Bold Words from a Young Preacher

This week our congregation had the privilege of hearing Eric Hoover preach. Eric is a member of our youth group and he will be starting his freshman year of high school in the fall. Below is Eric's sermon - I have included it verbatim and have only edited to highlight Scripture. I hope it touches you like it did our congregation. Blessings, Brian.

Good morning! My name’s Eric Hoover, for those of you who don’t know me. The sermon that I’m about to preach, I did come up with on my own, but some of the material was inspired by three of the greatest influences in my Christian walk right now, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Paul Washer. I would encourage everybody, Google them, Youtube them, go buy books by them, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, and Paul Washer. They’re amazing pastors and authors and they can really help you in your walk with God. Alright, I’ll open with some Scripture, and then we’ll pray.

Matthew 7:13-14: “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”

Pray with me: Father God, thank you for your presence here today. I humbly ask that you use my words to change people’s lives for your glory. Use me, a humble servant, to communicate truth so that no one in this building will walk out unchanged. Give me the right words to say through your Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Now before I begin today, I want to make sure that I don’t come across as a judgmental, pharisaical, freak, but just come across as a person telling the truth. For your information, I hate religion! Religious people like to talk a lot about other people’s sin but they don’t deal with their own sin. So I confess, I’m no better than anybody else, I’m just as bad as everybody else, and I pray that you would see me as that! Not as some judgmental dude looking down on you. My job is to tell you the truth. Your job is to make a decision.

So are you a Christian? Think about it. I think that everybody in this building would claim to be a Christian. 

Well obviously, that’s probably not true, that everybody in this building is a real Christian, regarding the Bible verses I just read at the beginning. To refresh your memory, It said “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” That’s not popular. It’s not popular to say that, 100 years from now, possibly even some of the people in this building will be suffering in hell. So how do you know that you’re a true Christian? I mean, we’ve all said the sinner’s prayer at sometime in our life. Most of us were baptized as infants. But neither of those save you!  The problem is, we don’t understand the Gospel, and we don’t trust in Jesus – that’s why might be on our way to hell. We are sinful. Human beings are fallen. We are imperfect. Genesis tells us how God created humans in His image and likeness, and we rebelled against him. Adam sinned against God. As a result, all human beings, including you and me, are sinful and undeserving and unworthy of God. 

Sin is plainly rebellion against God. We have sins of omission, where we do not do good, and sins of commission, where we do do bad. Sin is lying, cheating, stealing, lusting, committing adultery, murdering which is even hating someone in your heart, etc. etc. We are all sinful, fallen, and guilty. God’s standard is perfection. Matthew 5:48 says “Be perfect, as I am perfect.” A good Judge has to declare guilty people guilty! And if you don’t think you’re guilty, if you don’t think you’ve ever sinned and if you think you’re perfect, then you are prideful, which is the worst sin of all! That’s what got Lucifer, the devil, kicked out of heaven. 

This is what Romans 3:23 says. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” “All” includes you and me. There are no exceptions. You are guilty. I am guilty. We are all guilty. We have all sinned and rebelled against God – we have done what He has told us not to do, and not done what he has told us to do! So get it out of your mind that we are basically good people, who do a few bad things – contrary to what our culture tells us. We are bad people. We are sinners by nature. If you think that you are a good person, then read Romans 3. I don’t have time to read the whole chapter, but part of it, starting at verse 10, says “None is righteous, no not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” And on to verse 15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood, in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”  So it’s pretty clear that we’re sinful and rebellious against God.

God hates sin. God has to punish sin. Isaiah 13:11 (this is God speaking) “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity.” Nahum 1:2, 8 says this. “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies…With an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.” We, by nature, since we are sinful, are God’s adversaries, or his enemies. God has to punish our sin. Habbakuk 1:13 says “You (God) who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong.” Romans 2:8 reads “But for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury.” 

God’s wrath is spoken of more than 600 times in the Bible. It is spoken of more than the love of God. And that’s not popular in our culture. The wrath of God the punishment of sin and evil. Ultimately, the wrath of God is hell. As I speak about hell, I do so not to scare you, but to warn you. Some say “If he really loved me, then he wouldn’t talk about this.” Or “Isn’t your faith supposed to be kept to yourself and not to be made public?” 

