In a deeply thought-provoking message, Sharon Knotts addresses why eternal truths can be difficult to accept for many people today. From societal misconceptions to personal pride, the episode navigates through Jesus’ teachings and biblical references to delineate why self-righteousness, fear of relinquishing pleasures, and disregard for divine accountability can lead to spiritual stagnation. Don’t miss this powerful episode that urges listeners to confront these barriers and become effectual witnesses of the truth.
Greetings, friends and new listeners. Thank you for tuning into the R.G. Hardy Ministries program because we know that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. I’m Sharon Knotts, and I’m excited to tell you that today’s message is exactly the tools you need to be an effectual witness of the gospel to unbelievers, sinners, and backsliders. The Holy Spirit downloaded this message into my spirit fast and furiously over a two-day period, and I believe it holds great truths to how we can reach the unsaved, even the most skeptical. It’s entitled, Eight Reasons Some Are Not Saved. Mark 10, 17. And when he, that would be Jesus, was going forth into the way, there came one running and kneeled to him and asked him, good master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He started off calling Jesus good. And Jesus said, why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is God. Let me take one second to say, Jesus was not denying that he was good. He wasn’t refusing the compliment. He was saying, there’s only one good, and that’s God, so if you think I’m good, you are just now confessing that I’m God. I’m sure there were a lot of people standing around that heard that and went, he just said he was God. yes he’d never that’s what he always said amen it’s exactly what he said so if he if he didn’t mean it then he was a liar a lunatic or he really was god you got to decide okay so let’s go on thou knowest the commandments jesus speaking do not commit adultery do not kill do not steal do not bear false witness or do not lie defraud not don’t steal honor thy father and mother And he answered and said unto him, the young man said, Master, all these I have kept from my youth. I told you I’m a good person too. I’m a good guy. I’ve done all these from a little boy. And I love this next verse. Then Jesus beholding him loved him. I want you to know that Jesus loves every sinner. I want you to know there’s not one sinner, whether he’s kind of good like this guy or in the very pit, in the pigsty of sin. Jesus loves the sinner. And don’t ever forget that when you’re talking to a sinner. Remember, Jesus died for them. If you see that person as someone Jesus died for, it will greatly influence the way you treat them and how you speak to them. He loved him, and he said, but you lack one thing. Go your way, sell whatever you have, give to the poor, and then you’ll have treasure in heaven, and then you can come and take up your cross and follow me. But he was sad at that saying, and he went away grieved, for he had many possessions. Now notice here that Jesus stated that the young man, that he loved him, we see that he loved him, but the young man stated that he had kept all the commandments. Didn’t he say, I kept all the commandments from my youth? But that wasn’t true, was it? Because Jesus pointed out, well, you didn’t exactly keep the first commandment, you shall have no other gods before you. Because obviously your money is your God. Because you don’t want to give your money up, see? In his case, money was his God. So Jesus was saying, now wait a minute here. You haven’t kept them all. And you obviously have not kept number 10, thou shalt not covet. Or thou shalt not be greedy. Because obviously, now you’re put to the test. And he said, wait a minute. He was not willing. He was not willing. The Lord doesn’t ask everybody that gets saved, sell your house, sell your car, and give everything away. He only does it to people that are greedy and that are covetous, and money is their God. Because you can read in Luke, and I’m not going to go there, but you can read about Zacchaeus, who was a rich man, and he was a very bad sinner. He wasn’t a nice guy like this guy. He was the bad kind of sinner. This guy was a good sinner, and Zacchaeus was a bad sinner because he stole from people. He stole off the Jews to give to the Romans and to put in his own pocket. But when he came to be saved, Jesus didn’t tell him to sell all he had and give it to the poor. Why not? Because Zacchaeus didn’t have a covetous heart. On his own accord, he said, Lord, whatever I’ve got, I’m going to sell. And I’m going to give fourfold back to everybody that I stole from. And I’m going to give to the poor because he didn’t have a covetous heart. He was willing to do it on his own, but not this young man. His God was money. So Jesus had to speak a tough thing to him. It was not meant to hurt him, but it was to show him that money was his God and that he was trusting in his own goodness. Because he wanted to know how he was going to inherit eternal life. And that means go to heaven. So he was trusting in his own goodness that that was going to get him in. And I want to tell you that there are millions of people today that are in the same boat. They’re trusting in their own goodness. But let me tell you something. Jesus only came to save sinners. He didn’t come to save so-called good people. Before you can be saved, you’ve got to acknowledge the fact that you’re a sinner. Because the Bible says in Romans 3, 23, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is none righteous, no, not one. Amen? So that means that you have got to receive from Jesus because the Bible says in Ephesians 2, 8, 9, for by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works. Lest any man should boast. And how many know we will definitely boast like he did. Titus 3, 5. He said that it’s not by works of