I was once a lost church member for
years, believing myself to be saved.
I was self-deceived and arrested upon an
empty religious profession.
If you asked me when I got saved
back then, I would point to a time
in my past where I walked an aisle
in response to a preacher's invitation, where I
accepted Jesus as my personal Savior, and I
sealed the deal by repeating the prayer.
Maybe some of you friends have done the
same thing.
Well, I was baptized and added to the
church roll, and I was nothing more than
an unconverted church member who made a mental
flip for Jesus.
I was still unchanged, still dead in sin,
still in the kingdom of darkness, while all
the time sitting beneath the lights of the
sanctuary, and most of my church friends were
just as lost as I was.
I taught a big Sunday school class in
a big Baptist church that was full of
lost church members who were full of themselves,
but we all could tell you how much
we loved Jesus.
Our lives were no different from the world's.
Our hearts were unregenerate, and we had no
experiential knowledge of Christ.
We all had two things in common.
We had made a public profession of faith
in response to an emotional appeal, and we
were hypocrites dangling over a smoking pit, and
that's the title of my message today, friends.
Hypocrites dangling over a smoking pit.
My text can be found in Matthew's Gospel
in chapter 7.
You can turn in your Bibles there now,
friends.
We will be in verses 13 through 14,
where we have the Lord Jesus warning about
two ways, two ways that lead to two
destinies, either heaven or hell.
He speaks of the two ways as a
warning of each.
He warns that one way is a difficult
way, less traveled and few there be on
it, and he warns of a broader way,
which is full of peril, danger, and many
travel that way, which leads to destruction.
Like swine in herds going to the slaughterhouse,
completely ignorant of their danger, listen to the
words of Christ as he warns of these
two ways.
Enter ye in at the straight gate, for
wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leadeth to destruction, and many there
be which go in thereat.
Here Christ warns of a crowded path, full
of people who are self-deceived.
They believe their condition is all right.
They believe they are traveling the right road
to heaven.
Because they once made a public profession of
faith, they can each point back to a
time in their life where they walked an
owl and came out for Jesus.
They are busily occupied in church service, and
this reinforces their false assurance.
On this road is much laughter and levity
and fellowship, as many are upon it, and
they have much in common as baptized church
members.
In fact, their numbers lend support to their
deception.
But Jesus issues a dire warning to all
who travel upon this path.
As they go to their destruction like dumb
animals go to a slaughterhouse, this road of
the broad way is full of hypocrites dangling
over a smoking pit, ready to drop down
at any moment, completely unaware of their constant
peril and danger of dying in their sins
outside of Christ's blood.
As the bridge that is washed out by
a storm poses sudden danger to all who
drive upon it, so too a crowd of
hypocrites, whose collective weight of sins will eventually
pull them down into the smoking pit of
hell.
Some of these deceived church members are elders
and deacons.
Some sing in the choir.
Some are ushers in the sanctuary.
Some are Sunday school teachers.
But they each share a common denominator, and
that is they each rest upon an empty
religious profession, and they have a false hope
of heaven that's nothing more than a hole
in the wall.
Jesus describes these hypocrites along these terms.
Many will say to me, in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name, and in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful
works, and then I will profess unto them,
I never knew you, depart from me, ye
that work iniquity.
And then Jesus issues another warning, friends.
This time he warns that the way to
heaven is a difficult way, a less traveled
way, a narrow way, and he warns that
few are on this way to heaven, the
majority travel to hell, because straight is the
gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth
unto life, and few there be that find
it.
In other words, out of a vast church
congregation, only a few make it to heaven.
The majority end up in a devil's hell.
The majority are hypocrites, dangling over a smoking
pit, ready to drop down into a region
of outer darkness, where there's wailing and gnashing
of teeth.
There's a verse in Isaiah, which describes the
sudden horror of the hypocrite as he awakes
in hell.
Isaiah 33, 14 declares, The sinners in Zion
are afraid.
Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites.
Who among us shall dwell with the devouring
fire?
Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?
Everlasting burnings in a smoking pit of hell.
Are you safe, friend?
Have you ever been lost?
Have you ever been awakened to your lost
condition by coming under holy ghost conviction?
Have you ever seen your hopelessness of resting
upon a false profession?
Have you ever exercised repentance toward God in
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
Are you born from above and washed in
the blood?
Or are you resting upon an empty religious
profession that dangles you continually over a smoking
pit of hell?
You say you know Jesus, but does Jesus
know you?
When you die, will you hear four terrible
words that will ring in your ears all
throughout eternity?
I never knew you.
Repent before it's too late.