Years ago, a friend asked me to go
visit his dying aunt, who was in the
hospital at her bedside.
I introduced myself as her nephew's friend, and
after some small talk, I asked her a
question.
I asked, when it comes time for you
to die, do you know for sure if
you're going to heaven?
She answered yes.
I said, why are you so certain?
She informed me she'd been a member in
good standing in the Methodist Church for 30
years.
I then replied, well, some folks mistake church
membership for salvation.
She told me, not her, she was going
to heaven because she never robbed a liquor
store or killed anybody.
That's what the old gal said.
She had made up her mind she was
going to heaven when she died because she
was good enough for heaven and not bad
enough for hell.
The majority of mankind, friends, thinks that way.
That they're good enough for heaven because they're
not bad enough for hell.
That only really bad people go to hell,
like murderers and serial killers and sociopaths.
Everybody else is a good, hard-working, honest
person who helps their neighbors.
They're good people.
They're loved by their loved ones.
And when they die, they go straight to
heaven.
Just listen to how the world talks when
someone dies.
Everybody goes to heaven.
They'll say, well, at least he's not suffering
anymore.
We comfort the grieving family by saying, I
know you miss him, but look at it
this way.
At least he's not in any more pain.
That's how people think that at the end
of the road, when it comes time to
die, heaven is waiting where there no longer
is any pain or suffering.
They'll say, my daddy was a good man.
Why?
He helped everybody.
He's up there with God now.
But the trouble is, good people don't go
to heaven.
Only forgiven people get to go there.
All babies will die when they go to
heaven because David said to his child, I
will go to him.
I have a baby in heaven myself.
I know some of you do as well.
You don't have to worry about them.
But heaven is barred against anyone who isn't
born from above and washed in the blood
of Christ Jesus.
If you die in your sins, you'll bust
hell wide open when you die.
God will not allow any rebel into his
kingdom who's still pointing a shotgun or rebellion
at him.
You see, friends, most folks believe they're good
enough for heaven because they're not bad enough
for hell.
But the truth is, from the Bible's standpoint,
all men are rebels against God.
They're in a perishing, lost condition and under
the condemnation of a thrice holy God who
must punish sin.
And the sentencing of the law must be
carried out upon all guilty lawbreakers.
Sin is the transgression of the law, so
says the Word of God.
And the God of the Word says, I
shall by no means clear the guilty.
So the reality is, when it comes time
to die, most folks just enter a crisis
eternity and are damned in the devil's hell.
Oh, I know most preachers won't talk to
you like this, friend.
They'll just give you nice little messages.
They'll just soothe you and calm you and
make you laugh.
But I've got a burden for your soul.
I'm being honest with you tonight.
Like we say in the South, I'm going
to give you the oil straight from the
can.
I'm not going to smooth things or soft
-soap things for you, friends.
Listen to me.
God says no one is good enough for
heaven because all men are bad enough for
hell.
So most folks hope of heaven is only
a hole in the wall.
Well, that's my introduction to my message this
evening, friends, entitled Good Enough for Heaven and
Not Bad Enough for Hell.
Young person, you listen to this old preacher,
don't assume you're automatically going to heaven just
because you were raised in a Christian home,
just because you were raised in church.
You've got to get to Christ yourself.
Church membership is not salvation.
A lot of folks assume that the religion
is their ticket to heaven.
They cling to their religion and wrap themselves
in the robes of their religion, whether they're
a good Muslim, a good Mormon, a good
Jew, a good Buddhist, or a good Baptist.
If religion got folks into heaven, then why
did Jesus speak against the Pharisees and the
scribes, who were the most religious leaders of
His day, calling them vipers and children of
the devil?
Jesus pronounced woes upon them.
Religion won't save you, friend.
Only repentance towards God and faith in Christ
Jesus saves.
There's no such thing as a Christian who's
never repented.
Most of the opposition I've encountered in preaching
in churches has been on the doctrine of
repentance.
Why, I've had deacons face me and, with
fire in their eyes, just look at me
like they wanted to kill me when I
said, you must repent or just go on
to hell.
God sees all men as guilty rebels who
deserve punishment in hell.
For God is holy and He hates sin.
God is angry with the wicked day and
night.
So says the Word of God in Psalm
711.
Unsaved man, in his natural state, is hell
-bound.