righteousness that he has saved us, but by his mercy he has washed us and regenerated us by the washing of the water. Amen? It’s his mercy, nothing that we’ve done. So I don’t care if you are a good person compared to that person or compared to this person. I ask you, who wants to be the best sinner that goes to hell? So if everybody on your job calls you good, in your family, in your community, if they give you an award for humanitarian goodness, you are a great person. And they put your picture on the front page of the Baltimore Sun and the New York Times and the Washington Post and all of that, and everybody knows you’re a good person according to the standards of the world. But you do not know Jesus. You might be the best sinner that goes to hell. But I don’t want that prize, do you? That’s one prize somebody else can have. Amen? So, first of all, we see that they are deceived because of blindness. Amen? They’re spiritually blind. All right. Now, number two, on the opposite end of the spectrum, we have people, the truth be told, they do not want to give up their sinful lives. They’re not ready to quit sinning. Amen? Turn with me to John, the third chapter. John 3, 16, we all know that. We’ll start there and we’ll keep going. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, I love the gospel because it’s a whosoever gospel, believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Now listen to this. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned. But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now here’s the condemnation. He explains it. That light has come into the world. Who is the light? Jesus said, I’m the light. Light has come into the world, and men have loved darkness rather than light. They have chosen darkness over light. They have chosen darkness over Jesus Christ, because… Their deeds were evil for everyone that doeth evil hates the light. Why? That is because he hates the light and neither will come to the light because his deeds should be reproved or his deeds will be exposed and shown to be what they are, evil. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God. So Jesus says that there are people that love darkness because Because they’re not ready to give up their sin. They’re not ready to quit sinning. And let me tell you something. Sin grows in darkness. That’s why if there’s sin in your life, you’re going to have to bring it to the light. And if you’re an honest, hearted person, then Jesus will shine the light of his truth. Amen? But see, what the problem with some is, they don’t want to give up their sin yet. Because the light of truth reproves the wicked. But I like the other end of it. It also reveals the righteous. I love the light. Shine on me, Jesus. Shine on your people. Amen. The only people afraid to come to the light, the only people that are afraid to sometimes to go to church is because they’re afraid the light’s going to shine in their dark heart and they’re not ready to give up their sin. And that’s a shame. Turn to Ephesians, the fifth chapter, Ephesians five verses 11 through 13. and have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. For it is a shame to even speak of those things which are done of them in secret. The stuff that goes on in the darkness, it’s a shame. It would make you blush to even speak of it. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. So what he is saying is, people that don’t want to get right and don’t want to give up their sin, they will not come to the truth. And what happens then is they go in deeper darkness and greater blindness. Amen? And listen to this. Paul said, don’t turn there, but Romans 1.32, who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them. So the second group of people that are blinded is they don’t want to come to the light because they’re not willing to give up their sin. Because they still have pleasure in their sin. Amen? This leads us to the next group of people that are blinded. These people obviously have no fear of God. No fear of God at all. Now, even Christians, I’m not going to dwell on this a lot because I don’t want to get off my track, but even Christians have a healthy fear of God. We don’t fear him in the sense that we’re afraid of him, that he’s going to hurt us or judge us. We fear Him in the sense that we know He’s a holy God. And we don’t trivialize the things of God. Amen? We realize that He’s a holy God and we treat Him with a healthy, holy respect. But we don’t have a spirit of fear about God. He has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love and of a sound mind and a mind of power. But there’s a healthy fear of God. Let me tell you something. Do you know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God on this earth, had a fear of God? because it tells you in Isaiah, and I can’t remember what chapter it is off the top of my head, but it says that he was anointed with seven things, wisdom and knowledge, counsel and might, revelation, understanding, and the fear of the Lord. You see, because Jesus, the Son of God, in his fleshly habitat on earth, he had the fear of God. Amen? And so the Bible says, and I’m going to quote these, and you can just take notes. Proverbs 16, 6. By the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil. I mean, I think that’s about as succinct as you can put it. Where the fear of the Lord is, people get out of evil. Amen? Proverbs 14, 16. A wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but a fool is confident in his rage against God. Amen? People who do not fear God are fools. That’s the true definition of a fool. Amen? Not somebody who doesn’t have a high IQ. We’re talking about someone who does not fear God. Psalm 14, 1, the fool is set in his heart. There is no God. And when people have no fear of God, here’s the outcome. There is no restraint on them. They have nothing to restrain them from evil. Turn to Romans, the third chapter. Again, this is Romans 