As we mentioned before, there is no middle ground. Either we give all we are to God or else we will be chastened severely. The punishment set forth by the Lord Jesus when speaking of lazy servants is assignment to outer darkness. Then there is the fiery Gehenna for those who continue to live in sin. Outer darkness and the fiery Gehenna are areas of torment. The inhabitants dwell in an agony of remorse and suffering. There is weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth in extreme pain of mind and spirit.

There are many references in the New Testament to the fate of the careless, the disobedient, the sinful. They do not paint a pleasant picture. We are exhorted to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.

The Kingdom law is as follows: those who know the Master's will and do not perform it will be beaten with many lashes, while those who do not know the Master's will and yet do things worthy of lashes will be beaten with few lashes.

The evangelical doctrine of today often states the opposite. The teaching is that those who know the Master's will and do not perform it will be brought by grace to a mansion of gold. Those who do not know His will, who have never heard the Gospel, will be placed in the Lake of Fire for eternity.

It is true rather that to whom much is given, much will be required.

The text of the Book of Hebrews implies that the experienced saints to whom the book is addressed had become complacent. They understood the beginning principles of salvation and had served the Lord joyfully even when they had their property confiscated. But they were not pressing forward to the rest of God, to perfection.

One would suppose God would remind them that if they did not persevere to the end with the same fervency they had displayed at the time of their conversion they would not receive the fullness of what was being offered.

But God did not speak of diminishing or limiting their inheritance. He warned of destruction!

How shall we [Christians] escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3)

But that which beareth thorns and briers is rejected, and is nigh unto cursing; whose end is to be burned. (Hebrews 6:8)

Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition [destruction]; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul. (Hebrews 10:38,39)

Either we press through to the fullness of the covenant or else we will be punished more severely than those who know nothing of the covenant.

The punishment of Jesus' servants who do not serve Him well will be to be thrown into outer darkness.

To be continued.