Friends, it is because I love you that I’m about to speak these words. If I didn’t tell you about hell, I wouldn’t be loving you. My job is to tell you the truth. Your job is to make a decision. And also, as we talk about hell, we have to be sure not to become callous and heartless, because real people are actually going there to spend eternity! The problem is, we do not understand how severe and damnable our sin is. Jesus, the most loving person who ever lived, spoke of hell more than anyone else in the Bible. Hell is conscious. You can feel incredible, horrific pain – that’s what the Bible says. Hell is eternal torment. It’s forever and ever and ever. Once you get in, you don’t get out. In the Bible, it is described as fire, darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth. Hell is real. Judgment is real. Death is real. Friends, you are going to die! You don’t know when you will die. A 16 year old friend of mine who was on my brother’s soccer team got killed in a car accident this past March! Nobody saw it coming except for God. Death is real! Some of you have many years left, and some of you might not make it through today.

So how is it possible to not go to hell? Well, let me just introduce that by saying this again. I HATE RELIGION. Religion is a list of do’s and don’t’s, saying “if you are a good enough person, you’ll get to heaven.” No, that’s not true at all! Religion also says “You really want to do evil and do the wrong thing, but we’re going to make you do good.  Even if you don’t like it. I’m going to talk about hell, and get all spooky, to scare you into doing the right thing.”

 That’s not true at all! That’s not why I’m talking about hell. I’m talking about hell because I’m warning you, and because I love you. Well, it’s clear in the Bible that doing good things doesn’t save you. Galatians 4:11 says “Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith.” Isaiah 64:6 says “All our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” That means if you try to get to God by doing good things, then that’s even worse, because you’re prideful. No matter how many good things we do, there is no possible way we can meet God’s standard – which is perfection. We are all full of sin. 

So, if doing good things doesn’t save us, then what does? How are we justified in God’s sight? How is it possible to be declared holy, innocent, and righteous in God’s eyes when we are undeniably not innocent, unholy, and unrighteous? 

Friends, the answer is Jesus. Too many people make the mistake of treating Jesus like a good moral teacher, or a good example to live by, or a person with good quotes to use. Too many people treat the God-man like just a good-man. Jesus is God. He came to earth and lived a perfect life – He didn’t sin – and then died for our sin on the cross. Now, you need to know this. This is important. Jesus died for my sins in my place when He was crucified. 2 Corinthians 5:21 says “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is what Martin Luther calls the Great Exchange. 

Jesus takes our sin, guilt, death, and condemnation, and punishment that we all rightfully deserve – we all deserve hell – and He gives us righteousness, justification, and a new life. 1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. Through Jesus’ death on the cross, we are justified, or made righteous, in God’s eyes. 

Friends, somebody has to pay for your sin. God is a just and holy God. Somebody has to take the wrath of God. You’ve sinned. You deserve condemnation. Jesus took the condemnation for you. That is what we believe! That is the very center of Christianity! Some of you have been going to church your whole life, and you’ve just missed the point! The whole point of Christianity is Jesus! It’s Jesus – he’s God, he comes to earth as a man, lives a perfect life, dies for our sins on the cross, takes the punishment that we all deserve, and then rises from the grave to triumph over Satan and prove He’s God. 

All that’s left is to have faith in Christ – to trust in Jesus, and repent and turn from your sin! That is the Gospel. That is what we believe! 1 John 2:2 – “He (talking about Jesus) is the propitiation for our sins.” “Propitiation” is just a fancy word for payment.  God punished Jesus instead of punishing us. It’s not fair. It’s a gift. It’s called grace. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works so that no one can boast.” Jesus already paid for your sin. 

John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The Greek word for “believe” does not mean “believe that He exists.” The “believe” in John 3:16 means “to trust in” or “to rely on”. Turn from your sin, and trust in Jesus!

True faith in Christ is preceded and followed by repentance. Jesus says twice in three verses in Luke chapter 13 “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Everybody that has ever lived has two options – Repent and turn to Jesus, or perish! Friends, those are the only options! Either repent, or perish! 

What is repentance? Repentance is three things. Number 1, it’s confession. It’s just confessing your sins to God. 1 John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Repentance is confession. Number 2, repentance is contrition. It is actually being sorry about your sin. It’s being contrite. You can confess your sin and not be sorry about it! Psalm 51:17 “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.” Repentance is being deeply sorrowed by your sin. Number 3, repentance is also change. It’s turning from your sin and trusting in Jesus. The thing that I love about Jesus is that, once you meet him, once you say “Jesus, I’m sorry, I’m unworthy and deserve hell, please justify me by your blood on the cross, please save me!” 

