who are without Christ. All such shall come to an awful end! Christ shall "burn up the chaff!"

Their punishment shall be most SEVERE. There is no pain like that of burning. Fire is the most destructive and devouring of all elements. Creatures can live in air, and earth, and water - but nothing can live in fire! Yet firs is the portion to which the Christless and unbelieving will come.

Their punishment shall be ETERNAL. Millions of ages shall pass away, and the fire into which the chaff is cast, shall still burn on. That fire shall never burn low and become dim. The fuel of that fire shall never waste away and be consumed. It is "unquenchable fire."

Oh reader, these are sad and painful things to speak of! I have no pleasure in dwelling on them. I could rather say with the apostle Paul, "I have great sorrow." But they are things written for our learning, and it is good to consider them. They are a part of that Scripture which is all profitable, and they ought to be heard. As painful as the subject of hell is - it is one about which I dare not, cannot, must not be silent. Who would desire to speak of hell-fire - if God had not spoken of it? When God has spoken of it so plainly - who can safely hold his peace?

I dare not shut my eyes to the fact, that a deep-rooted infidelity lurks in men's minds on the subject of hell. I see it oozing out in the utter apathy of some - they eat, and drink, and sleep - as if there was no wrath to come! I see it creeping forth in the coldness of others about their neighbor's souls - they show little concern to pluck brands from the fire. I desire to denounce such infidelity with all my might. Believing that there are terrors of the Lord, as well as the recompense of reward - I call upon all who profess to believe the Bible, to be on their guard.

I know that some do not believe there is any hell at all. They think it impossible there can be such a place. They call it inconsistent with the mercy of God. They say it is too dreadful an idea to be really true. The devil of course rejoices in the views of such people. They help his kingdom mightily. They are preaching up his favorite old doctrine, "You shall not surely die!"

I know furthermore, that some do no believe that hell is eternal. They tell us it is incredible that a compassionate God will punish men forever. He will surely open the prison-doors at last. This also is a mighty help to the devil's cause. "Take your ease," he whispers to sinners - "if you do make a mistake, never mind, it is not forever."

I know also that some believe that there is a hell - but never allow that anybody is going there! All people with them are "good" as soon as they die - all were sincere - all meant well - and all, they hope, got to Heaven. Alas, what a common delusion is this! I can well understand the feeling of the little girl who asked her mother where all the wicked people were buried, "for she found no mention on the gravestones of any except the good."

And I know very well that some believe there is a hell - but never like it to be spoken of. It is a subject that should always be kept back. They see no profit in bringing it forward, and are rather shocked when it is mentioned. This also is an immense help to the devil. "Hush, hush!" says satan, "say nothing about hell." The fowler wishes to hear no noise when he lays his snare. The wolf would like the shepherd to sleep while he prowls round the fold. Just so, the devil rejoices when Christians are silent about hell. 

Reader, all these notions are the opinions of man. What is it to you and I - what man thinks in religion? Man will not judge us at the last day. Man's fancies and traditions are not to be our guide in this life. There is but one point to be settled - What says the Word of God?"

Do you believe the Bible? Then depend upon it, hell is real and true. It is as true as Heaven - as true as justification by faith - as true as the fact that Christ died upon the Cross. There is not a fact or doctrine which you may not lawfully doubt - if you doubt hell, disbelieve hell - and you unscrew, unsettle, and unpin everything in Scripture! You may as well throw your Bible away at once. From "no hell" to "no God" there is but a series of steps.

Do you believe the Bible? Then depend upon it, hell will have inhabitants. The wicked shall certainly be turned into hell, and all the people that forget God. These will go away into everlasting punishment. The same blessed Saviour who now sits on a throne of grace, will one day sit on a throne of judgment - and men will see there is such a thing as "the wrath of the Lamb!" The same lips which now say "Come - come unto Me," will one day say "Depart from Me, you who are cursed!" Alas, how awful the thought of being condemned by Christ Himself - judged by our Saviour; sentenced to eternally misery - by the Lamb!

Do you believe the Bible? Then depend upon it, hell will be intense and unutterable woe. It is vain to talk of all the expressions about being only figures of speech. The pit, the prison, the worm, the fire, the thirst, the blackness, the darkness, the weeping, the gnashing of teeth, the second death - all these may be figures of speech if you please. But Bible figures mean something, beyond all question - and here they mean something which man's mind can never fully conceive. Oh, reader, the miseries of mind and conscience, are far worse than those of the body! The whole extent of hell, the present suffering, the bitter recollection of the past, the hopeless prospect of the future - will never be thoroughly known, except by those who go there!

Do you believe the Bible? Then depend upon it, hell is eternal. It must be eternal, or words have no meaning at all. Forever and ever; everlasting; unquenchable; never-dying - all these are expressions used about hell, and expressions that cannot be explained away. It must be eternal, or the very foundations of Heaven are cast down. If hell has an end - then Heaven has an end too. They both stand or fall together. It must be, or else every doctrine of the Gospel is undermined. If a man may escape hell at length without faith in Christ, or sanctification of the Spirit - then sin is no longer an infinite evil, and there is no such great need for Christ making an atonement!


~J. C. Ryle~

(continued with # 2)