In this sermon, the preacher challenges the popular teaching that the Gospel is solely about finding peace, joy, love, and fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He uses a story of two men on a plane, where one is given a parachute and told it will improve his flight. The skeptical man eventually puts on the parachute and realizes its weight and difficulty, but he is assured it is necessary for a jump later. The preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding the consequences of breaking the law of gravity, comparing it to the consequences of sin. He warns against a shallow commitment to Jesus based on personal benefits, and instead urges listeners to have a genuine understanding of the need for salvation and the consequences of rejecting it.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Today I'm going to share a teaching with you called, Hell's Best-Kept Secret. In the late 70s, God opened an itinerant ministry to me. Living at a travel, I found to my horror that up to 80% of those making a decision for Christ were falling away from the faith. Let me bring it up to date for you. In 1991, a major denomination was able to obtain 294,000 decisions for Christ. They could only find 14,000 in fellowship. In other words, they could account for 280,000 of their decision. This is normal, modern evangelical results. I discovered this way back in the 70s. So I made it a matter of prayer and began to study the gospel proclamations. The men like Charles Spurgeon, John Wesley, and others that God greatly used down through the ages. I found a huge principle which is almost entirely neglected by modern evangelism. The Bible says that the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul. To illustrate the function of God's law, let's look for a moment at civil law. Imagine if I said to you, I've got some good news for you. Someone has just paid a $25,000 speeding fine on your behalf. You'd probably react by saying, that's not good news. It doesn't make sense. I don't have a $25,000 speeding fine. My good news would be good news, too. It would be foolishness. But more than that, it would be offensive to you. Because I'm insinuating you've broken the law when you don't think you have. If I can put it this way, it may make more sense. On your way to this meeting, the police, the law, blocked you at going 55 miles an hour to an area set aside for a blind children's convention. There were 10 clear warning signs. Stating that 15 miles an hour was the maximum speed. But you went straight through at 55 miles an hour. It was extremely dangerous. It was a $25,000 fine. The law was about to take its course when someone you don't even know stepped in and paid the fine for you. You are very fortunate. The news that they're telling you what you've done wrong first actually makes the good news. If someone paying the fine for you makes sense, if I don't clearly bring instruction you've violated the law, then the good news will seem foolishness and offensive. If I clearly bring instruction you've violated the law, then that good news will become good news indeed. In the same way, if I approach an impenitent sinner, someone whose understanding is darkened, and say, Jesus Christ died on the cross for you, it will be foolishness to him and offensive to him. Foolishness because it won't make sense. The Bible says that. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. And it will be offensive to him because I'm insinuating he's a sinner when he doesn't think he is. For him, these concerns are a lot of people worse than him. But if I follow the footsteps of Jesus, then they make more sense. If I pick up the time to open up the divine law to open up the Ten Commandments and show the sinner precisely what he's done wrong, then when he becomes, as James says, convinced of the law as a transgressor, the good news will not be foolishness. It will not be offensive. It will be the power of God unto salvation. With those few thoughts in mind, by way of introduction, let's look at Romans 3 verse 19. We're looking at God's word to see what it says about the law in Romans 3 verse 19. Now we know that whatsoever things the law says says them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world not just the Jews but all the world may become guilty before God. So one function of God's law is to stop sinners' mouths and leave them guilty before God. Following verse, Romans 3 verse 20. Therefore by the deeds of the law there should no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin. So God's law tells us what sin is. First John says sin is transgression of the law. Then over to Romans 7 verse 7. Romans 7 verse 7 says Paul speaking, What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. No, I had not known sin but by the law. Paul says he didn't know what sin was until the law told him. And over in Galatians 3 verse 24 says these words. Galatians 3 verse 24. