Sin, Hell, Judgment Survey

I've been thinking about the popular preaching today and the types of preachers people always like and speak well of. They all seem to have one thing in common, they never warn about sin, hell, or judgment.

Much preaching today seems to be just motivational speaking covered over with Christian language. It's mostly, I feel, just a "make people feel good" and "talk about things that are positive" type preaching. And the result is a sort of hippie Christianity, rather then a holy Christianity.

For that reason; sin, hell, and judgment are almost entirely never ever spoken about.

So here's the survey - why? Why do preachers do that?

I figured that many preachers do not talk about sin, hell, and judgment for many reasons:

1. They are hirelings. They have their eye on their congregations wallet and simply want large tithes, so they give the people want they want lest they offend them.

2. They just want to be liked and popular. And so they too will just give the people what they want. They want the praises of men but not the praises of God. They will talk about "love, love, love" all day long, but never talk about "sin, hell, or judgment" lest they become an unpopular or an unliked preacher.

3. They want to build up their own kingdom rather then the Kingdom of God. They will not employ God's methods and preach God's message to build God's Kingdom because they want to employ whatever methods, and preach whatever message it takes, for them to build up their own kingdom.

4. They got their theology from school or from Church but not from God or the bible.

5. They don't really love people. If they loved them, they would warn them. But it might be possible that some of the devils men have taken control of the pulpit. It just might be possible.

6. They don't really believe that the wages of sin is death, that hell is a place where souls burn eternally, and that judgment is ever getting closer and closer. If they did, they would warn and preach about these things.

7. They simply aren't saved themselves. Why would they talk about sin, hell, and judgment to sinners when those things did not play any sort of roll at all when they "came to Christ." They don't preach the true gospel and have biblical ministries because they were "turned unto God" by a false gospel and false ministries.

These are just my quick thoughts. What are your thoughts? Some of the above? All of the above? None of the above? Did I miss any reasons? Why don't preachers today simply preach the truth of the bible - especially sin, hell, and judgment?

It's really time that we take a step back and examine and judge these things. Because these preachers, these wolves that look and talk like sheep, are ruining Christians, polluting Christianity, and damning souls.

Someone recently said to me, "You can't turn off a radio that is already off." There is some very important truth in that.

I thought of another reason why some preachers don't warn sinners of these things. They know the truth, they have read the truth, but they are not grieved or burdened over it. They never agonize or weep or mourn over these truths. They are hard and cold.

I hate that.

A preacher is to work hand in hand with the Holy Spirit. It's not that the Holy Spirit does one thing and we are to do the exact opposite. Rather the scripture teaches that a preacher is to work with the Holy Spirit.

Yes, the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. But preachers also are suppose to, "by sound doctrine, both to exhort AND convict those who contradict." So it is the role of the Spirit to convict. And it is the responsibility of the preacher to convict.

Paul had this relationship with the Holy Spirit.

This is what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would do, "And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" Joh 16:8

And this is what Paul did: "reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid" Ac 24:25

What the Holy Spirit is pressing on a sinner is what a preacher must press upon a sinner. The Holy Spirit confirms the preacher and the preacher confirms the Holy Spirit. They work side by side, working towards the same goal, not against one another, working towards opposite goals.

I wrote extensively on this on an article called "The Help of the Holy Spirit": https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/articles/index.php?view=article&aid=14600

The problem today is that many preachers are not full of the Holy Spirit, and are actually counter productive to what the Spirit is trying to do.

Sin

Here are some good quotes that pertain to the thread discussion topic:

"I believe that [b]one of the[/b] chief wants of the Church in the nineteenth century has been, and is, clearer, fuller teaching about sin."

"Awful and tremendous as the right view of sin undoubtedly is, no one need faint and despair if he will take a [b]right view of Jesus Christ[/b] at the same time."

"It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that there is a vast quantity of so-called Christianity now-a-days which you cannot declare positively unsound, but which, nevertheless, is not full measure, good weight, and sixteen ounces to the pound. It is a Christianity in which there is undeniably 'something about Christ, and something about grace, and something about faith, and something about repentance, and something about holiness' but not the real thing as it is in the Bible. Things are out of place, and out of proportion, As old Latimer would have said, it is a kind of 'mingle-mangle' [b]and does no good[/b]."

..."I know nothing so likely to counteract this modern plague as [b]constant clear statements[/b] about the nature, reality, vileness, power and guilt of sin."

Yes, "sin, hell, and judgment" would be considered "bad news". But it's God's news! It's bible news! And it's the news that Jesus Christ and the Apostles preached, along with the good news of salvation. But in this case, the good news doesn't make any sense if people do not understand the bad news. People won't understand that they need forgiveness if they don't understand that God is angry with them and will cast them to hell unless they repent. They won't understand being born again unless they understand the bondages of sin.

Telling someone that they have a deadly disease would be considered "bad news". But until they believe that they have this disease, the "good news" of a cure will not make sense. Neither will a person who thinks they are healthy apply the cure until they are first convinced of the disease. The "bad news" of sin, hell, and judgment must come before the "good news" of Jesus Christ crucified for sinners.

I thought of another reason why some preachers will not tell their listeners about sin, hell, and judgment. It's simply because they have willfull sin in their own life that they refuse to repent of. So how can they warn others about sin, tell others they are heading for judgment and hell, when they are in the same state and the same condition as their listeners.

The one who does not preach against sin is living is sin!

That is a quote worth remembering and using.

If any man is willing to let sin live, that man must be willfully living in sin

Martin Luther said, "so preach, that those who do not fall out from their sin will fall out from thee."