WesleyGospel Ministries

John Wesley, “The Repentance of Believers.”

—. “Justification by Faith.”

—. “Of Hell.”

—. “On Love.”

Walter Sellon, A Defence of God’s Sovereignty (Arminian).

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. –John 15:11 (KJV)

Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. –Revelation 20:15 (KJV)

D. R. McConnell, A Different Gospel (Hendrickson Publishers, 1995).

Hank Hanegraaff, Christianity In Crisis (Thomas Nelson, 2009).

Assemblies of God Position Paper, “The Believer and Positive Confession.” (1980).

They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. –Acts 2:4 (KJV)

On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify God. –Acts 10:45-46 (KJV)

When Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. –Acts 19:6 (KJV)

E. S. Williams, Systematic Theology, vol. 3 (Gospel Publishing House, 1953), chs. 6-9.

P. C. Nelson, Bible Doctrines (Gospel Publishing House, 1948), ch. 8.

Harold Horton, The Gifts of the Spirit (Gospel Publishing House, 1934).

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind. –Jeremiah 51:1 (KJV)

In hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame…he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. –Luke 16:23-24, 31 (KJV)

The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. –Jude 6-7 (KJV)

When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: and he 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, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me…Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not…And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. –Matthew 25:31-46 (KJV)

After thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds. –Romans 2:5-6 (KJV)

What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction. –Romans 9:22

The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day. –2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 (KJV)

Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. –Mark 9:48 (KJV)

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. –John 14:6 (KJV)

Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. –Isaiah 53:4-6 (KJV)

—

CHAPTER 32
Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead

1. The bodies of men, after death, return to dust, and see corruption: but their souls, which neither die nor sleep, having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them: the souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God, in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies. And the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places, for souls separated from their bodies, the Scripture acknowledgeth none.

2. At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up, with the selfsame bodies, and none other (although with different qualities), which shall be united again to their souls forever.

3. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor: the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honor; and be made conformable to his own glorious body.

CHAPTER 33
Of the Last Judgment

1. God hath appointed a day, wherein he will judge the world, in righteousness, by Jesus Christ, to whom all power and judgment is given of the Father. In which day, not only the apostate angels shall be judged, but likewise all persons that have lived upon earth shall appear before the tribunal of Christ, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds; and to receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil.

2. The end of God’s appointing this day is for the manifestation of the glory of his mercy, in the eternal salvation of the elect; and of his justice, in the damnation of the reprobate, who are wicked and disobedient. For then shall the righteous go into everlasting life, and receive that fullness of joy and refreshing, which shall come from the presence of the Lord; but the wicked who know not God, and obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, shall be cast into eternal torments, and be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.

3. As Christ would have us to be certainly persuaded that there shall be a day of judgment, both to deter all men from sin; and for the greater consolation of the godly in their adversity: so will he have that day unknown to men, that they may shake off all carnal security, and be always watchful, because they know not at what hour the Lord will come; and may be ever prepared to say, Come Lord Jesus, come quickly, Amen.

—

—

The Jesus Trip, “Hell & Apokatastasis.” It seems that Crowder mainly relies on David Bentley Hart’s That All Shall Be Saved: Heaven, Hell, and Universal Salvation (Yale, 2019).

WesleyGospel, “An Overview of Biblical Passages on Hell (Part 1).”

—. “An Overview of Biblical Passages on Hell (Part 2).”

Westminster Confession of Faith, chs. 32-33.

Dr. Robert Peterson, Hell on Trial (P&R, 1995), ch. 8.

Dr. J. I. Packer in Hell Under Fire (Zondervan, 2004), ch. 8.

—. Is Hell for Real or Does Everyone Go to Heaven? (Zondervan, 2011), ch. 5.

John Blanchard, The Truth About Hell (Evangelical Press, 2017).

—. Whatever Happened to Hell? (Evangelical Press, 1993).

W.G.T. Shedd, The Doctrine of Endless Punishment (Banner of Truth, 1986).