No matter how good a person is, no
matter how honest he is or hard-working
he is, trying to work your way to
heaven by a good opinion of yourself and
having a long track record of religious service
is like, listen to me, it's like trying
to climb up to heaven on a rope
of sand.
One little gust of wind's gonna blow the
whole thing away.
It can't be done.
Listen to me, friend.
You must be born again.
The good Baptist stands on slippery ground unless
they're born-again believers.
If you don't repent, you'll surely die and
go to hell, even if you are the
chairman of the deacons.
In Job, we read of the fate of
the unsaved.
Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath
no covering.
If you're not under Christ's blood, then you're
good enough for hell.
We are born with a ruined nature and
bent toward sin.
You must be born from above and washed
in the blood.
You must get to Jesus.
Jesus.
Listen to me.
Jesus is the only remedy and refuge for
sin.
He is the pearl of great price, worth
selling all for so He can be gained.
In John 14, 6, Jesus says, I am
the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by
me.
Here, Jesus answers the three greatest questions of
the human heart.
How can I be saved?
Jesus says, I am the way.
How can I be sure?
Jesus says, I am the truth.
How can I be satisfied?
Jesus says, I am the life.
He is the bread of life.
In John 6, 35, Jesus says, I am
the bread of life.
He that cometh to me shall never hunger,
and he that believeth on me shall never
thirst.
Salvation is saving faith in Christ Jesus.
But I fear many in the church today
have believed the fact that Jesus died for
them without ever believing on the Christ who
died.
You must get to Christ, friend.
Listen, friend.
Jesus came into this world doing good.
Jesus was healing the sick.
Jesus was feeding the hungry, giving sight to
the blind, even raising the dead to life.
Yet what happened?
Men cried, away with him, and nailed him
to a cross, putting him to death, exposed
the enmity of man's heart against God, so
they crucified him.
In Matthew's Gospel we read, Then the soldiers
of the governor took Jesus into the common
hall, and gathered unto him the whole band
of soldiers.
And they stripped him, and put on him
a scarlet robe.
And when they had plaited a crown of
thorns, they put it upon his head, and
a reed in his right hand.
And they bowed the knee before him, and
mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews!
And they spit upon him, and they took
the reed and smote him on the head.
And after that they had mocked him, they
took the robe off from him, and put
his own raiment on him, and led him
away to crucify him.
And as those Roman soldiers took those nails,
and fastened the Son of God to that
tree, every stroke of the hammer was an
explanation point.
Oh, look that man on the cross, friend.
Look that blessed man on the cross.
See him there with his arms outstretched, beckoning
you to come to him and believe on
him.
Oh, look at that bloodstained Savior for sin,
he cries.
Oh, look unto me and be saved.
All ye ends of the earth, for I
am God, and there is none else.
Oh, look at that lamb, that slain lamb,
on that bloody cross, bearing the terrible weight
of sin.
My rotten sins, your filthy sins.
See him there as he pleads.
Come now, let us reason together, saith the
Lord.
Though your sins be as scarlet, they should
be as white as snow.
Though they be red like crimson, they should
be as wool.
The cross is the place where men sought
to get rid of him, but by his
death it becomes the place where his saving
power flows out to all who come in
repentance, confessing they are sinners and own him
as their Savior and Lord.
If you have not trusted this blessed Savior,
receive him now before it's too late.
As soon he will come in judgment on
this world, when his anger shall burn as
an oven, and then you shall meet him
as your judge.
Come now, come, come to Jesus.
Young lady, don't wait any longer.
What are you waiting for, mister?
Don't wait until you're better.
Come, come to Jesus.
Bring to him your heartache.
Bring to him your fears.
Bring to him your sin burden and leave
it at his nail-pierced feet.
Listen, listen, friend, to the last gospel invitation
that's found in the Bible.
It may be for you, your last invitation
to come.
You may be taken out of this world.
They may not even be here a year
from now.
Listen, listen.
Even if you're the biggest sinner in this
town tonight, there's room at the cross for
you.
There's a fountain full of blood and sinners
plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty
stains.
Don't delay, friend.
Don't delay.
If you hear God's voice speaking to you
tonight, to your heart to come to Jesus,
to the only remedy for sin in the
person of Christ Jesus, then come, for God
says, in the Spirit and the bride say,
Come.
And let him that hears say, Come.
And let him that is a thirst, Come.
And whosoever will, let him take the water
of life freely.