1
00:00:01,290 --> 00:00:03,950
I was once a lost church member for

2
00:00:03,950 --> 00:00:07,290
years, believing myself to be saved.

3
00:00:07,710 --> 00:00:11,810
I was self-deceived and arrested upon an

4
00:00:11,810 --> 00:00:13,870
empty religious profession.

5
00:00:14,650 --> 00:00:16,430
If you asked me when I got saved

6
00:00:16,430 --> 00:00:18,850
back then, I would point to a time

7
00:00:18,850 --> 00:00:21,810
in my past where I walked an aisle

8
00:00:21,810 --> 00:00:26,090
in response to a preacher's invitation, where I

9
00:00:26,090 --> 00:00:30,170
accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, and I

10
00:00:30,170 --> 00:00:32,910
sealed the deal by repeating the prayer.

11
00:00:33,410 --> 00:00:36,150
Maybe some of you friends have done the

12
00:00:36,150 --> 00:00:37,030
same thing.

13
00:00:37,510 --> 00:00:40,370
Well, I was baptized and added to the

14
00:00:40,370 --> 00:00:43,570
church roll, and I was nothing more than

15
00:00:43,570 --> 00:00:47,190
an unconverted church member who made a mental

16
00:00:47,190 --> 00:00:48,330
flip for Jesus.

17
00:00:49,070 --> 00:00:52,210
I was still unchanged, still dead in sin,

18
00:00:52,210 --> 00:00:56,430
still in the kingdom of darkness, while all

19
00:00:56,430 --> 00:00:59,170
the time sitting beneath the lights of the

20
00:00:59,170 --> 00:01:02,750
sanctuary, and most of my church friends were

21
00:01:02,750 --> 00:01:04,470
just as lost as I was.

22
00:01:04,730 --> 00:01:07,490
I taught a big Sunday school class in

23
00:01:07,490 --> 00:01:10,190
a big Baptist church that was full of

24
00:01:10,190 --> 00:01:13,170
lost church members who were full of themselves,

25
00:01:13,450 --> 00:01:15,830
but we all could tell you how much

26
00:01:15,830 --> 00:01:16,850
we loved Jesus.

27
00:01:17,590 --> 00:01:20,110
Our lives were no different from the world's.

28
00:01:20,470 --> 00:01:23,930
Our hearts were unregenerate, and we had no

29
00:01:23,930 --> 00:01:25,930
experiential knowledge of Christ.

30
00:01:26,290 --> 00:01:28,950
We all had two things in common.

31
00:01:29,930 --> 00:01:33,250
We had made a public profession of faith

32
00:01:33,250 --> 00:01:37,230
in response to an emotional appeal, and we

33
00:01:37,230 --> 00:01:41,750
were hypocrites dangling over a smoking pit, and

34
00:01:41,750 --> 00:01:44,590
that's the title of my message today, friends.

35
00:01:45,330 --> 00:01:49,090
Hypocrites dangling over a smoking pit.

36
00:01:49,530 --> 00:01:52,830
My text can be found in Matthew's Gospel

37
00:01:52,830 --> 00:01:54,570
in chapter 7.

38
00:01:55,030 --> 00:01:57,030
You can turn in your Bibles there now,

39
00:01:57,110 --> 00:01:57,590
friends.

40
00:01:58,110 --> 00:02:01,850
We will be in verses 13 through 14,

41
00:02:02,190 --> 00:02:05,490
where we have the Lord Jesus warning about

42
00:02:05,490 --> 00:02:09,990
two ways, two ways that lead to two

43
00:02:09,990 --> 00:02:12,610
destinies, either heaven or hell.

44
00:02:13,030 --> 00:02:14,950
He speaks of the two ways as a

45
00:02:14,950 --> 00:02:16,650
warning of each.

46
00:02:17,050 --> 00:02:20,010
He warns that one way is a difficult

47
00:02:20,010 --> 00:02:23,830
way, less traveled and few there be on

48
00:02:23,830 --> 00:02:26,370
it, and he warns of a broader way,

49
00:02:26,590 --> 00:02:30,250
which is full of peril, danger, and many

50
00:02:30,250 --> 00:02:33,390
travel that way, which leads to destruction.

