Derek Prince - Who Goes To Hell According To Jesus
This is an excerpt from: Pressures, Tests & Challenges
And so Jesus says: the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that is not aware of and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So when he comes, the servant is not ready for him. Did you hear what I read? The master will come and cut him in two. Who’s the master? Jesus. Did you understand that Jesus is capable of cutting somebody in two? Bear in mind, He’s not only the Savior, He’s the judge. He’s just as thorough and faithful in His judgment as He is in saving us. If you don’t live for Him as Savior, you will encounter Him as Judge. Those are the only two options before any of us. And then it says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. I’ve been impressed by that phrase over the years. It occurs about five times in the New Testament. So I made a little search which I’ll share with you, of the context in which Jesus says there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
My conclusion is, it’s only for a certain category of people. Those who’ve known all about Him, who’ve heard all the truth. Who’ve been close to it perhaps all their lives, but never really committed themselves. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, because they will suddenly realize I was so close all my life. I could have stepped in at any moment and I never did and now I’m shut out forever. I can understand gnashing of teeth and weeping. Let me give you a little list of the cases in which it’s used. In Matthew 8:12 it’s used of the sons of the kingdom. Jesus is speaking to His fellow Jews and saying, You’re rejecting me, but the Gentiles will come and they’ll enter the kingdom and you’ll be shut out. And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. People who’ve known it all, had every opportunity, but never availed themselves.
And then in Matthew 13:42 it’s used of the people who are the tares in the wheat field looking exactly like the wheat but never producing fruit. Jesus says the angels will come and root them up and throw them into the furnace. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Because, all their lives they’d been close to it. They’ve been in the middle of it, but they never entered into it. Then here in Matthew 22:13 the parable of the wedding feast. The one guest who came in without a wedding garment. You see, you didn’t have to buy your wedding garment, the host provided it. So it was sheer audacity, it was presumption to walk in without one. When the master of the feast saw him, he said, How did you come in here without a wedding garment? The man was speechless. The master said, Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. You see again somebody knew all about it he’d received an invitation to the feast, but he didn’t bother himself to put on the appropriate garment which is the righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Then in Matthew 25:30, we’ll be coming to it if God wills and we live, the one talent servant and I’ll deal with them in a little while. And finally, in Luke 13:28 the people who said to Jesus, We ate and drank in your presence, we heard all your teaching. Jesus said, Depart from me you who practice lawlessness. I never knew you. And outside there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. You know, I have a modern version of what it is to practice lawlessness. Because I see so much lawlessness in the church, in the ministry. This is my little paraphrase. To practice lawlessness is to do your own thing. To be answerable to nobody, to be accountable to nobody. Just to go your own way and do it the way you please, regardless of what other people do.
One thing I’ve learned in the ministry is if I want lasting fruit from my ministry, that fruit has to take root inside the church. If I were to go into an area, which I don’t believe I’ve ever done, and slight the pastors and the local leaders and ignore them, I could have a big meeting. I know enough how to get people for what I can call forward hundreds of people and have a photograph taken, but there’d be no lasting fruit. Because fruit has to grow inside the congregation of God’s people. You have to work with the leaders in the local area if you’re really going to see fruit. And they’re not always easy to work with, believe me. God bless them anyhow. When anybody did something really wrong against my first wife and me, my first wife knew the Scriptures well she knew she couldn’t afford to say anything bad about them. She said, Lord, bless him, You know how to bless him.