Few Saved from a Burning Hell — E.A. Johnston

The Neglected Doctrines of Ruin, Redemption, Repentance, and Regeneration

We live in a day when iniquity waxes worse and worse, and false prophets abound in the land, for these, indeed, are the last days. If you only knew how short your time was in this world, and how fast the sun is sinking on this wrecked vessel called the earth, you would leave off your idols and spend all your time on things of eternal worth.

We are living in a day of the withdrawn presence of God, and few are being saved in this country today, for there is a famine in the land of hearing the true word of God, and many occupied pulpits preaching peace, peace, when there is no peace for the wicked.

It is even difficult to find a church that preaches the great doctrines of ruin, redemption, repentance, and regeneration, for it seems many pastors are consumed with church growth models to expand their church campus, and to do that you must preach a friendly gospel that offends no one and has all the teeth taken out of it.

In the majority of the pulpits in America today, you will hear sermons next Sunday taken from passages of scripture that are encouraging and comforting, and the message will make you feel better about yourself before you leave for lunch.

But the true gospel has Christ's blood all over it, and it demands repentance because of sin, and those individuals who do not exercise repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ will die in their sins and drop into a place of torment and misery called hell.

The way to heaven is narrow, and the gate is straight, and one must press in with great difficulty to be saved from that burning hell. But in your day and mine, many preachers have widened the gate of salvation to make it easier to get to heaven by preaching a compromised gospel that can't save a flea.

On the other hand, the Bible declares there are few saved from a burning hell, and those that are saved are saved with great difficulty. Jesus spoke of a straight gate, a narrow way, and few there be that find it.

False Security and the Necessity of the New Birth

Many church members sit on a false foundation of carnal security and rest on their self-righteousness and good works, but they are greatly deceived. I believe the devil will get you if he can, and your only escape is through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for you must be born again.

For the Bible declares that salvation comes not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost. The man-centered, only-believed gospel that has been diluted of all its power will be the only gospel you will hear in the majority of the pulpits today, and it will not do you any spiritual good, but rather it will damn you to a burning hell for few are saved and those with great difficulty.

For you enter this world, friend, in a ruined condition and unreconciled to God. Adam's great falling made all his posterity fall. Man enters this world under a curse and with a poison in his blood, a corruption of principles that is bent towards sin.

A man drinks iniquity like its water, and because a sin stands in direct opposition to a holy God, a man by his very nature is an enemy of God and against all things holy. The vast majority of mankind is in a ruined state, dead in trespasses and sins, and they blindly march on the broad way to a burning hell.

For many are called, but few are chosen. The scriptures state this is proven by the word of God. The many world religions lead their followers on a pathway to perdition. Anyone who climbs up any other way than Christ Jesus is a thief and a robber, and many attempt to climb to heaven by their good works and religion.

But this way is a broad way, and many are upon it. There are some world religions that will gather around the cross and gaze up there, but true Christianity gets up on the cross and stays there. A crucified Savior will have crucified followers.

There are millions who follow religion and perish into a Christless eternity, for the language of the gospel is, Unless ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. The only way to heaven is to exercise repentance towards God and faith in Jesus Christ, and the vast majority of members of world religions do not serve the living God of the Bible and are lost.

Few are saved. This is clearly illustrated when we examine the sacred record of scripture. We see that there are few who are saved. In the days of Noah, the earth was populated with mankind who lived as if there was no God and no eternity.

Their thoughts were wicked continually, much like the people who populate the earth at this present hour. There was much violence in the land in Noah's day, much like our present society today. The people in Noah's day provoked God with their grievous sins, and he sent a flood to destroy them all, save eight persons, Noah and his family.

Out of a mass population on the earth, only a few individuals were saved. The apostle Peter speaks of this in his epistle, which sometimes were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.

Like I said, those who are saved are few. The majority perish into a Christless eternity and the torments of hell. In the days of Lot, the men of Sodom grew very wicked and provoked the Almighty with their grievous sins, and the cry of them came up to his ears in heaven.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned up all the inhabitants in those great cities of the plain, and he saved only a few, Lot and his two daughters. Lot's son-in-laws made light of Lot's warning, Up, get ye out of this place, as he warned them to flee from the city before God destroyed it.

But to them, Lot seemed as one who mocked, and they perished in the flames of that burning city of divine judgment. And although Lot's wife made it out the front gate of Sodom, her heart stayed within the city gates, and she too was destroyed.