The thing I love about Jesus is that, once He saves you, He never leaves you the same. You can’t claim that you are a Christian, and then not change! You can’t meet Jesus, and stay the exact same way for the rest of your life! Jesus changes everything! There’s no doubt that good works and doing good things don’t save you. Ephesians 2:8-10 says “For by grace you have been saved, through faith. And this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one can boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” And remember, I hate religion! Again, religion says, “Even though you want to do wrong, we’re going to make you do right!” Well that’s not true! If you truly have been saved by Jesus, you’re going to want to do good things! 

You’re not going to want to lie, cheat, steal, lust, have pride, commit adultery, hate somebody, etc. etc. You’re not going to want to do any of that because Christ gives you a new heart! Christ changes you from the inside out. Real Christians lead a life of good works and real Christians bear fruit. Jesus said in Matthew 7: “You will know them by their fruits.” So it’s impossible to truly come to Christ, get saved, and remain unchanged. So do your works show that you truly do have faith in Christ? John Piper writes in his book Don’t Waste Your Life: “I believe in justification by grace through faith. But I do not believe that the faith that justifies could ever leave people unchanged by the radical Christ they claim to believe. That is a cheap response to the Gospel.” 

So many people today are fake Christians. They were never saved in the first place. A fake Christian is a person who claims to follow Christ, but lives just as worldly as everybody else. It greatly disturbs me when I see people, especially young people, tear up at praise and worship services, and go up for altar calls and get all emotional at some Christian youth camp, and then not do a thing for Jesus the rest of their life! Such a person is lukewarm – they are neither on fire for Jesus nor working against Jesus. You know what Jesus says he will do to such people? Revelation 3:16 – “So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” If you truly have been saved by faith in Jesus Christ, you will hate the things of this world. 1 John 2:15-17 says “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” 

Many people today claim to follow Christ but yet love the things of the world – they act like the world, they use the same language as the world, they dress like the world, they listen to the same music and watch the same evil television programs of the world, they love so much of the world! 1 John tells us that that person is not a real Christian. The love of the Father is not in that person. James 2:14, 17 says “What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.” Dead faith is not faith at all. See, if you truly turn to Jesus in the first place, it’s going to show by your works. So don’t assume that you are a Christian because you were baptized as an infant, or you asked Jesus to come into your heart when you were a kid, or you said the sinner’s prayer at sometime in your life!

Do you really trust Christ, and do your works show that you trust in Christ? If you claim to follow Jesus and remain unchanged, you’re not a Jesus follower. The Bible says you’re a child of the devil.

1 John 3:6 says “No one who lives in Him (Jesus) keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.” That means, if there’s a continuous pattern of sinfulness in your life, you haven’t met Jesus. If you really did meet Jesus, your works would show it. If you have a continual pattern of sin in your life, you are probably on your way to hell.

Now, I’m not saying that just because you fall and sin every once in a while that you’re not a true believer – but I am saying what I’ve already said. Real Christians bear fruit. Not that the fruit saves us; Jesus saves us.

So are you really a Christian? I’m not asking if you claim to follow Christ. I’m asking if you have surrendered everything to Him and are living for his glory – not living for retirement, not living for your reputation, not living for wealth, but living for Christ! That’s what I’m asking! Has Jesus saved you? If you’re not sure, he hasn’t. 

Turn to Jesus now! Don’t wait another day! Friends, if you do not know Jesus, if you do not trust in Jesus, if you do not love Jesus, you are in the path of the wrath of God! We are all guilty; we are all sinners. We all deserve hell. But Jesus did the most loving thing 2000 years ago when he humbly came, took our place on the cross, took the punishment we all rightfully deserve, and then he Resurrected from the grave to triumph over Satan, sin, death, demons and hell. Don’t remain resistant to the Gospel one more day. Repent and have faith in Christ; that’s the only way out of your present sinful condition. He will set you free from sin to live a new life for Christ’s glory alone.

I know that I’ve spoken some strong words today. But it takes a lot of love to not tell someone just what they want to hear. I pray that I wouldn’t come across as a judgmental Pharisee but just as the sinner that I am.

Father God, thank you for giving us the truth in your Word. Thank you for saving me, the worst of sinners, and if anybody in this room does not have you, I pray that they would be saved today. I pray for these people; I love these people. I pray for those who would see me as some pharisaical judgmental religious person – I pray that they would just see me as a sinner, trying to tell other sinners the truth. I pray that they would receive you, and that they not remain stubborn-hearted to the Gospel for one more second. And I also pray for some who have been lukewarm in their walk with You, Father God, that they would repent, and see that there is more joy in living a life for Your glory than for living for their own glory. I pray this Jesus’ name. Amen.