Sermon Central
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Friends Don’t Let Friends Die Lost
Contributed by Jerry Shirley on Sep 26, 2007 (message contributor)
Summary: If you would take the car keys away from a drunk then you should witness to a friend. Going - Weeping - Sowing - Reaping. Deathbed quotes illustrate how real hell is. Link included to formatted text, audio, and PowerPoint Pres.
Friends Don’t Let Friends Die Lost
Ps. 126:5, 6; II Cor. 4:3
http://gbcdecatur.org/sermons/FriendsDieLost.html
Would you pull out your garden hose to help save your neighbor from a fire? If you were a doctor, would you be able to tell someone if they had a terminal disease? How about if you had the cure? That makes it easier doesn’t it? If you would take the car keys away from a drunk then you should witness to a friend. If you would sit by the bedside of an ailing family member then you should invite them to church.
God has called upon the people of GBC to buckle down and make the big decisions about life and eternity and what is truly important, and to set our priorities upon getting the gospel out and personally leading people to Jesus and salvation. And God has called me to lead you to do it!
When God looks down on Decatur He sees 2 kinds of people:
You say, yeah, black and white…no!
Democrats / republicans…rich / poor…no!
• Saved or
• Lost
—on way to heaven or hell!
In the Bible, unredeemed, unforgiven sinners are regarded as LOST, not this politically correct term, ’unsaved.’ [Eternity challenged]
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:
Mt. 15:24
But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.
Amazing Grace…I once was LOST…
What does it mean to die lost?
The best description I can give would come by some deathbed quotes from some who died lost:
[we don’t hear as many of these today because of modern drugs / we keep people doped up / die unconscious often]
Author, Voltaire, atheist who fought Christianity:
“I am abandoned by God and man, I shall go to hell!” He died lost!
• Voltaire note: His condition had become so frightful at the time of his death that his infidel associates left his bedside. His nurse said repeatedly, "For all the wealth of Europe I would never see another infidel die!"
Thomas Hobbs: “I am taking a fearful leap into the dark!”
Sir Thomas Scott, Chancellor of England:
“Until this moment I thought there was neither God nor hell, now I know that there are both and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment of the Almighty!”
Charles IX King of France: “what blood, what murders, what evil counsels I have followed…I am lost, I see it well.”
"I am suffering the pangs of the damned!" - Tallyrand
"I’m lost! Lost! Lost!", "Damned! Damned forever!!" – Adams [His agony was so great that he tore hair out of his head as he died.]
"Stay with me! Stay with me, for God’s sake! I cannot bear to be left alone!" - Thomas Paine
"The devils are come! The devils are come! Hell and damnation!"
"Give me more Opium, that I may not think of eternity!" - Mirabeau
"I can see the old devil in the bedroom!" - A. T. Adams note: he said this in fear, not as a joke.
"Devils are in the room, ready to drag my soul down to hell!" - Brown
"Hell! Hell! Hell!" - Kay [his family fled in terror from the house as he screamed this.]
"What argument is there now to assist me against matters of fact? Do I assert there is no hell while I feel one in my own bosom? That there is a God I know, because I continually feel the effect of His wrath. That there is a hell, I am equally certian, having received an earnest of my inheritance already in my own breast." - Sir Francis Newport
"THE FOOL HATH SAID IN HIS HEART THERE IS NO GOD" - GOD HIMSELF Psalm 14:1
Compare that with George Washington’s final utterance: "Doctor, I am dying, but I... am... not... afraid." It is reported that he then folded his hands over his chest and ended his days on earth by saying, "It is well."
Two days after collapsing on the floor of the House of Representatives of a stroke, John Quincy Adams said, "This is the last of earth! I am content."
And Patrick Henry told his doctor as he lay dying: "I wish you to observe how real and beneficial the religion of Christ is to a man about to die." [give me liberty or give me death!]