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. So the law acts as a schoolmaster to bring us to Jesus Christ that we might be justified through faith in his blood. The law doesn't help us because it leaves us helpless. It doesn't justify us it just leaves us guilty before the judgment bar of almighty God. And the tragedy of modern evangelism is that around the turn of the century when it forsook the law and its capacity to drive sinners to Christ modern evangelism had to find another reason for sinners to respond to the gospel. And the issue that modern evangelism chose was the issue of life enhancement. The gospel degenerated into Jesus Christ will give you peace joy, love, and fulfillment. Now to illustrate the unscriptural nature of this very popular teaching I want you to listen very carefully because the essence of what I'm saying pivots on this next story. Two men are seated in a plane. The first is given a parachute and told to put it on because it would improve his flight. He's a little skeptical at first because he can't see how wearing a parachute in a plane could possibly improve the flight. After a time he decides to experiment to see if the claim is true. As he puts it on he notices the weight upon his shoulders and he finds he has difficulty in sitting upright. As he consoles himself he realizes that he is not alone in the fact he was told the parachute would improve the flight. So he decides to give the thing a little time. As he waits he notices that some of the other passengers are laughing at him because he's wearing a parachute in a plane. He begins to feel somewhat humiliated but they begin to point a finger at him. He can stand it no longer. He slinks in his seat and straps the parachute and he throws it to the floor. Disillusionment and bitterness fill his heart because as far as he was concerned he was told an outright lie. The second man is given a parachute but listen to what he's told. He's told to put it on because at any moment he'll be jumping 25,000 feet out of the plane. He gratefully puts the parachute on but he doesn't notice the weight upon his shoulders nor that he can't sit upright. His mind is consumed with the thought of what would happen to him if he jumped without the parachute. Let's analyze the motive and the result of each passenger's experience. The first man's motive for putting the parachute on was solely to improve his flight. The result of his experience was that he was humiliated by the passengers was disillusioned and somewhat embittered against those who gave him the parachute. As far as he's concerned it will be a long time before anyone gets one of those things on his back again. The second man put the parachute on solely to escape the jump to come and because of his knowledge of what would happen to him without it he has a deep-rooted joy and peace in his heart knowing that he's saved from sure death. This knowledge gives him the ability to withstand the mockery of the other passengers and his attitude toward those who gave him the parachute and his attitude toward those who gave him the parachute is one of heartfelt gratitude. Now listen to what the modern Gospel says. It says, Put on the Lord Jesus Christ He'll give you love, joy, peace, fulfillment and lasting happiness. So the sinner responds in an experimental fashion puts on the Savior to see if the claims are true. And what does he get? The problem of temptation, tribulation and persecution The other passengers mock him So what does he do? He takes off the Lord Jesus Christ He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned and somewhat embittered And quite rightly so He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting happiness And all he got was trials and humiliation As bitterness is directed to those who gave him the so-called good news His latter end becomes worse than the first Another inoculated and bitter backslider So instead of preaching that Jesus improves the flight He should be warning the passengers that they're going to have to jump out of the plane So what does he do? He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned and somewhat embittered And quite rightly so He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting happiness And all he got was trials and humiliation As bitterness is directed to those who gave him the so-called good news His latter end becomes worse than the first Another inoculated and bitter backslider He's offended for the word's sake He's disillusioned and somewhat embittered And quite rightly so He was promised peace, joy, love, fulfillment and lasting happiness And all he got was trials and humiliation It doesn't matter how happy a sinner is How much he's enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season Without the righteousness of Christ We'll perish in the day of wrath Scripture says Richest prophet not on the day of wrath But righteousness of Christ But righteousness of Christ Delivers from death Peace and joy are legitimate fruits of salvation But it's not legitimate to use these fruits As a drawcard for salvation We continue to do so But if we continue to do so Sinners will respond with an impure motive Lacking repentance And do you remember why the second passenger had joy and