1 000 000 Souls in Hell This Week — E.A. Johnston

The Urgency of Eternal Judgment

I live in a city with a population of about a million people. The streets are always crowded. It's hard to find a parking spot at the mall. And although my city has just about a church on every corner, it is one of the most dangerous, crime-infested cities in the land.

Some of the most popular businesses in town are the liquor stores and the strip clubs. They never want for business. And at times, it seems that it's as if everyone in this town is crawling over each other's backs in a mad rush to hell.

And if a catastrophic event were to occur in my city, it would be terrible if all one million people were to perish. But do you know what, friends? One million people will perish this week. There will be one million souls in hell this week.

That's where they're going when they die. For it has been estimated that one million people a week die in their sins and enter a Christless eternity. They represent every nationality, every corner of the globe.

And as I speak right now, someone is dying and entering hell this very moment and experiencing its torments and miseries. Before my sermon is over, there will be thousands more dead and turned into hell.

Hell's Crowded and Endless Torments

Think about that. One million souls a week populating hell. Hell is a very crowded place, but yet it never fills up. That's what my Bible says. Turn in your Bibles, friends, to the book of Proverbs. Take a look at chapter 27.

Take a look at verse 20 in chapter 27. Let me read that to you now. Hell and destruction are never full. That's what the book says. Imagine that in your mind, friends, that every week one million more souls are shut up in that prison house of horrors, crying and screaming and pushing and shoving one another.

There's no way out. There are no exit doors in hell. Why don't you shut up in there? You were locked up in there forever. It's dark in there. Have you ever been in a room where there was no light and you couldn't see?

Hell is so dark you can't see your hand in front of your face. It's unbearably hot in hell. Have you ever been in a place where it was so hot you felt like you couldn't breathe? Hell is worse than that.

It's so hot in there. You are in continual agony. In hell, people will be brushing up against you, and their filthy sweat will get on you, and you can't wash it off. Demons will rub up against you in hell and tear at you, and there's nothing you can do about it.

There is no police force in hell to protect you. You will be unarmed. You will be vulnerable. And although it is crowded in hell, you will still be lonely, for no one cares about you there. They're too consumed with their own suffering to care about yours.

Hell is often referred to as a bottomless pit. You have the sensation of falling headlong into utter smoke and blackness. I made the mistake one time, years ago, of getting on a ride at Disneyland in California.

I just hate roller coasters. They scare me to death. Well, me and a friend accidentally got on Space Mountain, and I did not know what it was. It was dark in there. I strapped myself in that little car, and the ride began.

Those of you who have ridden Space Mountain know of which I speak. Suddenly it got all violent and twisting, and it was so dark I couldn't see. I went upside down, and my glasses almost fell off my face.

It was horrible to me. And when the roller coaster ride was over, my knees felt like rubber, and I was sick to my stomach. In hell, it will be like a roller coaster, but you won't be having any fun. You'll just be dark chaos out of control, and you can never get relief.

Jesus' Teaching on Hell and Final Punishment

The torments of hell are endless. Jesus said it's a region where the worm dieth not. It goes on forever and ever for all eternity. Jesus said hell is a place of misery where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Weeping speaks of great loss and deep grief. Gnashing of teeth signifies great anger and deep regret. The noise in hell is unbearable. It's nonstop noise. Think for a moment about your town tonight. Think of all the hospitals there.

If the doctors in your town took all the patients in the hospital off their pain medication, their cries would keep your town awake tonight. The cries in hell are horrific. There's never a moment of peace and quiet.

Noise engulfs you in hell, wailing and moaning and cursing and swearing all nonstop. And every week, one million more souls drop in there upon you, screaming and hollering to get out. Your ears hurt from all the constant noise, and nobody cares about your pain and torments.

The wailing of, help me, help me, help me will be all around you. Listen to me, dear friends. In hell, one million a week adds up to four million a month. Do the math, and that adds up to 48 million souls a year dropping into hell.

