Saved from What?

Friends,

This morning, the son and daughter-in-law of a couple in my church were visiting their parents and came to worship with us. I was glad to meet them and we were glad to have them. Evidently, my sermon became a topic of discussion for the family as I was informed after tonight’s service, via a second-hand piece of information, that the daughter-in-law believes that you only "push" people away from Christ the more you preach to them about Hell.

Really?

When this little piece of second-hand information was given to me, I made the passing remark that this lady should have no trouble finding a church she can be happy in. It is my best, uneducated guess, that if you took any ten churches, Southern Baptists included, you could not find the word "Hell" named in any eight of them over a year’s time.

But the really startling realization I had after coming home was just how much of the sermon actually spoke to the issue of Hell. I asked my wife if she could tell me what the morning sermon was about. She responded "it was about God’s judgment," and she was right. I decided to look back over my sermon, just to see if I really was emphasizing Hell too much. I did a word search on the following words listed below. The number beside them indicates how many times they were actually used in the sermon.

Judgment x28
Hell x2

This fascinates me, quite frankly. Simply hearing the word Hell twice was enough to convince this listener that the entire sermon was on Hell and that was "pushing people away" from Jesus. (She really would have freaked out over last Sunday morning’s message titled, "A Word to Those Going to Hell"!)

Brothers, I am the firmest believer that we are living in an age where many people say they are saved, but they have never really been taught what it is they are saved from. It is little doubt, then, that discipleship in our churches struggles so much, for those who feel they have little to be saved and delivered from have little devotion to give to the Savior and Deliverer (Luke 7:47). When you couple this with the truth that preaching is equally anemic regarding the judgment of Christ, we are in a sorry shape indeed. It is an impossibility for anyone to be "saved" if they do not know what it is they are "saved" from. There is no doubt that the Lord’s riches, kindness, restraint and patience is intended to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4). But these things hold no real value in a man’s heart if he does not know, or worse, shies away from, the judgment to come (Romans 2:5) which brings the righteous in Christ eternal life in Heaven and sinning, unbelievers eternal Hell (Romans2:6-8).

Article X (Last Things) of our Baptist Faith and Message rightly states:
God, in His own time and in His own way, will bring the world to its appropriate end. According to His promise, Jesus Christ will return personally and visibly in glory to the earth; the dead will be raised; and Christ will judge all men in righteousness. The unrighteous will be consigned to Hell, the place of everlasting punishment. The righteous in their resurrected and glorified bodies will receive their reward and will dwell forever in Heaven with the Lord. (italics mine)
Let’s be sure to preach the faith we confess and the gospel we’ve a duty to proclaim in its entirety. Sin, salvation, burden, blood, death, devotion, judgment, justification, faith, freedom, Heaven and Hell are all part of it. Our Master preached this way, and so should we.

Blessings,
TJ