peace? Because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death Because he knew that parachute was going to save him from sure death And as a believer He's not going to repent I have joy and peace in believing Because I know that the righteousness of Christ Is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come Because I know that the righteousness of Christ Is going to deliver me from the wrath that's to come Now that thought in mind Let's take a close look at an incident on board the plane We have a brand new stewardess She's carrying a tray of boiling hot coffee That's her first day She wants to leave an impression on the passengers And she certainly does Because as she's walking down the aisle The trip to the airport is about to begin She steps on someone's foot And slops that boiling hot coffee All over the lap of our second passenger What's his reaction as that boiling liquid hits his tender flesh? Does he go, phew, that's hot? Oh yeah, he feels the pain But then does he rip the parachute from his shoulders And throw it on the floor To say the stupid parachute No, why shouldn't he? He didn't put the parachute on for a better flight He put it on to save him from the jump to come If he thinks a hot coffee incident Doesn't have clean clothes on the parachute And he even looks forward to the jump Now if you and I put on the Lord Jesus Christ for the right motive To flee from the wrath that's to come To flee from the tribulation that strikes We won't get angry at God We will enjoy peace Why shouldn't we? We didn't come to Jesus for a happy lifestyle We came to flee from the wrath that's to come And if anything, tribulation drives the true believer closer to the Savior Sadly, we have multitudes of professing Christians Who lose their joy and peace when the flight gets bumpy Why? Because they are the product of modern evangelism They came lacking repentance without which you cannot be saved You see, there's no way I'm going to take a cure Unless I first admit I've got the disease I should not take a cure But I believe I've got the disease The law convinces me I'm diseased So that I'll accept the gospel Now biblical evangelism Is always Law to the proud And grace to the humble Never will you see Jesus Giving the gospel The cross, the grace of our God To that arrogant self-righteous person The law, he breaks the hard heart And with the gospel, he heals the broken heart Why? Because he always did those things that pleased the Father God resists the proud And gives grace to the humble Everyone who is proud of heart Is an abomination to the Lord Jesus told us for whom the gospel is for Then the Spirit of the Lord is upon me Because he has appointed me To preach the gospel To the poor The broken hearted The captives And the blind The poor means those who are poor in spirit The broken hearted are the contrite ones Those that mourn The captives are those of whom Satan has taken captive And the blind are those whom the God of this world has blinded Only the sick need a physician And only those who are convinced of the disease Will accept the cure Now Luke 10.25 We see Jesus doing this Giving the law to the proud Now let me paraphrase this somewhat for you In Luke 10.25, a certain lawyer Stood up and tempted Jesus Here we have a professing expert in God's law Standing up And tempting the Son of God He was proud, arrogant, and self-righteous So Jesus gave him the law Jesus, what is within the law? What is your reading of it? And he said You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength And you shall love your neighbor as yourself And then Jesus said This do, and you shall live And then the Bible says That he willing to justify himself Said to Jesus Who is my neighbor? The living Bible brings out more clearly The effect of the law on that man And the man wanted to justify The lack of love for some kinds of people So he said to Jesus Which is my neighbor? See, he didn't mind Jews But he didn't like Samaritans So Jesus told him a story Of what we call The good law He loved his neighbor as himself He merely obeyed the basic requirements of God's law And the effect of the essence of the law The spirituality of the law Of what the law demanded in truth He was going to stop that man's mouth He didn't say another word Because he didn't love his neighbor to that degree Remember the law was given to stop every mouth And leave the whole world guilty before God We see a similar thing in Luke 18 verse 18 We won't turn to it for the sake of time But the rich young ruler said he had kept the commandments So Jesus used the first of the ten commandments I am the Lord your God You shall have no other gods before me To show this man that his God was his money You cannot serve God and mammon So we see the Lord of the proud Then we see grace being given to the humble In the case of Nicodemus He was a humble Jew Who acknowledged the deity of the Son of God He was a teacher in Israel So he obviously knew the law And the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ Same with the case of Nathanael and John 1 Who was an Israelite He was brought up under the law He was an Israelite