I repeat, only a few were saved. In this case, only three individuals out of tens of thousands. Those who are saved are few, and they with great difficulty. The angels had to take Lot's family by the hand and drag them out of the city before it was destroyed.

They were saved with great difficulty and only by divine aid. And it is God who saves today. Salvation is in the hands of the Almighty. Many are called, but few are chosen. The gate is straight, the way narrow.

The False Gospel and the Many Who Profess Christ

But today's evangelist has widened the gate, and he will feed you a gospel that declares everybody's going to heaven, and it's easy to get there, and all you have to do is believe. And the end result of the diluted gospel of your day and mine is that many will feel hell because of it.

Many drop into hell every minute, and few make it to heaven. This certainty is found in the words of Christ who declared, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have not cast out devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works?

And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. I will never forget the church elder who prayed heavenly prayers in the congregation on Sunday with his oratory, and it was so impressive you would believe you were standing in the presence of angels when this man prayed.

But when he came to my office one day during the week, his conversation was so shocking, his mouth so filthy, that I was embarrassed to be in his presence. He was one man at church and another man at the office.

A hypocrite is unsound even if he is the chairman of the deacons. A vast majority of church members today work iniquity with their unholy lives, their habitual lies, their habitual anger and bitterness, their habitual covetousness and greed, their habitual sexual sins, their habitual pride.

They are workers of iniquity, yet they are deacons and choir members and ushers and Sunday school teachers, and the lot of them are living like the devil, and they will die in their sins and drop into hell and its fires with Lord, Lord on their lips.

But Jesus will say unto them, depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Jesus said, if you love me, you will keep my commands. But few do. There are few saved from a burning hell. And that is the title of my message this evening.

The Narrow Gate and the Idols of Self-Rule

Few saved from a burning hell. I tell you tonight, friends, the devil will get you if he can. You better be sure that the foundation you are resting upon is one of a regenerated heart and not of sand.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus declared, for many are called, but few are chosen. Those that are saved are few, and they that are saved are saved with great difficulty. The gate of salvation is a straight gate.

You have to press into it to get into it. The way is narrow, and few there be found upon it. Most everybody is on the wide way, the broad path of a self-ruled life. When a person lives as if there's no God in the world, they can do it just as easy from a church pew or a bar stool.

If your needs are first in your life, if you live to gratify your flesh, if you live a self-ruled life, then you have chosen the broad way that leads to a burning hell. If your money is your God, that God won't save you.

If entertainment is your God, that God won't save you. If self-gratification is your God, that God won't save you. If material things are your God, that God won't save you. Your idol won't save you. Only the blood of Christ will cover our sins.

Many preachers fail to preach the true gospel today, and damn their hearers with a perverted gospel. And for those who are fortunate enough to sit under an effectual ministry and listen to the true gospel, there are still many who fail to comply with its demands of repentance and the cost of discipleship.

Like I said, there are few saved from a burning hell. How many sermons have you heard lately on the strictness and severity of the law of God, that all men will one day future be held up against God's holy law, and that God demands perfection to get into His heaven, and man is not perfect.

Man is a sinner, a lawbreaker, a guilty rebel against a sovereign, and if you were held up against the strict and severe law of God, you will fail that test as you stand there in your own merits. You deserve punishment, for the sentencing of the law must be carried out by a just judge, and shall not the judge of all the earth do right?

Justification Through Christ and the Need for True Conversion

If you stand there in your own merits, you will surely fail that test. I know I'm a sinner, and I need a sin substitute in the person of Jesus Christ. I must stand in His merits to be justified before God.

It is the blood of Christ that gives me pardon. He suffered on my behalf. I am saved by His death and with His blood. But many have merely obeyed an evangelist and walked in hell and repeated a prayer and joined a church, and they sit on a false foundation that will surely send them to hell.

They have never been awakened to their lost condition, never been convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, and never have been truly converted by grace through the supernatural act of regeneration. When you were born physically through the natural birth, you came into this world through much labor and with great difficulty, and there is no entering heaven but through the difficult and straight passage of the second birth, and without holiness you will never see God.

I repeat, few are saved. Millions perish each month into the prison of hell. Every minute someone dies and awakes in the regions of hell. Should this not alarm you? Should this not awaken you out of your false security?

