One Step Closer to Hell — E.A. Johnston

Humanity's Willful Rebellion Against God

Men hurl themselves into perdition, and their destruction is willful. Man's amnesty against God is great, and his rebellion strong and fortified, because of his rune nature, for in Job we read, how much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water.

Religion Cannot Hide Unrepentant Sin

But give man a little religion, and he is content to remain in his sins, with the hope of heaven. Yet every step he takes draws him closer to hell. Hell groans beneath him, and the weight of his sins press down upon him, and God's wrath hovers above him, and the very ground he walks upon is like ice, as the prophet Jeremiah's sermon against lion prophets declares.

The Slippery Way of the Wicked

Wherefore, their way should be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness. They should be driven on and fall therein, for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the Lord.

Some think they can attain heaven by good works and a good opinion of themselves, but a sinner in heaven will stand out like a bluebird in a lemon tree. Every saint and angel will gawk at you and demand your immediate removal, but you can hide behind the doorway of a church and blend in with real believers with a smile on your face and a long track record of service.

Religious Hypocrisy and the Broad Path to Destruction

Your swagger and your boasting about all you've done for God may impress man, but it won't sway God, friend. God is angry with the wicked every day, and his anger boils against the hypocrite. Christ had harsh words for hypocrites in his day.

He denounced the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23, 27. Oh, woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye are like unto whited sepultures, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within, full of dead man's bones and all uncleanness.

A religious person, full of themselves, is an ugly sight to behold, as they go about seeking self-recognition under the guise of serving God. Some sing solos in the choir because they like applause. Some serve on deacon boards because they love power.

But the hypocrite travels a broad path to destruction as he jostles others out of his way for a place of prominence at the front of the line. But every step he takes draws him closer and closer to hell.

The Hypocrite's Terror Before Judgment

And when his time comes to die, his body is laid softly in a velvet coffin and put in the ground, while his soul enters eternity and busts hell wide open. And then he is seized with terror and alarm, for the prophet Isaiah declares, The sinners in Zion are afraid.

Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Listen, dear friend, you do not know that when you lie down tonight, death will visit you, and soon you'll make your bed in hell.

Religion won't help you then. Your good reputation won't help you then. Your good opinion of yourself won't help you then. Your tears of regret and remorse will only sting and burn your face as a reminder that you scorned the love of God while you were in the world, and you made a mockery of God by your hypocritical, empty, religious life.

The Wrath Awaiting the Unrepentant

And then outer darkness will engulf you as the internal chains of the damned will be fastened hard upon you, and there you will wiggle and squirm like a worm held up in the flame as the wrath of God is outpoured upon you like a smoking furnace.

Mercy in the Day of Grace

Listen, friend, yet you are still in a day of grace. If God's Spirit has been dealing with your heart in conviction of sin, then God has not yet given you over to reprobation. Your only hope is to seek him now as God still offers mercy.

Seek the Lord While He May Be Found

If you don't take Christ now, friend, as your Savior, you will one day meet him as your judge. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Christ's Blood and the Call to Repentance

There on a bloody cross was a bloodstained Savior from sin who can wash away all sin. The person is the Lord Jesus Christ, and there is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains.

Come to Christ, friend, in repentance, confessing you are a sinner, and own him as your Savior and Lord. Surrender all you are to all he is, for he is Lord. Let us pray.