Preaching the Truth
The church needs to revive the message of damnation and remind people of the reality of hell in order to address the root problem of sin and rebellion against God.
This sermon emphasizes the importance of addressing sin, rebellion against God, and the reality of judgment and damnation. It challenges the trend in some churches to focus solely on love, prosperity, and avoiding uncomfortable topics like sin and hell. The speaker urges a revival of the message of damnation to remind people of the consequences of sin and the need for repentance.
Full Transcript
You see, what we need today, really, you know, there's all kinds of questions in the church about, you know, what do we do to reach the world and, you know, so many churches have opted for, well, let's try to be more like the world and then they might respect us or think we're, you know, cool or something like that and, you know, that's the way to reach out to the world and let's get away from, you know, anything that's condemning and let's not use terms that make people feel uncomfortable and by all means, we gotta get past that age of preaching hellfire and brimstone and all of that sort of thing. We gotta talk exclusively about the love of God and about prosperity that God wants to bring to your life and we don't want to mention judgment and talk about sin and, oh, the blood of Jesus, that can be so offensive to people and much of the church has opted for that approach. But you know what? It's not working.
It doesn't do anything. The problem is a problem of rebellion and people need to know your problem is sin, your problem is you're in rebellion against God and the solution is you need to repent because if you don't, there's a judgment that's ahead. I think the wisest thing the church could possibly do in the current situation is to revive the message of damnation, to remind people that they're going to hell.
People are going to hell. That's the reality. Do we believe Jesus or don't we? Do we believe what he said? Was he right? Is he an authority? Does he know what he's talking about or maybe not? Well, I choose to believe he's right.
I choose to believe that he knows what he's talking about and he tells us unequivocally people are going to hell. Jesus said if your hand offends you, cut it off. It's better to live like name than to be cast into hell with two hands.
You know, sometimes I think we read our Bibles and those kinds of things. We just say, well, you know, that's a little too heavy for me. I'll just pass that.
Get to the nicer parts of scripture. And we don't take this stuff to heart. We don't take it serious.
Sermon Outline
- The Problem of Rebellion
- The Church's Approach
- The Need for Revival
- The Authority of Jesus
- Jesus is an authority on the matter of hell
- We need to believe and take seriously what he said
Key Quotes
“People are going to hell. That's the reality.” — Brian Brodersen
“Jesus said if your hand offends you, cut it off. It's better to live maimed than to be cast into hell with two hands.” — Brian Brodersen
“Do we believe Jesus or don't we?” — Brian Brodersen
Application Points
- We need to take seriously what Jesus said about hell and repentance.
- The church's approach to avoiding offense is not working and needs to change.
- We need to believe and trust in the authority of Jesus.