Have you ever been lost? How do you know you are a saved individual if you've never been lost? How can a person apply the remedy for sin when they see no need of a remedy? The gospel of our hour will show you Jesus and offer him to you without first showing you why you need him, and thousands take this Jesus casually and carelessly and join churches and live unto themselves and die in their sins.

Reformation Is Not Repentance

One great danger that many fall into is mistaking reformation with true repentance. A man may make a public confession of Christ and join the church and begin to reform himself outwardly. He casts away his gross behavior in public.

He may no longer drink alcohol in public or swear in public or publicly attend lewd entertainment, but when he is alone, he is quite comfortable in his sins. When he feels no eyes are upon him, he reverts to hugging his sins and treating them as his darlings.

He does not intend to ever part with his darling sins, but when he is in public, he behaves as a Christian would outwardly. Listen, friends, failing to exercise true repentance towards God is a damning sin of self-rule, and one who acts as though there is no God in the world will enter a godless eternity.

To neglect the words of Jesus, unless you repent, you shall likewise perish, is a great danger, for you could be removed from this world quite suddenly and die in your sins and drop into a burning hell of misery and everlasting torment.

I believe the devil will get you if he can, if you are not awakened to your perilous condition and brought off your false security of hope. I knew a man who reformed himself as a Christian. He was very vocal about his testimony and life for Christ, but in private, very little was altered in his behavior.

He put on a good front, but he lived like the devil when alone. He eventually left his wife for another woman and ruined both his testimony and his family. We must consider that the least sin is a great evil.

The Sinfulness of Sin and the Necessity of Satisfaction

The sinfulness of sin is not preached much anymore. Sin is hardly mentioned in the pulpit these days. We treat sin lightly and call it by less offensive names. A sodomite is now simply gay. An adulterer is merely having an affair.

A fornicator is just fooling around. But all sin is evil in the sight of a holy God who must carry out the sentencing of the law, for he cannot forgive sin without satisfaction. God declares the soul that sinneth shall die, and thousands and thousands of church members die in their sins each year.

They were nice people who merely reformed themselves a little and knew not true repentance, nor were they ever the subject of a regenerated heart. Like I said, there are few saved and those with great difficulty.

The Wedding Feast and the Garment of Justification

Regarding those individuals who are honest enough to not call themselves Christians and avoid Christianity altogether, there is a passage of Scripture that relates to their case. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus relates a parable of a marriage of the king's son, and in this passage of Scripture, we see how lost persons treat the gospel and its invitations.

Our passage is found in chapter 22, beginning in verse 1. Allow me to read you this striking passage from the word of God. And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king which made a marriage for his son and sent forth his servants to call them that were bid into the wedding and they would not come.

Again he sent forth other servants saying, Tell them which are bid and behold, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat ones are killed and all things are ready. Come unto the marriage. But they made light of it and went their ways.

One to his farm, another to his merchandise. And the remnant took his servants and entreated them spitefully and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth, and he sent forth his armies and destroyed those murderers and burned up their city.

Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bid were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways and as many as ye shall find bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good.

And the wedding was furnished with guests. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there was a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?

And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. They shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for many are called but few are chosen.

Listen, friends, this careless world of sinners cares little about eternity and the God of that eternity. They are ignorant to spiritual truths and blind to their lost condition. But when the gospel is offered to them, they will either make light of it or reject it completely as utter nonsense.

And those who casually make a decision for Christ and join the church and remain in their sins will one day be found out when the king reviews their life and they are found to be without a wedding garment, which is the robe of justification for man is a guilty lawbreaker who deserves to be sent to an eternal hell.

I repeat, few are saved and those with great difficulty. If you have never been awakened to your lost condition, if you have never been convicted of sin, if you have never obtained mercy from a sovereign God who performs a supernatural work of grace upon the heart called regeneration, then you will most likely die in your sins and be cast into that burning hell because the sentence of the law must be carried out against all lawbreakers and guilty rebels.

God must have satisfaction for the forgiveness of sin because He is a just judge and the only way of salvation is found through Christ Jesus and His blood. True Christianity has a cross in the middle of it and that cross has Christ's blood all over it because of sin.

The Call to Flee From Wrath and Return to the Lord

This message has not been politically correct and it has not been preached to make you happy and comfortable. It has been preached to warn you, to flee from the wrath to come, to inform you of your duty of repentance and to repent of your rotten sins and take shelter under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ before it is too late for few are saved from a burning hell.

I will leave you with your duty. I pray that God will grant you the grace to perform it. 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.