False Faith Real Hell — E.A. Johnston

The Church’s Failure to Preach the Full Gospel

The failure to preach the full counsel of God under the anointing of the Spirit of God is the modern church's greatest failure. Some men preach harmful nonsense. Some men preach themselves. Some men preach for acceptance or recognition.

Others preach a one-string violin, always holding up just a single doctrine. Some men preach soothing messages because they fear their deacons. Some men preach intellectual essays to impress others. Some men preach out-and-out heresy that damns the souls of men.

But very few are true to the souls of men. Very few will be faithful to preach the great doctrines of ruin, redemption, repentance, and regeneration and tell men that salvation is in the hands of God and not men.

Many ministers are ignorant of pointing souls to Christ savingly. A seminary will not teach it. It can only be learned through constant and diligent study of the Word of God under the leading of the Spirit of God.

Many ministers have a compromised personal life that prevents them from preaching hard against sin and warning men of the torments of hell. Many ministers are careless about the true gospel. They put more time into their sports and entertainments rather than learning how to reveal a blood-stained Christ to a poor sinner's heart.

False Faith and the Reality of Hell

The sad result of anemic preaching is a false faith. And if one dies hanging on to a false faith, they will wake up in a real hell. And as the title of my message this evening, friends, false faith in a real hell.

To say that hell exists is to go against the grain of liberals and those who don't believe in a literal hell. There are many believers in church that don't believe in a God who must punish sin and carry out the sentencing of the law by damning the wicked in a place of punishment and torments in a hell of hells.

Hell is real, for our Lord Jesus Christ spoke often on hell and warned against it and its torments. He referred to hell as outer darkness where the worm dieth not. He spoke of hell as a place of wailing and gnashing of teeth.

He described it as a bottomless pit full of flames and burnings. He said that those cast into hell will be bound hand and foot because they won't go there willingly. Strong angels will bind them and throw them into unspeakable miseries for all eternity.

And if you, friend, are one of the victims of the modern pulpit, chances are you may have a false faith that hosts no reality of your entering heaven because your false faith is nothing more than an empty religious profession, hollow like a hole in the wall.

I'd be scared if I were you, friend, scared enough to seek the Lord to be absolutely certain about my standing and my standing in my own merits of self-righteousness, good works, and a good opinion of myself.

Or am I, by the blood of Christ, standing in the merits of another? I believe a story will best illustrate my sermon for this evening, friends, and put it into perspective. Years ago, in the 17th century, in Scotland, a wealthy Englishman visited the land of Scotland hoping to be safely brought to Christ.

God’s Holiness and Man’s Ruined Condition

The first ministry heard preached on the glory of God from Isaiah chapter 6, that God Almighty was a God high and lifted up whose train filled the temple and whose awesome majesty made the prophet cry out, Woe is me, for I am undone.

For two hours, this preacher hammered home the thought to his congregation that God was a lofty God, high and exalted. Well, this message had a very profound effect on the visiting Englishman. The next Sabbath, the Englishman traveled to hear another Scottish preacher who focused his energy on the doctrine of man's rune condition.

For two hours, like a surgeon, he opened the wicked windings of the human heart and proved that man, in his natural condition, faces certain rune. This preacher laid bare the first chapter of Romans on the central theme that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men.

This doctrine of rune laid bare upon the Englishman's heart like a festering wound that would not give him any rest or peace. It's a terrible thing, friend, to see one's own heart for what it truly is, a black nest of vipers.

Well, a month transpired before the Englishman could bring himself to go hear another sermon from a Scottish minister. His soul was troubled and he did not sleep for weeks thinking about his lost condition.

Christ as the Pearl of Great Price

The third and last preacher that the Englishman visited preached from Matthew chapter 13. And as the Scotsman opened up the passage about the buried treasure that was hidden afield, he likened it to Jesus now being hid in the bosom of the Father and to find Christ was to receive a revealed Christ.

Then the Scottish preacher held up a glorious picture of a pearl, a pearl of great price, a pearl so wonderful and worth having that any man would be mad not to go and sell all he had and even risk losing all he had to gain this precious pearl of great price.

And as this minister strengthened his theme, he held up a bloodstained Christ who saves from sin, and the Englishman found that pearl that day and returned home a saved man. Now I relate that story to you, friends, because it comprises the great doctrines of the gospel that God is high and exalted and sovereign in the salvation of man, that man's heart is utterly deceit and is conditioned, utterly hopeless, in his ruined natural state, and that a poor sinner's only hope is when Christ's life is laid down for him and his sins are washed in Christ's blood.

The gospel in our story this evening about how the Englishman found Christ is true. And if you find Christ, friend, you will avoid a false faith in a real hell. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

No man cometh unto the Father but by me. He is the only way to eternal life, friend, in the bliss of heaven. But you must get to him. You must be born from above and washed in the blood. Let us pray.