E.A. Johnston warns that a diluted gospel leads to false assurance and eternal damnation, urging sinners to repent genuinely and trust fully in Christ for salvation.
In this powerful evangelistic sermon, E.A. Johnston confronts the dangers of a diluted gospel that leads many to false assurance and eternal damnation. He calls listeners to genuine repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, emphasizing the necessity of being born again and trusting fully in Christ as the only way to salvation. Johnston passionately warns against empty religious professions and urges all to respond to God's invitation to find rest and eternal life in Christ.
Full Transcript
The tragedy of this hour, friends, is a counterfeit gospel produces counterfeit Christians who live unto themselves and are full of the world and wedded to their sins and who mistakenly believe they are saved and on their way to heaven. But when the sad reality is they swallowed a diluted perverted gospel that will only harden them in their sins and damn them to hell when they die. They have a false assurance and a false peace produced by the devil as they rest upon a false foundation of sand and sit upon a rotten plank board of carnal security because all they had was an empty religious profession without Christ.
And they joined a church believing church membership was salvation. They listened to a pastor or evangelist who said, God loves you, friend. Just accept Jesus as your personal savior and put your trust in him.
Just place your trust in him, friend, like you trust that chair you're sitting on to support you. Being saved is as simple as that. Come and accept Jesus now, friend, and make it public because Jesus said, for whosoever should be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed.
So come forward, friend. Come forward and come down front and make it public and say yes to Jesus. That's right.
Come to Jesus and you can be assured that heaven is yours. And the sad fact is, friends, many came and walked that aisle and accepted Jesus like they would take a piece of chewing gum and chew it on him for a little while till the flavor went out of their religion. But that's how most folks got in our churches today.
And they got to church because they did what the preacher told them to do. And they believed the preacher when he told them they were now saved. They swallowed a gospel full of hell fire.
And I believe in my heart they are. There's entire congregations in hell at this hour. And their pastor's name is just a cuss word in hell.
I believe the product of the modern gospel for the last 60 years has filled hell with unconverted church members who were never warned of their great and imminent danger of dying in their sins outside of Christ and having a terrible judgment awake them. That God commands all men everywhere to repent. And that unless and until they repent and turn to the Lord in their utter helplessness, they will surely die in their sins beneath the condemnation of a holy God and be sent to a devil's hell.
Because they were never washed in the blood and born from above, they missed Christ entirely and missed heaven for all eternity. To tell a sin-loving, holiness-hating, wicked sinner that all he has to do to be saved is to just accept Jesus is not true. Because God's word is plain that sinners must repent and turn from their wicked ways.
Jesus declared, unless you repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And in Isaiah 55 we read, let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. I feel sorry for the good men now dead who preached a perverted gospel and realized too late in eternity, the eternity of regret, that their entire ministry was merely wood, hay and straw.
And I feel sorry for the unconverted church member right now who is still in this world and still loves this world and still in their sins and their hope of heaven is nothing more than a hole in the wall that all their good works are just to be repented of, for they were done in the flesh as they climbed and scratched their way to heaven on a rope of sand. And that the foundation they rest upon is nothing more than a rotten plank board soon to break as they fall headlong into that bottomless pit, clutching only an empty religious profession. That when they face Christ on judgment day, all they will hear him say is, depart from me, all ye who work iniquity, away from me, I never knew you.
Because the gospel they swallowed was full of hellfire, preached by men who were lost themselves and who together burn in the agonies of hell's fire forever and ever. Now listen to me, friend, before it's too late, I have been true to your soul and I have warned you to escape the penalty of sin and to exercise repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the substitute for sin. I know I am a sinner and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ and so do you, friend, so do you.
For the gospel to be applied, you must feel your need, you must admit you're a lost sinner who deserves nothing but hell and you need to take your place at the foot of the cross and come to a sovereign, empty-handed and helpless as a seeker of mercy. If you get saved, friend, it's because God gave you saving faith. Those who come under Holy Spirit conviction repent of their sins and turn from their wicked ways and come to Christ believing on him.
Listen, friend, you must be born again. What this means is you must be washed in the blood and born from above. As I close this message, it is my hope and prayer that God opens your eyes and performs a work of grace in your heart and that you take your place before him as a lost guilty sinner in need of a Savior.
Now listen to the words of Christ Jesus. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Listen, friends, the gospel is for the hungry, the weary, and the thirsty. Are you hungry for God? Are you thirsty for Christ? Then come, lay your burden down.
Are you thirsty for Christ? Then listen to God's invitation. And the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let him that heareth say, come.
And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Listen to the words of Christ.
If any man, that means any man, thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Listen to me, awakened sinner friend.
Christ is the bread of life. He invites poor sinners to come to him and believe on him. The duty required is to come to Christ.
And he has a pure gospel promise to all who come. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. Let us pray.
Sermon Outline
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I
- The danger of a counterfeit gospel
- False assurance and carnal security
- Empty religious profession without Christ
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II
- The necessity of true repentance
- God’s command for all men to repent
- The consequences of dying in sin
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III
- The call to genuine faith in Jesus Christ
- Being born again and washed in the blood
- Christ as the only way to the Father
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IV
- Invitation to the weary and thirsty
- The promise of rest and living water
- The duty to come to Christ and believe
Key Quotes
“The tragedy of this hour, friends, is a counterfeit gospel produces counterfeit Christians who live unto themselves and are full of the world and wedded to their sins and who mistakenly believe they are saved and on their way to heaven.” — E.A. Johnston
“To tell a sin-loving, holiness-hating, wicked sinner that all he has to do to be saved is to just accept Jesus is not true.” — E.A. Johnston
“I have been true to your soul and I have warned you to escape the penalty of sin and to exercise repentance toward God in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the substitute for sin.” — E.A. Johnston
Application Points
- Examine your heart to ensure your faith is genuine and not based on a false gospel.
- Respond to God's call to repentance and turn away from sin completely.
- Trust fully in Jesus Christ as your only hope for salvation and eternal life.
