'Why A Man Goes To Hell'

Our Sunday morning sermon, was brought to us by our associate pastor, Brother Ryan Crawford, and was entitled, "Why A Man Goes To Hell."

We stood for the reading of God's Holy Word, with Brother Crawford's message taken from the book of John with special emphasis on John 3:18, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."

"Probably the doctrine of eternal damnation is the toughest one for anyone to believe. Hard to believe that anyone can do something so bad that God could send them to a Lake of Fire forever, and that there is no way out, ever. If I didn't believe my Bible, or didn't believe God's word, I probably wouldn't believe this Bible teaching either. Some say why would God send some of His children to a forever torment of fire? Very simple. Not everyone is God's child."

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

John 1:12 "But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name."

"Nobody who trusts Christ as savior will suffer Hell (the holding tank before your end times trial) or the Lake of Fire (Eternal Damnation) at all."

"But if you believe your Bible, you must believe in both Heaven and Hell. The Holy Bible as it stands, is either all true, or it is all false."

Revelation 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

"If you go through the Bible and count every reference to Heaven and to Hell, you'll quickly find there are nine times as many references to Hell as there is to Heaven. So why is it that a man will go to hell? What is the bottom line? Well, as my first point, of four; a man, or a woman, or even a child who has reached the age of accountability, do not go to Hell because they are sinners! If that truly were the case, everyone but Jesus would go to Hell, and only He would be in Heaven."

"Has anyone here, before they were saved, ever told a lie, even once? Just that one sin people, tells us we are all in dire need of a savior. The Bible even goes so far as to say we are all born sinners."

Psalm 53:8 "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies."

"Second point: mankind does not go to Hell for any kind of sin they commit."

"Some Christians think some sins are greater sins than other sins. Catholics believe in venial sins and mortal sins. They believe venial sins send you to purgatory, and then maybe either Heaven or Hell, but mortal sins, straight to Hell. But people, you can be eternally sealed saved, and yet act like you are as lost a goose. Some lost people can act as if they were saved, with a few even going so far as to delude themselves into thinking they are indeed saved, but they are still lost, just waiting to split Hell wide open. Judas for example, to the world, outwardly, he appeared saved, but he was lost. Lot was an ideal example of appearing to be lost, to the world, but saved. Some of the worse human beings who ever lived died saved. On Pentacost alone, 3,000 souls were saved. And that local number surely had to include some of the ones who just 50 days earlier had beaten Jesus, had spat upon Him, and had participated, to some degree, in crucifying Him. Totally wicked men, doing totally wicked deeds, but in the end, saved."

"Point three: man does not go to Hell for not quitting his sins!"

"Because all of us, both saved and lost, who are still alive, sin. True, as Christians we try to sin less, but we are not sinless. Even the Apostle Paul said, "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15)

"And my last point: a Christian man does not go to Hell because he doesn't live like a Christian."

For a moment let's compare a husband and wife to Jesus and His church. Today especially, people can act married and not be married. They have sex, they make babies, etc. People can also be married and not act married. They sleep in separate bedrooms, they lead separate lives, they never speak to each other, etc. We all know couples of both kinds. Like the woman who shot her husband with a bow and arrow, as she didn't want to wake their kids. Or a man who died in a tornado, shielding his girl friend, from the debris flying all around them."

"Going back to John 3:18, it outlines two groups. The "believeth" is not condemned and the "not believeth" is condemned already. Man goes to Hell, solely when he does not believe on the name of the Begotten (Only) Son of God.

Once again two groups. Believer has everlasting life, non-believer has everlasting death, punishment, separation, liquid fire, call it what ever you like."

"Belief, from the world's POV can either be, having confidence in someone. 'I believe Tiger Woods will win this year's green jacket.' Or a mental assertion of a fact. 'I believe that is a Bic pen.' It can also be a calculated hope based on something. 'I believe it will rain tomorrow.' But to believe in Jesus Christ means to totally, 100 percent rely, trust and depend upon the Son of Man."

James 2:19 "Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble."

"If I go to the airport, and I see this big shiny thing that people are getting into and out of, I can say, 'I believe it is an aircraft of some sort.' But I am committed to the belief that it can carry me from point A to point B safely, as an airplane, only if I put all of myself in it. And folks, there is no promise in the Bible to those who partially believe in Jesus as the Christ. You are either all in or you are all out. When you believe 100 percent in Jesus, you get 100 percent of the Christ: sins forgiven, total avoidance of Hell, a new heart, a new mind, a mansion in Heaven, a new body like Jesus', a defense attorney at your end times trial (and like the TV hucksters promise, but one Jesus totally delivers upon) and much, much more."

Don't miss Dr. Larry Crawford's, or one of our other pastor's radio broadcast message starting at 8:30 a.m. Sunday morning on KURM 100.3 FM.

We would love for you to join us off the northeast corner of Pineville square, just behind U.S. Bank for any of our services.