WE DON’T BELIEVE IN HELL

Rev. 20:11-15

Sunday Morning Sermon

October 4, 1998

Fair Avenue Baptist Church

Every 60 seconds 130 people die and slip into eternity.

That is more than 2 people each second.  In the 4 seconds it took me to read that statement, ten people died and went into eternity, with or without Christ.

I want to make a bold statement and a controversial statement.  Then I want to back it up with several observation proofs.

Most people do not believe in hell.

They do not believe in a literal hell.

They do not believe in a hell with fire.

They do not believe people go to hell.

Some of you sitting here this morning do not believe in hell.

You do not believe that people die and go to hell.

You do not believe that people who die without Christ will spend eternity in fire and brimstone.

Some of you struggle with believing that God would let anyone spend eternity in fire and torment.

But, I say again, most of you do not believe in hell.

“Preacher, I believe in hell.  I believe people go to hell if they are not saved.”

But I submit to you that most people are simply not telling the truth.

I can prove it with several observations.

I can prove it by asking several questions.

Take a piece of paper and number it one through eight .  I want to ask several questions and I want you write down the answer next to the number. 

1.       In the last six days, how many people did you invite to church this morning?

Write your answer down.

I think we would agree that one of the best places to see people saved is at church.  In fact, most of us got saved in a church service.  How many here got saved in a church service?

Did we invite someone to church this morning in hope that they might get saved?

Don’t tell me you believe in hell and you won’t take five or ten minutes to invite someone to church.

2.       In the last six days, how many people did you ask about their eternity?

Write your answer down.

If we believe people without Christ as their Saviour die and go to hell, why didn’t we ask someone this week about their eternity?

Are you trying to tell me that in the last 168 hours, we didn’t cross paths with one person we could have asked about their eternity?

If people without Christ will spend eternity in hellfire, why didn’t we ask at least one person about their eternity?

3.       In the last six days, how many people did you pray for to get saved?

Write your answer down.

“Well, Preacher, I just don’t feel comfortable talking to people.”

Okay, who did we pray for specifically to get saved?

Whose name did we call out in prayer to the Lord to get saved?

This morning I prayed specifically for four people to get saved.  I called their name in prayer to the Lord and asked Him to convict their heart and show them their need for salvation.

I prayed for three men and one woman.

I prayed that the Holy Spirit of God would convict them of their need for salvation and that they would get saved.

There are a couple of ladies in our church whose husbands need to get saved.

There is a mother and daddy of a young man who wants me to pray that his parents will get saved.

4.       In the last six days, how many gospel tracts did you pass out ?

Write your answer down.

We print several thousand tracts a year.  They have a good salvation message in them.  We encourage you to take a handful.

Would it have been so hard to hand one to the grocery clerk?

Would it have been so hard to put one in with one of our bills when we paid it?

Would it have been so hard to leave one on the counter somewhere?

5.       How many people did you witness to this week?

Write your answer down.

Did we ask someone the most important question they’ll ever be asked, “If you died today, are you 100% sure that you would go to heaven?”

Surely if we believe in a hell,

Surely if we believe that people go to hell,

Surely if we believe that people without Christ die and go to hell,

We could find one person to witness to.

BUT WE DIDN’T.

We don’t believe in hell.

6.       In the last six days, how many people have you led to the Lord?

Write your answer down.

Did we lead someone to Christ this week?

Did we even try?

Do we even care?

Now, you might not have led someone to the Lord, but you tried.

You asked,

You took your Bible,

You knocked some doors,

You made some visits,

You asked,

You tried,

But no one would get saved.

Did you try to lead someone to the Lord this past week?

7.       Have you ever led someone to the Lord?

Write your answer down.

Have we ever led someone to Christ outside of a church building?

We say we believe in hell,

We say we believe people go to hell,

We say we believe that people without Christ will die and go to hell,

And yet we’ve never led anyone to Christ?

We say that people who are not saved go to hell and yet we’ve never showed someone how to get saved?

Does that make sense?

You mean we don’t have a brother or sister or cousin or grandchild we could witness to and try to lead to the Lord?

8.       Have you ever witnessed to anyone?

Write your answer down.

You mean to tell me that we’ve been saved for 10-15-20 years and we’ve never even witnessed to someone?

I’m not talking about dealing with someone at this altar.

I’m not talking about a vacation Bible school class one summer.

I’m talking about somewhere,

outside of this building or property,

to someone,

we witnessed to someone about Jesus Christ,

and our answer is “NO.”

If we answered “NONE” or “NO” to any of these questions, we do not believe in hell.