Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadQuiet Talks by Samuel Dickey: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death: 39. "Without"
TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks on Life After Death (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 39. "Without"
Other Subjects in this Topic:
"Without"
And in the epilogue the same note is struck again. And it is most significant that this time it is directly connected with that highest of all human powers, free choice, God's best gift to man. Listen: "He that is set on being unrighteous, let him be free to follow his choice and do unrighteousness, and it will be with a constantly increasing momentum.
"And he that is set on going to the passionate depths of evil doing will be free to follow his bent, with the slant down getting steeper" (Rev_22:11 paraphrased). And then the same thing, in the same two degrees, is spoken of those choosing the right way.
And when Jesus comes to get things straightened out, He will give to each man as his choice has been (Rev_22:12 paraphrased). And then blessing is pronounced on those who insist on choosing the right regardless of difficulties and opposition, and so do the thing that goes with right choice, go for cleansing to the Blood of the Lamb (Rev_22:14 with Rev_7:14).
Then immediately comes the terrible "without" sentence. "Without are those whose choice takes them there, those who do not go to be washed." And the Eye that sees things just as they are, sees that underneath whatever veneering may be used, they are in spirit as the mangy scavenger curs of the Orient, they are those having touch with demon spirits, the unclean, those who unfeelingly use their power to crowd others to the shortening of their lives, those that put self and its interests above God, and the climax is reached in those who love and practice deception of any sort (Rev_22:15 paraphrased).
Who shall speak after God? Who shall give contrary opinion after the Book has spoken? This is the last word on the subject. And the ostrich shutting its eyes to danger becomes a surer victim of the danger. We'll do well not to see an ostrich if there's a mirror at hand.
That is all for now. We take the matter up again from a totally different angle, in our last Talk. This Talk deals with the facts in the case. The last one deals with the principle and the process that underly and go with the facts.
It's been a hard story to tell. It's been told with an aching heart. Yet the truth must be told simply, clearly, and in due connection with related truth. To be tender-hearted without being truthful is not loving. It is unkind. It is cowardly.
To tell such truth, without being broken-hearted by the awfulness of it, is to be hard hearted, inhuman, un-Godlike. Jesus' most terrible denunciation of the Jewish leaders ends in a great sob (Mat_23:37). And a few days later that sob of grief broke his heart. He made the one great solitary sacrifice, that no man might ever be left outside because of his sin score; that so the man who chooses Him as Saviour may have the full right in the Father's house.
I recall sitting one evening as a guest in the big dining room of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. Mr. Moody himself was sitting at the head of the faculty table. And after the meal there was a little informal speaking. A member of the faculty told a witty story, the point of which was regarding future punishment. It was greeted with a general laugh.
Instantly Mr. Moody was on his feet. "Well," he said, "whenever you do talk about hell, let it be with tears in your voice." There was the rare blend of tenderness and truth that always marked Moody, and Moody's Master.