Martyn Lloyd Jones on Hell

‎"Any man who thinks he deserves heaven is not a Christian. But for any man who knows he deserves Hell, there's hope" - Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Jonathan Edwards on Hell

From the sermon "Sinners in the hand of an Angry God" 

There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment ,

out of hell, but the meer pleasure of God. 

1. Corinths 15: 1-4

Now I make known unto you brethren, the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye received, wherein also ye stand,

2 by which also ye are saved, if ye hold fast the word which I preached unto you, except ye believed in vain.

3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures;


This passage of Paul is great. It teaches us:
1. You can believe in vain
2. The gospel is not only about the cross but about
resurrection too! Without a belief in the resurrection, you are
NOT a christian


vain
http://strongsnumbers.com/greek/1500.htm
greek: without cause or reason, vainly
eikḗ – properly, without cause (ground), without basis and therefore not to be taken seriously (considered valid). This adverb suggests, "What goes to no purpose . . . ".

So people who have actually fallen after
they have believed in Jesus CAN fall
but this is because they have believed in vain, have
had a belief without fruit and commitment
one that was simply not rooted in the heart but in vain.

THis does not at all stand in contrast to Romans 8:38-39
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,

39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The meaning of healing

can be found in Luke 10:9

and heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you.

Van Til on Thomas Aquinas and why we need to presuppose God

"If it is said that man by reason can say nothing positive about God, his view of revelation will be that of an irrational assertion that can make no connection with the system of thought that man knows by reason.

p.265
"in other words, the relation between reason and faith as the romanist holds it is so far is catered towards the rationalist-irrationalist scheme of non-christian thought that it cannot meet its claim and that there is no knowledge possible of an absolute God."
note from Edgar on this "following the thomist view, if you begin with human reason, you will make claims about God that are. ot necessarily claimed by him since we cannot know him in his essence. The only way out is to begin with God whose revelation is rational who does make known his essence."

personal comment.
i think Van Til is utterly right. His explain so many flaws we had as unbelievers. this also explains Paul's statement that there is none that seeks God. that there is no one who understands God.
we can " philisophize" until dawn as unbelievers unless the Holy Spirit regenerates us, we will always start with human logic and never presuppose God. But it is only after we are converted that we understand grace, knowing God based on a creator creature distinction. As we should never forget knowledge of truth is something that God grants to the believer. See 2.Timothy 2:25