Every human being, Christian and non-Christian:

A. Will die physically (unless he still is alive physically when Jesus returns and at that time is a victorious saint with "oil in his lamp").

B. Will be "awakened" when he hears the voice of Christ.

C. Will stand before Christ and be made manifest as to his behavior in the world.

D. Will be recompensed by Christ according to that which the light of Divine judgment reveals concerning his actions while alive on the earth.

Let us consider the recompenses that result from the judgment of the human being, particularly the judgment of the Christian.

At the top of the scale are the hundredfold Christians. They are the Lord's "firstfruits." They will be raised to a state of glory incomprehensible to us on earth.

At the bottom of the scale are the lost. This is a fate as dreadful as the recompense of the hundredfold is glorious.

There has been much discussion of the possibility that a person who has received Christ can ever be lost. Such a discussion may be a fruitless theological debate. Is it true that those who enter it know they are not going to make an effort to overcome sin, and are attempting to assure themselves that they never can be lost?

The overcomer is not attempting to find how close to Hell he can walk and still not topple into the flames. He is seeking God continually to determine how he better can serve Christ.

Those who argue that all Christians will be saved, even if it is only as by fire and with no reward, should consider what it means to be saved as by fire with no reward, no fruit. They are assuming that there is little difference in eternal destiny between the hundredfold overcomer and the believer who has to be plucked from the flames.

The teachers who assure the backsliders that all will be saved if they once have professed Christ should explain to their students the difference in the consequences that flow from the victorious Christian life as distinguished from those that flow from the defeated, weak, indecisive "Christian" life.

It is the difference between the fruit of Abraham and the fruit of Lot. There is a truly awesome difference between the outcome of the victorious, conquering life in Christ and the outcome of a careless, lazy, disobedient life "in Christ" (if we can call it that—Matthew 25:30).

Someone who is trusting that he will be saved regardless of how he behaves might walk so close to Hell that he falls in—as Lot's wife did, so to speak. Then his teachers will explain to him, as they stand around the edge of the flames and look down at him (being careful not to get too close), "You never were saved in the first place." Those words will be little comfort.

To be lost is to lose hope for eternity. The Creator never again will agree to hear our voice or see our face. He has banished us forever from His holy Presence. He considers us to be unworthy of any further attempts to restore us. He will not deliver or heal us. We are doomed. We are lost!

Our torment never will cease. A billion years from now we still will be abiding in the flames that give no light. Our fellowship will be with Satan, the fallen angels, the demons, Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the utterly depraved, horribly wicked, hideous people of all ages, such as Nero and Hitler. They will be our companions in the Lake of Fire.

Such will be tormented in the flames for eternity.

To be continued.