Monday, October 02, 2006

The Sin of Unbelief

Methinks I see you in some place in Hell, tied to a rock, the vulture of remorse gnawing your heart. And up there is Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. You lift up your eyes and you see who it is. “That is the poor man who layon my dunghill and the dogs licked his sores. There he is in Heaven, while I am cast down. Lazarus—yes, it is Lazarus. And I who was rich in the world of time am here in Hell. Father Abraham, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of hisfinger in water, to cool my tongue.” But no! It cannot be. It cannot be. And while you lie there, if there be one thing in Hell worse than another, it will be seeing the saints in Heaven.

Oh, to think of seeing my mother in Heaven while I am cast out! Oh, Sinner, only think—to see your brother in Heaven—he who was rocked in the same cradle and played beneath the same roof—yet you are cast out! And, husband, there is your wife in Heaven and you are among the damned, And see you, father! Your child is before the Throne. And you, accursed of God and accursed of man, are in Hell. Oh, the Hell of hells will be to see our friends in Heaven and yourselves lost. I beseech you, my Hearers, by the death of Christ—by His agony and bloody sweat—by His Cross and passion—by all that is holy—by all that is sacred in Heaven and earth—by all that is solemn in time or eternity—by all that is horrible in Hell, or glorious in Heaven—by that awful thought, “forever”—I beseech you lay these things to heart and remember that if you are damned, it will be unbelief that damns you. If you are lost, it will be because you believed not on Christ. And if you perish, this shall be the bitterest drop of all—that you did not trust in the Savior.

Excerpt taken from a sermon delivered on Sabbath morning, January 14, 1855 by The Rev. Charles Hadden Spurgeon at the New Park Street Chapel, Southwark.

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