The Unrepentant Sinner in Hell — E.A. Johnston

A Preacher’s Responsibility to Warn Sinners

I'm going to talk plainly to you today, friends, and as we say in the South, I'm going to give you the oil straight from the can. My message is brought to you today with a heavy heart and a burden for your soul.

Ezekiel’s Warning to Watchmen

I can't let you go to hell with your blood on my hands. For in Ezekiel 3 .18, I am commanded by the Lord to do the following. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life.

The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity, but his blood will I require at thine hand. I feel sorry for all the preachers who will one day stand before God at the judgment with bloody hands, but it's not too late to change, brother pastor.

R.G. Lee’s Failure to Preach the Cross

I am reminded of a story about the well-known preacher, R .G. Lee, known for his famous sermon, Payday Someday. What the story goes, there was a member in Dr. Lee's congregation in his big Baptist church in Memphis.

This man was an attorney who had to be out of town on business frequently, but no matter where this lawyer went, he made sure to catch a train back to Memphis on Saturday night so he could listen to R .G. Lee preach on Sunday.

He just loved to hear that man preach. Well, this lawyer got cancer, and he was in the hospital dying, and he called for his pastor to come to his bedside. Dr. Lee entered the hospital room, whose window overlooked the Mississippi River.

The lawyer told R .G. Lee, I want you to know how much I've enjoyed your preaching through the years, and I never missed a Sunday if I could help it, but I lie here dying with only a few weeks left to live, and I want to reprimand you, sir, for your lack of warning me.

You never preached the cross to where I could see it. You never put the blood out there where I could reach it. I'm dying as an unrepentant sinner who will die in my sins, and I chastise you, sir, for your lack of preaching the gospel.

R .G. Lee left that man's hospital room with his head down, feeling berated and guilty as charged. It was now dark outside as he walked down to the banks of the Mississippi River. There he got down on his knees in the mud, getting his white suit pants dirty in the process.

He looked down as he dipped his hands in the cold, muddy water. He knelt there a while. Reflecting on what this dying man had told him, and right there and then, he promised God from that point forward he would preach the cross and the blood and warn folks not to go to hell, and he changed his message that night.

Well, in two months' time, there was a move of grace at that church and three blocks of downtown Memphis was shaken with revival. Now, I relate that story to you, friends, for two purposes. For the pulpit and the pew, that change would take place.

The Two Classes of Unrepentant Sinners in Hell

My message today is entitled, The Unrepentant Sinner in Hell, and my text is Luke 16, 23, which declares,. And in hell he left up his eyes, being in torments. Listen, friends. There are just two classes of individuals in hell, the unrepentant unbeliever and the unrepentant religious professor.

One shied away from God and religion, and the other hid from God under the guise of religion. The one cursed God and life, and the other hid behind the fig leaves of an empty religious profession. But they share the common denominator of both being unrepentant sinners in hell.

It doesn't make any difference, friend. If you were a faithful church member for years, even if you served as the chairman of the deacons, if you missed repentance, then you missed faith, because they go hand in hand like biscuits and gravy.

Repentance and Faith as the Way of Salvation

In Acts 20, 21, it says so, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God in faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is not found in the following methods of modern evangelism.

Some folks testify, I accepted Jesus as my personal savior, but that's not in the Bible. Others will testify, I walked an aisle or raised my hand to make a decision for Jesus, but that's not in the Bible either, friend.

Some testify, I repeated the sinner's prayer to be saved, but that's not also in the Bible. These are just methods of modern evangelism to get folks to respond to an emotional appeal. If you want to be truly saved, friend, from hell's torments, you must repent.

You must be washed in the blood and born from above. Repentance means that the love of sin dies and you make a clean break with your beloved sins. You come to a bloodstained savior from sin and throw down your shotgun of rebellion at his nail-pierced feet, coming in repentance and confessing you are a sinner and own him as your savior and Lord.

Biblical Commands to Repent

Listen to these verses that cry out man's duty of repentance. Jesus said in Luke 5 .32,. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. In Matthew 4 .17 it says,. From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

In Luke 13 .3, Jesus declares, I tell you, nay, but except you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And that word perish is a strong word. It means to die. Mark 6 .12 declares,. And they went out and preached that man should repent.

Billy Graham’s Call to Preach Repentance

That's what the disciples preached. They preached the doctrine of repentance. I want to share a story with you friends before I close this message today. I was with the evangelist years ago, Jim Wilson.

I was with the evangelist, Jim Wilson, who was Billy Graham's nephew. And he shared a story with me. He said he visited Billy Graham toward the end of his life. And they were out sitting on the porch of Dr. Graham's home in North Carolina.

And Jim Wilson asked this question. He said, Uncle Billy, if you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do different? And Billy Graham got a faraway look in his eye and replied, I would preach repentance more.

The Final Plea to Repent Before Judgment

The omission of man's duty of repentance and modern evangelism has sent a multitude of unrepentant sinners to hell. Don't be one of them, friend. I have warned you. And my hands are clean of your blood.

Repent before it's too late.