“Los verdaderos efectos del pecado Echadle en las tinieblas de afuera; allí será el lloro y el crujir de dientes. MATEO 22.13 El pecado nunca realmente satisface. Hay placeres momentáneos en el pecado (cp. Hebreos 11.25), pero invariablemente dan paso a la tristeza, la miseria y el dolor. En un momento de búsqueda del placer motivado por su amor al dinero, Judas rechazó cualquier posibilidad de verdadera alegría o satisfacción permanente. Pablo escribió: «Raíz de todos los males es el amor al dinero, el cual codiciando algunos, se extraviaron de la fe, y fueron traspasados de muchos dolores» (1 Timoteo 6.10). Judas es el prototipo de lo que Pablo estaba describiendo. Nadie atravesó por más pena y todo por el necio amor al dinero. Judas no recibiría ninguna simpatía o apoyo de sus compañeros de conspiración. La respuesta de ellos a su confesión fue en son de burla: «Mas ellos dijeron: ¿Qué nos importa a nosotros? ¡Allá tú!» (Mateo 27.4). Judas, completamente sin amigos, sin esperanza y desconsolado por el peso de su propia culpa, entonces selló su destrucción propia para siempre con un acto de suicidio. Tal vez pensó Judas que por suicidarse finalmente obtendría alivio de su culpa. Lo contrario es cierto. Al matarse a sí mismo se ató a su culpa para siempre. De todas las personas, Judas debería haber sabido esto, pues había oído repetidamente la enseñanza de Jesús acerca del infierno como un lugar de tormento eterno, de fuego que nunca se apagará, de llanto y crujir de dientes que continuará día y noche por los siglos (Mateo 8.12; 13.42, 50; 22.13; 24.51; 25.30; Marcos 9.43–48; Lucas 13.28). En el infierno el dolor de la culpa y de la conciencia serán eternamente intensificados.”
John F. MacArthur, Jr. is a fifth-generation preacher who serves as a pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California. He is also a prolific author, conference speaker, and is president of The Master's College and Seminary. MacArthur received a B.A. from Los Angeles Pacific College, his M.Div. from Talbot Theological Seminary, Litt.D. at Grace Graduate School, and D.D. from Talbot Theological Seminary. In addition to his administrative responsibilities, he regularly teaches Expository Preaching at the seminary and frequently speaks in chapel.
MacArthur's pulpit ministry has been extended around the globe through his media ministry, Grace to You, and its satellite offices in Australia, Canada, Europe, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and South Africa. In addition to producing daily radio programs for nearly 2,000 English and Spanish radio outlets worldwide, Grace to You distributes books, software, audiotapes, and CDs by John MacArthur. In thirty-six years of ministry, Grace to You has distributed more than thirteen million CDs and audiotapes.
John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr. is a United States evangelical writer and minister, noted for his radio program entitled Grace to You. MacArthur is a fifth-generation pastor, a popular author and conference speaker and has served as the pastor-teacher of Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California since 1969, and as the President of The Master's College (and the related The Master's Seminary) in Santa Clarita, California.
Theologically, MacArthur is a conservative far-right Baptist, a strong proponent of expository preaching, a dispensationalist and a self-described Calvinist. He has been acknowledged by Christianity Today as one of the most influential preachers of his time, and is a frequent guest on Larry King Live as representative of an evangelical Christian perspective.
MacArthur has authored or edited more than 150 books, most notably the MacArthur Study Bible, which has sold more than 1 million copies and received a Gold Medallion Book Award. Other best-selling books include his MacArthur New Testament Commentary Series (more than 1 million copies), Twelve Ordinary Men, (more than 500,000 copies), and the children's book A Faith to Grow On, which garnered an ECPA Christian Book Award.