51
00:02:34,390 --> 00:02:38,550
Like swine in herds going to the slaughterhouse,

52
00:02:39,310 --> 00:02:43,130
completely ignorant of their danger, listen to the

53
00:02:43,130 --> 00:02:45,670
words of Christ as he warns of these

54
00:02:45,670 --> 00:02:46,770
two ways.

55
00:02:47,630 --> 00:02:51,190
Enter ye in at the straight gate, for

56
00:02:51,190 --> 00:02:53,690
wide is the gate and broad is the

57
00:02:53,690 --> 00:02:57,350
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there

58
00:02:57,350 --> 00:02:59,530
be which go in thereat.

59
00:03:00,590 --> 00:03:05,170
Here Christ warns of a crowded path, full

60
00:03:05,170 --> 00:03:07,850
of people who are self-deceived.

61
00:03:08,030 --> 00:03:10,870
They believe their condition is all right.

62
00:03:11,310 --> 00:03:15,030
They believe they are traveling the right road

63
00:03:15,030 --> 00:03:15,630
to heaven.

64
00:03:16,570 --> 00:03:20,510
Because they once made a public profession of

65
00:03:20,510 --> 00:03:23,090
faith, they can each point back to a

66
00:03:23,090 --> 00:03:25,550
time in their life where they walked an

67
00:03:25,550 --> 00:03:27,590
owl and came out for Jesus.

68
00:03:28,310 --> 00:03:32,430
They are busily occupied in church service, and

69
00:03:32,430 --> 00:03:35,970
this reinforces their false assurance.

70
00:03:36,470 --> 00:03:40,010
On this road is much laughter and levity

71
00:03:40,010 --> 00:03:44,070
and fellowship, as many are upon it, and

72
00:03:44,070 --> 00:03:47,250
they have much in common as baptized church

73
00:03:47,250 --> 00:03:47,810
members.

74
00:03:48,970 --> 00:03:52,950
In fact, their numbers lend support to their

75
00:03:52,950 --> 00:03:53,530
deception.

76
00:03:54,440 --> 00:03:58,770
But Jesus issues a dire warning to all

77
00:03:58,770 --> 00:04:00,690
who travel upon this path.

78
00:04:00,850 --> 00:04:03,750
As they go to their destruction like dumb

79
00:04:03,750 --> 00:04:08,210
animals go to a slaughterhouse, this road of

80
00:04:08,210 --> 00:04:12,050
the broad way is full of hypocrites dangling

81
00:04:12,050 --> 00:04:15,870
over a smoking pit, ready to drop down

82
00:04:15,870 --> 00:04:20,250
at any moment, completely unaware of their constant

83
00:04:20,250 --> 00:04:23,570
peril and danger of dying in their sins

84
00:04:23,570 --> 00:04:25,790
outside of Christ's blood.

85
00:04:26,230 --> 00:04:28,450
As the bridge that is washed out by

86
00:04:28,450 --> 00:04:32,070
a storm poses sudden danger to all who

87
00:04:32,070 --> 00:04:35,730
drive upon it, so too a crowd of

88
00:04:35,730 --> 00:04:39,930
hypocrites, whose collective weight of sins will eventually

89
00:04:39,930 --> 00:04:44,050
pull them down into the smoking pit of

90
00:04:44,050 --> 00:04:44,590
hell.

91
00:04:45,090 --> 00:04:48,370
Some of these deceived church members are elders

92
00:04:48,370 --> 00:04:49,530
and deacons.

93
00:04:49,530 --> 00:04:51,190
Some sing in the choir.

94
00:04:51,690 --> 00:04:53,550
Some are ushers in the sanctuary.

95
00:04:54,350 --> 00:04:56,210
Some are Sunday school teachers.

96
00:04:56,830 --> 00:05:00,470
But they each share a common denominator, and

97
00:05:00,470 --> 00:05:03,930
that is they each rest upon an empty

98
00:05:03,930 --> 00:05:08,430
religious profession, and they have a false hope

99
00:05:08,430 --> 00:05:11,750
of heaven that's nothing more than a hole

100
00:05:11,750 --> 00:05:12,510
in the wall.

101
00:05:13,070 --> 00:05:17,310
Jesus describes these hypocrites along these terms.

