Only Believe Only Hell

I want to tell you the story, friends, of the preacher and 153 fish. This man taught the only-believed gospel from his pulpit in his Baptist church. He was a sincere man who filled his church with the unconverted.

I was one of his members who swallowed that diluted gospel and made a profession of faith and joined his church as a unconverted member. I, like all the other members, were told we were now saved by walking an aisle, repeating a prayer, and accepting Jesus as our personal savior. Like I said, this pastor only preached an only-believed gospel.

He believed in his heart that to have salvation, all you had to do was to believe in Jesus. He preached a simple message that was easy to get hold of and an easy salvation that was easy to have by anyone, anytime. They felt good and ready to have it.

This pastor had a favorite story he liked to tell about what salvation was and how easy it was to get into heaven. He told this story time and time again from his pulpit to his congregation. The story capsulized the only-believed gospel and it demonstrated how damning this half-gospel really is.

Listen to this story, friends, of the preacher and 153 fishes. This pastor's personal physician was Jewish and this Baptist pastor often shared his faith in Jesus with this Jewish doctor who kindly listened but who never had any interest in coming to Christ for salvation. Finally, this Jewish doctor lay dying in the hospital and this pastor went to his friend's bedside to make one more attempt to get this Jewish man to accept his Jesus because this pastor taught that the salvation experience was in the acceptance of Jesus.

As this pastor sat by the bedside of the dying man, he told him the story from John's gospel, chapter 21, of Jesus appearing on the seashore to his disciples after his resurrection, and this pastor related the story of the miracle draw to fish, and this pastor pleaded with his Jewish friend to believe in Jesus. Finally, after listening to this pastor, the Jewish doctor asked him, How many fishes did you say were in that net? He answered, 153. The Jewish man's face lit up and he said, If a God can know the number of fishes in that net, then I believe.

The pastor jumped up in excitement and told the dying man he was now saved, and on leaving the hospital this pastor was so excited in his belief that he just led this man to Jesus that he yelled out a yell outside in the parking lot and threw his car keys up in the air, but it was dark outside and he had a hard time finding them in that dark parking lot. I believe, friends, that pastor's going to have a hard time finding his converts up in heaven because most of them, like that Jewish doctor, died in darkness just as lost as those car keys in that parking lot. Now I say all this to you, friends, because I believe there are a good number of good men out there who are giving folks the wrong message of what salvation is, and although they are good and sincere men, they are part of a generation of pastors who accepted the popular religion of their day that was prominent within their denomination and widely promoted from their pulpits because it gets immediate results.

You can grow a church pretty fast by using these man-centered methodologies, and denominations are focused on church growth more than being true to the souls of men. That Jewish doctor died and split hell wide open because he was told all he had to do to be saved was to believe, so he just believed in a net of fishes and the God of those fishes, but in James we read, Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well, the devils also believe and tremble. Listen to me, friends.

I was a lost church member for years, sitting under the only-believed gospel. Like so many others, I did what the pastor told me to do, and he told me I was saved. It took an act of God to bring me off my false foundations of coronal security and a good opinion of myself.

And by God and his grace and by his preached word and by his spirit, he saved me and showed me that the only-believed gospel of our day is plain heresy, for only-believe is only hell. And that's the title of my message today, friends. Only-believe is only hell.

In Matthew's gospel, in chapter 4 and verse 17, we find the message that Jesus preached. From that time, Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And Jesus declared, They that behold need not a physician, but they that are sick, but go ye and learn what that meaneth.

I will have mercy and not sacrifice, for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And Jesus said, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And that means every victim of the only-believed gospel will one day die in their sins and bust hell wide open.

Don't be one of them, friends. I've given you the oil straight from the can, because what I say I back up with my Bible. Only-believe is only hell.

You must exercise repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. If you miss repentance, you miss Christ. And if you miss Christ, your hope of heaven is only a hole in the wall.

As preachers, we must be careful to preach the full counsel of God. Eternity hangs in the balance, and we will be held accountable to how we dealt with the souls of men. My Bible says in Ezekiel, When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die, and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life.

The same wicked man shall die in his iniquity. A Buddhist blood will I require at thine hand.