Hell is enlarged every year, with almost 50 million new occupants clawing at each other and crawling all over each other to get out. Tortured souls all crammed together like sardines in a can. But I believe the most tortured person in hell is not the serial killer or the rapist or the murderer.

False Assurance Among Churchgoers

No, it's the unconverted church member, the person who believed themselves to be saved when they were not, the person who tied to their church, served in some capacity for years, read their Bible, prayed, listened to sermons and sang along with the hymns.

Yet when it came time for them to die, they died in their sins. Jesus speaks of this in Matthew's gospel, in chapter 7, and beginning in verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have 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.

Yes, friends, I believe the most miserable person in hell tonight is the unconverted church member. It's too late for them now. I read a book one time years ago, written by a cardiologist who was an atheist.

But what he witnessed in his patients through their near-death experiences made him start to read his Bible. What this doctor saw scared him. He had patients die on the table and come back to life. And when they did, they would tell of their experience in hell.

Their eyes would dilate, their face would become twisted in a grimace, and they would describe terrible scenes of misery where hideous demons met them there and escorted them into the nether regions of the bottomless pit.

Their vivid description so startled the surgeon that he read all he could in a Bible about the topic of hell until God converted this man. And he wrote all about it in a book that was published called To Hell and Back.

Sin, God's Holiness, and the Need for a Substitute

Listen to me, dear friend. Hell is a real place. Hell is a place of punishment for sin. God's law is strict and severe, and every person born will be held up to the strictness and severity of God's holy law.

Only a perfect person can enter heaven, and no man is perfect. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, my Bible declares. When you are held up against the utter strictness of God's law and you stand there in your own merits, you will fail that test time and time again.

You have transgressed God's holy law, and the sentencing of the law must be carried out. God is holy. He must punish sin. He hates sin so much, sin is only begotten son to die on a bloody cross because of sin.

Listen to me, dear friend. I know I am a sinner, and I need a sin substitute, and so do you. So do you. One million souls in hell this week. Don't you be one of that terrible horde. You can be sure your sin will find you out.

Repentance, Faith, and Salvation in Christ

You must get under the blood. Only the blood of Christ can wash away your sins. If you want heaven, friend, you must be washed in the blood and born from above. God will allow no rebels in his holy kingdom.

Unless you repent, you will risk hearing Christ the Lord say to you, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Listen to me, friend. I was a unconverted church member for years. I taught Sunday school.

I handed out tracts. I prayed. I read my Bible, but I was lost, lost, lost. Don't let that happen to you in this day of easy believism and a no-soul gospel. Don't rest your destiny on a long track record of good service and a good opinion of yourself.

God got me lost one day and showed me that even though I'd been baptized and a member of a church, that I was on my way to hell. Not only that I was on my way to hell, but that I deserved to go there.

I became a seeker that day. I became a beggar for mercy, but I had to get lost before I got saved. And glory to God, he saved me. Jesus said he came to seek and to save that which was lost. He said the healthy don't need a physician.

If you don't think you're sick, then why would you need a remedy? Why would you need a remedy for sin? But you must exercise repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. Listen to me, friend. In John 14, six, Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No man cometh unto the father, but by me. And here Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart. One, how can I be saved? Jesus said, I am the way. Two, how can I be sure? Jesus said, I am the truth.

Three, how can I be satisfied? Jesus said, I am the life. And in John 6, 35, Jesus declared, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. And he that believeth on me shall never thirst.

Christ's Invitation to the Thirsty and Sinful

Let me ask you, friend. Are you hungry for God? Are you weary of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ? Christ is the bread of life. He invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him. The duty required is to come to Christ.

And he has a pure gospel promise to all who come. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Listen to these pleas of the gospel that you may have heard time and time before. If you are a lost sinner, it is my prayer, friend, that when I give these gospel invitations to come to Christ, that you won't necessarily hear this poor preacher's shaky voice, but that you will hear his voice as it comes in with all power and authority and majesty.

Biblical Gospel Invitations

Listen now, and may the Spirit of God apply these truths to your conscience and heart. Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else. 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.

Oh, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. And the spirit and the bride say, Come.

And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.