102
00:05:17,310 --> 00:05:21,830
Many will say to me, in that day,

103
00:05:22,330 --> 00:05:25,550
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy

104
00:05:25,550 --> 00:05:28,870
name, and in thy name have cast out

105
00:05:28,870 --> 00:05:33,310
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful

106
00:05:33,310 --> 00:05:38,370
works, and then I will profess unto them,

107
00:05:38,630 --> 00:05:42,250
I never knew you, depart from me, ye

108
00:05:42,250 --> 00:05:43,810
that work iniquity.

109
00:05:43,810 --> 00:05:48,430
And then Jesus issues another warning, friends.

110
00:05:48,850 --> 00:05:52,230
This time he warns that the way to

111
00:05:52,230 --> 00:05:55,770
heaven is a difficult way, a less traveled

112
00:05:55,770 --> 00:05:58,970
way, a narrow way, and he warns that

113
00:05:58,970 --> 00:06:02,450
few are on this way to heaven, the

114
00:06:02,450 --> 00:06:07,510
majority travel to hell, because straight is the

115
00:06:07,510 --> 00:06:10,950
gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth

116
00:06:10,950 --> 00:06:14,570
unto life, and few there be that find

117
00:06:14,570 --> 00:06:14,930
it.

118
00:06:15,490 --> 00:06:18,010
In other words, out of a vast church

119
00:06:18,010 --> 00:06:21,870
congregation, only a few make it to heaven.

120
00:06:22,410 --> 00:06:25,350
The majority end up in a devil's hell.

121
00:06:25,750 --> 00:06:29,650
The majority are hypocrites, dangling over a smoking

122
00:06:29,650 --> 00:06:33,270
pit, ready to drop down into a region

123
00:06:33,270 --> 00:06:37,390
of outer darkness, where there's wailing and gnashing

124
00:06:37,390 --> 00:06:38,150
of teeth.

125
00:06:38,150 --> 00:06:42,110
There's a verse in Isaiah, which describes the

126
00:06:42,110 --> 00:06:45,690
sudden horror of the hypocrite as he awakes

127
00:06:45,690 --> 00:06:46,450
in hell.

128
00:06:47,270 --> 00:06:52,710
Isaiah 33, 14 declares, The sinners in Zion

129
00:06:52,710 --> 00:06:53,650
are afraid.

130
00:06:54,130 --> 00:06:57,550
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.

131
00:06:57,970 --> 00:07:01,950
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring

132
00:07:01,950 --> 00:07:02,570
fire?

133
00:07:03,030 --> 00:07:07,150
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

134
00:07:08,290 --> 00:07:12,290
Everlasting burnings in a smoking pit of hell.

135
00:07:13,730 --> 00:07:14,930
Are you safe, friend?

136
00:07:15,670 --> 00:07:17,070
Have you ever been lost?

137
00:07:17,730 --> 00:07:20,290
Have you ever been awakened to your lost

138
00:07:20,290 --> 00:07:24,110
condition by coming under holy ghost conviction?

139
00:07:24,890 --> 00:07:28,330
Have you ever seen your hopelessness of resting

140
00:07:28,330 --> 00:07:29,870
upon a false profession?

141
00:07:30,570 --> 00:07:34,310
Have you ever exercised repentance toward God in

142
00:07:34,310 --> 00:07:36,910
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

143
00:07:37,190 --> 00:07:40,010
Are you born from above and washed in

144
00:07:40,010 --> 00:07:40,630
the blood?

145
00:07:41,070 --> 00:07:44,370
Or are you resting upon an empty religious

146
00:07:44,370 --> 00:07:50,130
profession that dangles you continually over a smoking

147
00:07:50,130 --> 00:07:51,530
pit of hell?

148
00:07:51,990 --> 00:07:54,990
You say you know Jesus, but does Jesus

149
00:07:54,990 --> 00:07:55,930
know you?

150
00:07:56,410 --> 00:08:00,170
When you die, will you hear four terrible

151
00:08:00,170 --> 00:08:03,670
words that will ring in your ears all

152
00:08:03,670 --> 00:08:04,970
throughout eternity?

153
00:08:05,570 --> 00:08:07,230
I never knew you.

154
00:08:07,950 --> 00:08:10,030
Repent before it's too late.