indeed Not just in words And there was no deceit in his heart And the law was a schoolmaster to bring this godly Jew to Christ Same with the Jews on the day of Pentecost They were devout Jews From every nation under heaven Who therefore drank and slept God's law And the law was a schoolmaster to bring 3,000 to Christ First Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 Tells us once again what God's law is used for First Timothy chapter 1 verse 8 says But we know that the law is good If it is used lawfully For the purpose for which it was designed What was the law designed for? The following verse tells us The law was not made for the righteous but for sinners It even lists the sinners Homosexuals If you want to bring a homosexual to Christ Give him the 10 commandments Show him that he has sinned against God The slightest perversion If you want to bring a Muslim to Christ Muslims accept Moses as the prophet Give them the law of Moses And strip them of their self-righteousness Show them that God requires truth in the inward parts The Bible is filled with examples Of the law doing its work in evangelism Think of the woman caught in the act of adultery The law called for her blood Her only avenue was to fling herself at the feet of Jesus And that's the function of God's law Paul spoke of being shot up under the law But you cannot condemn sinners They are already condemned Even those who believe not are condemned already Normally in this teaching I go through the 10 commandments But it may be more practical for you If I share with you how I share my faith I'm a strong believer in following the example of Jesus Given to us in John chapter 4 When Jesus approached the woman at the well He spoke in the natural realm first So that's what I do I go up to someone and say, Hi, how are you doing? What do you do for a job? Then I say, did you get one of these? Maybe I give them a gospel tract And then I carry in my pocket pennies with the 10 commandments pressed into them But you don't really need one of these All you need is something Christian And when they say it's Christian You say, do you think you've kept the 10 commandments? And this is usually what happens Oh, pretty much I haven't killed anyone I say, have you ever told a lie? He says, yeah Once or twice Then what does that make you? He says, a sinner I say, more specifically Does it make you a liar? He says, oh, I'm not a liar I say, well, how many lies do you have to tell to be a liar? Ten and suddenly a bell rings? One lie makes you a liar, isn't that right? He says, yeah He says, have you ever stolen something? He says, no He says, come on, you've just told me you're a liar He says, have you ever stolen something, even if it's small? He says, yeah He says, what does that make you? He says, a thief Did you know Jesus said if you look at a woman and lust after her you commit adultery with her in your heart? So have you ever done that? He says, yeah, plenty of times So from your own admission, you're a lying, thieving adulterer at heart And you have to face God on judgment day And we've only looked at three of the Ten Commandments But if you hate somebody, you commit murder in your heart And as you go through the commandments they leave us all guilty And the wonderful thing that happens is that the work of the law is written in their hearts He says in Romans 2, verse 15 He says, the conscience bears witness Conscience means with knowledge Con means with Conscience is knowledge So when anybody's lied or stolen or lusted He's not really a cop, but he's done wrong So on the day of judgment, he will be without excuse So the law brings the knowledge of sin You may identify with this, some of you ladies You dust your table down in the morning It's a clean table Then you draw back the curtains And let in the early morning sunlight What do you see on the table? Dust What do you see in the air? Dust Did the light create the dust? No, the light merely exposed the dust And when you and I take the time to draw back the curtains of the Holy of Holies It lets the light of God's law shine upon the sinner's heart So if you feel that in truth The commandment is a lamp And the law is light That's why Paul says, by the commandment Sin became exceedingly sinful In other words, the law showed him Sin in its true light And someone who has this knowledge Can now understand The God who has to be at them That His wrath abides upon them They can see their weight in the balance They know that there is no other way And they know that they can't avoid the judgment of the Lord And they can therefore understand Why Jesus had to die Christ revealed this from the curse of the law Being made a curse for us God commanded His love toward us And while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us We broke the law He paid the price And those who repent and accept What He did on the cross Will be free from the wrath of God Charles Spurgeon A great preacher from a hundred years ago Said they will never accept grace Until they tremble for a holy and just law They will never take the cure Unless they feel convinced