Why You'Re Going to Hell

This is how most of us witness to folks today. We tell them, friend, did you know that God loves you? In fact, God loves you so much that he sent his only son into the world to suffer and die for your sins. You can have your sins forgiven right now and be assured that you will go to heaven when you die.

All you have to do is just believe in Jesus and that Jesus died for your sins and accept him as your personal savior. That's all there is to it, friend, because the Bible says, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now, friend, won't you accept Jesus right now so you can be saved? I'll even lead you in a prayer.

How about that? Just repeat after me. Lord, I know I am a sinner and I confess my sins now and ask you to come into my heart and save me. Amen.

Congratulations, friend. You are now saved. Welcome to the family of God.

Now, you try and tell me, friends, if that's not how we do it today with today's evangelism. The problem with this pat plan of salvation is that we just made someone swallow the second message of the gospel, which is Jesus saved from sin, and we completely bypassed the first message of the gospel, which is God must punish sin. I believe it was Paris Reedhead who said, don't ever share John 3.16 with a person who's not first been awakened to their lost condition.

If you do that, you'll only make a false conversion and produce a gospel-hardened sinner because someone will come along and hand them a track sometime and they'll say, oh, I already did that. And I agree with that, friends. My Bible warns me not to carelessly give Christ away to swine in Matthew's gospel in chapter six and verse six, it states, give that not which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you.

The first message of the cross is that God must punish sin, that there is a future judgment that awaits all mankind. And at that judgment sits a great white throne. And on that throne is the judge of all the earth and every life, every mother's son will be reviewed on that day.

And every thought, word and deed that man has done would be held up against the strict and severe law of God, that God requires perfection to get into his holy heaven. And no man is perfect, but all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. If you stand there before that righteous judge in your own merits, and you were held up against the strictness and severity of God's holy law, you will fail that test.

And the sentencing of the broken law of God must be carried out upon all guilty law breakers. The sentence is to be bound hand and foot and cast into a lake of fire along with the devil and his angels. You will suffer torments unending day and night for all eternity in those burning flames.

And the reason why is because God is a God who will and must punish sin. Now, when you tell folks that first message of the cross, then you can come along with the second message of the cross, which is a savior from sin, Jesus Christ, and tell folks about the one who came down here so we can go up there. That's when you break out John 3 16 and all the other precious promises and calls of the gospel.

But don't ever cast that pearl before a hardened sinner who sees no need of a savior from sin's penalty. We've got it all backwards today, friends. That's why our churches are hotbeds of infidelity and sin.

That's why many pastors are blind guides who are not saved themselves, even if they have the biggest church in their denomination. We put too much emphasis today on worldly success and call that God's blessings. If you can grow a big church and add on a building program, then surely God must be in on it.

That's how we think today while we all go to hell together. I don't believe there's ever been a time in the history of the church where the majority of baptized church members are lost and going to hell. They merely responded to a so-called gospel invitation, like I presented earlier in this message, and they walked in now and repeated a prayer and joined the church believing church membership was salvation.

But they've never been awakened to their lost condition, never been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, never exercised true repentance toward God and missed Christ entirely because they are not born again. They merely made a decision to become a Christian with their head. Their heart is still unchanged as unregenerate church members who hugged the world with both hands and hugged their sins on their fast track to a burning hell.

That's why you're going to hell, friend, even if you are the chairman of the deacons. Let us pray.