of hell." Sir Walter Scott observed, "I am drawing near to the close of my career. I am fast shuffling off the stage. I have been ,perhaps, the most voluminous author of my day, and it is a comfort to me to think that I have tried to unsettle no man's faith, to corrupt no man's principles, and that I have written nothing which, on my deathbed, I could wish had been blotted out." That is quite a testimony to be able to say at the end of life. Yet, we must keep in mind that, in the fin al analysis, Cod must be the Judge of our record. We must be very careful about a seared or a cauterized conscience (I Timothy 4:2). How sad to get to the point where there is no more feeling. The story is told of a French minister who was also a statesman. He was once rebuked because of his profanity. He ex cused himself by saying, "It is not as a preacher, but as a politician that I swear." How foolish can a man be? Someone rightly ob served, "When he goes to hell, where will the preacher go?" What a lack of consistency and sincerity. There is altogether too much care less speech even among Christian people (James 3:1-10). How can anyone abuse the name of the Lord who redeemed him with His own precious blood? There are many references to blasphemy in the New Testament (Acts 13:45, 26:11; Romans 2:24; I Corinthians 10:30; I Timothy 1:13; II Peter 2:2, 10; Revelation 13:6). There is also blas phemy against the Holy Spirit (Mat thew 12:22-32 and Mark 3:22-30). May this man's sinful life be a road marker for us, serving as a graph ic warning against blasphemy and apostasy. May our consciences not be dulled into insensitivity.
HYMANAEUS "Shipwreck" is a word which immediately causes us to see trag edy and the possible loss of pos sessions and life itself. Hymanaeus, of whom we read in I Timothy 1:19, 20, is one who found himself destitute on the shoals of life's seas. This man was a continual trouble maker (II Timothy 2:17, 18). Ac cording to II Timothy 2:26 he had been taken captive by the devil. Some people seem to be more eas ily snared by Satan than others. Hymanaeus denied the reality of the resurrection by teaching that it was already over with for the be liever. He made this great event only figurative rather than literal (I Corinthians 15:12). There was no doubt about the doom of a blasphemer under the Old Testament law. He would be killed by stoning (Leviticus 24:1 Off). What would happen if, in America, suddenly the Lord were to pro nounce physical death on every one who blasphemed the name of the Lord? There would not be enough undertakers, ministers, cof fins, and cemeteries to bury the dead! Hymanaeus, along with Alexan der, was delivered to Satan. We must remember that the devil is the lord over all outside the church. To exclude an individual from fel lowship is a very severe punish ment. The devil can only act under the permissive will of Cod (Job 1:12, 2:26). He is definitely limited in his power. To permit him tem porarily to abuse a blasphemer is not sealing the individual's doom at all. Corrective discipline has for its purpose the recovery of that person from grievous backsliding
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