Repent and Be Saved or Stay Lost & Go to Hell Eternally

by Pastor Jim Feeney, Ph.D.

Summary:  Hell as described in the Bible is a horrible place of fiery eternal torment, a place that you never want to see. By contrast, heaven is described as unimaginably glorious. It is the destination of all who in this life receive Jesus personally as Lord and Savior. The next 10 minutes may be the most important of your life…and your eternity!

2 Corinthians 7:10  Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.

The Bible makes it very clear that repentance for sins is absolutely necessary for us to receive God’s promised salvation. Jesus Christ said, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:3,5). What is biblical repentance? Nelson’s New Christian Dictionary (p. 654) defines it as “contrition, the acknowledgment and condemnation of one’s own sins together with a turning back toward God…it includes sorrow, confession, and a determination not to sin again.”

Why do we need to repent of our sins in order to be saved? The basic reason, as the prophet Isaiah declared (Isaiah 59:2, KJV), is that “your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.” And God is “pure and cannot stand the sight of evil” (Habakkuk 1:3, NLT). God Almighty is entirely holy and righteous. The sins of mankind put a separation between the sinner and the perfectly holy God. Without “repentance unto salvation” (2 Corin. 7:10, KJV) all will remain separated from God, will experience God’s judgment of their sins, and will be doomed forever to hell fire.

Jesus Himself spoke of hell and its continual fire in very sobering terms: “the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:22) … “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell”? (Matthew 23:33) … “into hell, where the fire never goes out” (Mark 9:43) … “thrown into hell, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched’” (Mark 9:47-48). Hell is a terrible place of eternal torment. It is a place where those who reject the Lord’s salvation are “condemned to hell.” Revelation 14:9-11 describes some persons in the end times who end up in hell and says, “They will be tormented with burning sulfur … and the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.” Avoid hell at all costs! Is there a solution, a “fire escape”? Absolutely! See the two following verses, which show the way to pass from damnation in hell into God’s merciful salvation and the promise of an indescribably glorious eternal life in His presence.

Acts 3:19, NLT  Now repent of your sins and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.

Acts 20:21  [The apostle Paul wrote] I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

Jesus said, “…no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again… You must be born again” (John 3:3,7). And He added further: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). The new birth—theologians call it regeneration—comes from a twofold response of the lost sinner to God’s grace, as in the two verses above: (1) turn to God in sincere repentance for our sins, and (2) believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to take upon Himself the penalty due to our sins. He died (and rose again) for us, so that our “sins may be wiped away,” and we in turn receive eternal life through Him. This is God’s gracious solution to our sin problem — salvation through repentance and faith in His crucified and resurrected Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, this is the Gospel, the Good News of salvation, in a nutshell: “By this gospel you are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day” (1 Corinthians 15:2-4).

Jesus the eternal “Word” (John 1:1) fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah by leaving heaven and being conceived into humanity in the womb of a virgin named Mary. Why did He do this? The answer is found in the words of the angel who spoke to Joseph about Christ’s prophecy-fulfilling conception and birth through the virgin Mary: “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God with us’)” [Matthew 1:21-23].

The bottom line? Why did God send Jesus? Very simply, Jesus the Son of God came from heaven to earth “to seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). “Lost” in what way? — being “dead in trespasses and sins” (Ephesians 2:1, KJV), separated from God who is too pure, too holy to look upon unrepented evil. So God sent His beloved Son from heaven to earth to live, minister, and then die for our sins—a perfect sacrifice on behalf of evil, imperfect sinners. Jesus redeemed and reconciled back to God all who will repent of their sins while having sincere faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. In so doing, the former lost sinner is born again and becomes a son or daughter of God (2 Corinthians 6:18), an heir of God's promise of eternal life in the presence of the Lord God Almighty and His Son, the Savior Jesus Christ.

An eternity-affecting appeal: Every man or woman who ever lives and dies on earth will pass from this life into one of two places: to the fiery torments of hell for rejecting God’s salvation through Jesus Christ, or into the indescribable glories of heaven. It meant so much to God the Father to offer you access to heaven that He sent His own beloved Son Jesus to die, not for Himself (He never sinned), but for you, to redeem you from the damnation due to your sins. The Bible says, “Now is the day of salvation” (2 Corinthians 6:2). If you haven’t yet turned to the Lord, this is your day of salvation. You don’t have to earn it; you can’t earn it. It’s entirely by God’s goodness, love, and grace. I encourage you to allow the late, respected evangelist Billy Graham’s webpage here assist you in becoming a fully forgiven, born-again child of God. You'll be eternally glad that you did!

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©2020, James H. Feeney.
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