John Gerstner, Repent or Perish: With a Special Reference to the Conservative Attack on Hell (Soli Deo Gloria, 1990).

Jonathan Edwards, The Wrath of Almighty God (Soli Deo Gloria, 1997).

Dr. John R. Rice, Hell! What the Bible Says About It (Sword of the Lord Publishers, 1942).

Andrew Itter, Esoteric Teaching in the Stromateis of Clement of Alexandria (Brill, 2009), p. 200. “Clement uses the term apokatastasis and its cognates generally to refer to the Gnostic elect rather than to an eschatological restoration of the universe, or to a restoration of the faithful as a whole. Where he does mention or imply a restoration of the whole it is through the medium of the restoration of the Gnostic…Hence, while some uses of apokatastasis appear to refer simply to the Gnostic elect, by extension, they have universal implications.”

³⁶ Jacob was angry and took Laban to task. “What is my crime?” he asked Laban. “How have I wronged you that you hunt me down? ³⁷ Now that you have searched through all my goods, what have you found that belongs to your household? Put it here in front of your relatives and mine, and let them judge between the two of us. ³⁸ I have been with you for twenty years now. Your sheep and goats have not miscarried, nor have I eaten rams from your flocks. ³⁹ I did not bring you animals torn by wild beasts; I bore the loss myself. And you demanded payment from me for whatever was stolen by day or night. ⁴⁰ This was my situation: The heat consumed me in the daytime and the cold at night, and sleep fled from my eyes. ⁴¹ It was like this for the twenty years I was in your household. I worked for you fourteen years…and you changed my wages ten times. ⁴² If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been with me, you would surely have sent me away empty-handed. But God has seen my hardship and the toil of my hands, and last night he rebuked you.” –Genesis 31:36-42

¹ Blessed is the one
    who does not walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
    or sit in the company of mockers,
² but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and who meditates on his law day and night.
³ That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
    which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither—
    whatever they do prospers.
⁴ Not so the wicked!
    They are like chaff
    that the wind blows away.
⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
–Psalm 1:1-5–

1. UNGODLY רשעים reshaim from רשע rasha, to be unjust; rendering to none his due; withholding from God, society, and himself, what belongs to each. Ungodly — he who has not God in him; who is without God in the world.

2. SINNERS, חטאים chattaim, from חטא chata, “to miss the mark,” “to pass over the prohibited limits,” “to transgress.” This man not only does no good, but he does evil. The former was without God, but not desperately wicked. The latter adds outward transgression to the sinfulness of his heart.

3. SCORNFUL, לצים letsim, from לצה latsah, “to mock, deride.” He who has no religion; lives in the open breach of God’s laws, and turns revelation, the immortality of the soul, and the existence of an invisible world, into ridicule. He is at least a deist, and endeavours to dissolve, as much as he can, the bonds of moral obligation in civil society. As the sinner exceeds the ungodly, so the scornful exceeds both.

1. The ungodly man — one uninfluenced by God.

2. The sinner — he who adds to ungodliness, transgression.

3. The scornful — the deist, atheist, etc., who make a mock of every thing sacred.

The scorner has brought, in reference to himself, all religion and moral feeling to an end. He has sat down–is utterly confirmed in impiety, and makes a mock at sin. His conscience is seared; and he is a believer in all unbelief. Now, blessed is the man who sits not down in his SEAT.

See the correspondent relations in this account.

1. He who walks according to the counsel of the ungodly will soon,

2. Stand to look on the way of sinners; and thus, being off his guard, he will soon be a partaker in their evil deeds.

3. He who has abandoned himself to transgression will, in all probability, soon become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin; and sit down with the scorner, and endeavour to turn religion into ridicule.

As the blessedness of the man is great who avoids the ways and the workers of iniquity, so his wretchedness is great who acts on the contrary: to him we must reverse the words of David: “Cursed is the man who walketh in the counsel of the ungodly; who standeth in the way of sinners; and who sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” —ADAM CLARKE’S COMMENTARY