they have the disease The law works It converts the soul And makes a man a new creature in Christ He puts his hand to the plow And he doesn't look back Because he is fit for the kingdom So why don't you find yourself a sinner And experiment on them Just try it out See if it works And you can be the example Follow If someone comes to you and says I'm just a terrible sinner I've committed adultery I've got lust burning in my heart I'm filled with jealousy and hatred Give them grace More than likely You'll find people saying I'm really a good person A lot of people worse than me They go about to establish their own righteousness Being ignorant of the righteousness which is of God So you must give them that light God doesn't want you to get decisions He wants people to be saved And for that thing you repent And they will not repent If they don't know what sin is So as I said Try it out But as you do Remember this one story You're sitting on a plane Enjoying your flight And suddenly you hear This is your captain speaking I have an announcement to make The tail section has just fallen off this plane We're about to crash We're 25,000 feet in the air There's a parachute under your seat So we'd appreciate it if you put it on Thank you for your attention And thank you for flying with this airline You put your parachute on Boy, am I glad to be wearing a parachute You look next to the guy next to you Watching a movie Say, excuse me, didn't you hear the captain? What parachute are you on? The captain says I really don't think the captain means it I'm quite happy as I am, thanks Well, don't turn to him And say, please Put the parachute on It'll be better than the movie It doesn't make sense Put the parachute on Because it'll improve the flight You put it on for a wrong motive If you want to put it on and keep it on Tell him about the jump Excuse me Jump without a parachute Splat I'm sorry, I beg your pardon I said if you jump without a parachute Lower of gravity Come around He says, goodness me I see what you're saying Thank you very much As long as that man knows As long as he has knowledge That he has passed through the door To face the consequences Of breaking the law of gravity He'll get that parachute off his back Because his life depends on it If you look around you'll find There are multitudes of passengers enjoying the flight They're enjoying the pleasures of sin for a season Excuse me Did you hear the command from the captain of our salvation Put on the Lord Jesus Christ He turns to you and says I really don't think God means it God is love As long as I'm happy, I'm happy Don't turn to him with zeal without knowledge Say please Give your heart to Jesus He'll give you peace, joy, love, fulfillment He'll fill the God-shaped vacuum in your heart He'll fill your marriage He'll help your alcohol problem He'll help your drug problem Just give your heart to Jesus No, you'll give him a wrong motive for his commitment Instead say God give me courage And tell him about the jump Say if you die without the Savior The point of a man wants to die Without political judgment If you've lost and you've committed adultery If you've hated the Lord If you've hated someone you've committed murder If you've told one lie, you're a liar You're a lay of wrath The fist of eternal justice will come down upon you And grind you to pieces Love him Now I'm not talking about hellfire preaching Hellfire preaching will produce fear-filled converts Using God's law will produce fear-filled converts This one comes merely to escape the fires of hell Because the law wasn't used to show him he deserves hell He doesn't appreciate God's mercy There's no gratitude in his heart But this one comes knowing he's sinned against heaven He's violated the law of a holy God And on the day of justice God was to lay out all his sins as evidence of his guilt Almighty God in his holiness Pick up an unclean thing And cast him into hell But instead he's given him heaven He's commanded his love to water him And what is he the sinner Christ died for? He falls on his knees In the blood-sodden soil of Calvary's cross He cries, O God, if you do that for me, I'll do anything for you I'd like to do your will, O my God The law of the Lord is written upon my heart And like the man who knew he had to pass through the door Like the man who refused to jump off the parachute Like the man who broke the law of gravity Like the man who wears the parachute Like the man who comes before Jesus Christ Knowing he has to face the holy God on the day of wrath Because his very life depends on it Such converts become soul winners Not pew warmers Laborers Not layabouts Assets Not liabilities For the local church Let's bear in prayer as we close Father, we pray that we'd be as the Bereans And search the Scriptures to see if these things are so And that we'd examine ourselves To see if we're in the faith Father, if we're not Let us make our calling and election sure I'm praying, O God, forgive me, I'm a sinner By exercising repentance towards God And faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ In his name we pray Amen