Pride can find no place when the mind of the unrepentant man comes to the realization of the Sovereignty of the Living God, all that is left to him is anger and hatred for his Creator.
“And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 13:50)
That wailing is exceeding sorrow and hopelessness beyond anything anyone has ever or will ever experience while yet alive on this planet, and that anger, that hatred cannot be expressed fully by anyone who yet lives here.
Our adversary and those who were cast out with him know both, and they know it because of a truth, they have seen the place they will spend eternity in.
“And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?” (Matt. 8:29)
I do not believe that anyone born of woman has ever gone to what Paul called the “Third heaven,” but Paul and John and then returned to this earth, the accounts people give are false, fanciful imaginations of their minds, for Paul through the Holy Spirit said, “How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.” (2nd Cor. 12:4)
I also do not believe that anyone has ever seen hell, or the Lake of Fire, and returned from it but the Lord Jesus Christ, for Luke 16:31 is also a truth.
“And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
People cannot be taught to love the Lord our God or offer their lives as a living sacrifice because they witnessed the glory of heaven, and no one, through an intense emotional state of great fear and anticipated suffering even in one moment of that place where the worm dieth not will die to self because of the love of the Savior.
Experiencing a moment of heaven or hell will not cause a person to seek the face of God or serve the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of the Most High, it could cause no more than to seek for self the wonders of heaven or an escape from hell.
“For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:” (Romans 9:3)
Paul was willing to spend eternity in suffering for the sake of his people, Moses stood in the gap, Job was prepared for the Almighty to kill him, and still he would praise his name.
Pride can only give place to eternal sorrow and anger for those in hell, and while heaven will be the eternal home of those who have been born-again, it is secondary in our minds, for being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ is our goal, our joy.
If anyone claims to have died, gone to heaven, and then come back to tell others of its wonders, do not believe them, the Scriptures are clear on this, it is unlawful to speak of such. No one has suffered the torments of the fires of hell for even one moment and returned, you cannot frighten people into loving the Lord our God.
“The just shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:17)
“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” (2nd Tim. 3:16)
We love the Lord because He first loved us, we do not serve Him with all our heart because we are going to receive heaven or pleasures forevermore, we have not died to self and offered our lives as a living sacrifice because if we do not we will go to hell, we serve the Living God because He alone is worthy of all honor, glory and praise.
“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.” (Gal. 4:7)
Heirs to the Kingdom of heaven because of the Lord Jesus Christ, saved from the wrath of God and the power of sin in our lives because of Him, the righteousness of God because of faith in our Savior who shed His blood for us. Not because of the joys of heaven, not because of the fires of hell, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ.
No place for pride, no need for sorrow or fear. He reigns in heaven and hell; He alone is Sovereign, and we serve Him because He is.
