A reader sent me a 7-minute video of Dr. R. C. Sproul. Unfortunately, the link I initially posted does not work. So I found the longer video it was taken from You can see the video here. I highly recommend you watch it.

No date is given. But it appears to be a recent video. Dr. Sproul died on December 14, 2017. It is quite moving for me to see him talking about his possible death, probably a few years before he actually died.

There are three major things I think we can glean from this video:

First, Dr. Sproul suggests that “there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” refers to not one response, but two. I’d never heard that interpretation. He suggests that weeping refers to grief and sadness and that gnashing of teeth refers to anger against God. It is possible. I’m not convinced. But it is worth considering.

Second, at the 14:52 mark Dr. Sproul expresses how he would respond if it turns out that he wakes up in hell. He says,

I sure don’t want to end up in hell. But one thing I know for sure is that if I do, if I have deceived myself all these years, and if I’m one who says, “Well, Lord, Lord, didn’t I do this and didn’t I do that?” and He looks at me and says, “Please leave, I don’t know you,” and He sends me to hell, one thing I can promise you is that I’ll be a weeper, not a gnasher. Because if I know anything about theology, I know that if He sent me to hell tonight, I could make no just complaint against Him.

I find it sad that what Dr. Sproul is sure of is that God is just and that if God condemns him to hell, then he will not complain about it.

Dr. Sproul is not sure that he has everlasting life. For most five-point Calvinists, assurance is impossible since most think faith is unknowable. Of course, it is quite possible that Dr. Sproul at one point in his life did have faith in Christ for everlasting life. If so, he is with the Lord now. But I find it sad that he had to live his life in constant fear that he would wake up in hell.

Third, there is an announcer, Todd Friel of Wretched Ministry, who comments about what Dr. Sproul said. The announcer’s comments are disturbing:

So, may I ask you, you analyze you; I analyze me; because I know I don’t want to hear those things and I suspect you don’t want to hear those words either. So may I ask you to do what we are encouraged to do—examine yourself to see if you are on the broad road or striving to be on the narrow road (15:41ff).

Earlier in the video, immediately before the quote by Dr. Sproul given above, the announcer referred to the Great White Throne Judgment (Rev 20:11-15). He said,

You die. You get called up yonder. You face King Jesus. And the books are opened on your life and you are now going to be sentenced by the King of kings. And you know this Bible verse. And you hear Him say, “De…,” just the first syllable, “De…,” and you know what the rest is, “Depart from Me you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.” That’s not what you want to hear. Is it? Actually, I think that’s kind of the differentiator here. The people who ponder for a moment, “What? If He says ‘Depart from Me,’ I would be crushed forever and ever and ever.” That’s a very good sign, if you are hearing this and you’re going “Ah. You know, I don’t think that’s going to happen. Nah. I’ve been doing pretty good. I’ve been participating in church,” then I’m talking precisely to you (13:51ff).

This video teaches that everyone’s works will be evaluated. Everyone, believer and unbeliever of all time, will be judged at the Great White Throne Judgment. Whatever John 5:24 means (“[the believer] shall not come into judgment”), it must not mean that the believer will avoid judgment for his eternal destiny. Your works are the key. Not faith in Christ, which were not mentioned at all in the 7 minute version of this video. In the longer video Friel does refer “genuine believer” at 24:16 and several times he mentions the need to repent and trust Jesus in order to be saved.

What this video is seeking to do is not to get the viewer to believe Jesus’ promise of everlasting life to all who believe in Him. The promise of life is not even mentioned.

Instead, the aim is to get the viewer to examine himself and thereby to move him to try hard to strive to be on the narrow road. The way to everlasting life and to avoid waking up in hell, according to this video, is to try our best to be on the narrow road. Live the best life you can and maybe you will avoid hell.

This is a sad video from one perspective, from the perspective of those who think that this is the good news of Jesus Christ. However, for those of us who believe the promise of life and hence are sure that we will never wake up in hell, we can rejoice that God has shown us the truth. And we can and should seek ways to share the promise of life with all who will listen.