3. Paul, though, is quoting from Psalms and Proverbs. But we’ll read what Paul said because he’s looking back, he’s reaching into the Old Covenant and bringing it in where it belongs up to date. Amen? So Romans 3, verse 10. As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all going out of the way. They have all gone perverse and crooked. They are all together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. Now listen to how he describes them. Their throat is an open sepulcher. You know what an open sepulcher is? It’s a place where you’re burying somebody. But it’s open so you can look in and see the rotting corpse. That’s what their throat is like. With their tongues they use deceit. The poison of asps. What is an asp? It’s a poisonous snake like a cobra. is under their lips, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. How much cursing is around us everywhere? My God, you can’t stand in the line at Walmart trying to wait for your turn with people cursing in front of you, people cursing behind you. And they’re just doing it like it’s just normal. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in their ways in the way of peace. Have they not known? There is no fear of God before their eyes. When people don’t have any fear of God, there’s no restraint what they’ll do. They can shoot somebody in cold blood murder and drive to McDonald’s and go sit down and eat a cheeseburger and talk about the Steelers and the Packers. I want to make sure you’re awake. That was not in my notes. Amen? But there’s no restraining them what they will do. You see, that’s why Jude said, when you’re dealing with sinners, when some have compassion, you don’t have to beat some people over the head with the Bible with fear. Because they have a very tender heart. Even though they may not be born again, they can still have a tender heart. And you can deal with them accordingly. He said, but on others, save with fear. Pulling them out of the fire. Hating even the garments that are stained by the flesh. Some people say, are you trying to scare me? Yes, I am. I’m trying to scare you out of hell. If I can scare you out of hell, I’ll scare you out. That was Jude 23. He said in 2 Corinthians 5, 11, knowing the terror of God, we persuade men. You have to persuade some with the terror of God. What am I talking about? The Bible says in Hebrews 10, 31, it’s a fearful thing to fall in the hands of a living God. Hebrews 12, 29, for our God is a consuming fire. Amen? And let me read to you 2 Thessalonians 1, 8 through 9. Our God is a consuming fire. Amen. And this is what he’s going to do in the day of judgment. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. If you had any question of whether or not hell is eternal, you just got your answer. And speaking of that, that brings us to number four. They have no fear of hell. They have no fear of hell. Hell is mentioned over 162 times in the New Testament. And at least 70 of those times, Jesus was the one who spoke it. In fact, he’s preached more on hell than he did heaven. And yet, if you were to go back and get those same folks that we just interviewed a little while ago, and if you asked them, if they believed in heaven, they would all say, of course, of course. But if you ask them, same people, if they believed in hell, they’d say, absolutely not. Oh, no way. Am I telling the truth? They believe in heaven and they believe they’re good and they’re going to get in. But they’ll totally reject the doctrine of hell, even though the same Jesus and the same scriptures preach both. Well, if they believe there’s a heaven and the good people are going to get in, then where are the bad people going to go? I don’t know. They don’t have an answer because they don’t think that far. Because they’re blind. Now, hell is reality. And like I said, Jesus taught 70 different times about hell. And we’re going to read all 70 of them for sure, but we’ll read a little bit. Let’s go to Luke, the 16th chapter, because it’s probably the clearest of all of the fact and reality of hell and what goes on there. Jesus spoke this, and I want to tell you clearly up front, this is not a parable. How many know Jesus taught and explained the kingdom of God by using many, many parables? But this is not a parable. Why? How do we know it’s not? We know that it’s not a parable of fictitious characters and that it’s a true story because, first of all, he didn’t say, and Jesus spoke this parable. In all the other places it said, and he gave this parable, and another parable he spake. It doesn’t say that. Furthermore, Jesus named Lazarus, the beggar. In none of the parables, Jesus did not name any of the characters because it was a fictitious thing to illustrate his point. He didn’t give them names, but he gave the name here of a person. It’s a true story, and we will see what goes on here. I want you to know that he says that he’s in a place where he is tormented in flames. Now, I will paraphrase the beginning. There was a rich man who fared sumptuously every day. He ate the best. He had the best clothes, the best food, lived in the best place. Outside of his great mansion at the gates was a beggar man named Lazarus. And so he would be there begging for food. And all he had was the crumbs. This rich man was not in any way had any humanity about him. He wouldn’t even share anything with this poor man but the crumbs from his table. And Lazarus was in such a pitiful condition. He had sores all over his body because he wasn’t getting proper nutrition until the dogs came and licked his sores. But by and by, one died and then the other died. And Lazarus went to be in comfort in paradise. But the rich man, he died too. And verse 23 says, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, and he was being in torments. I want you to notice it’s plural, in torments. Amen? And he is able to see far off, way off, he is able to see paradise. And he sees Lazarus there, now in much comfort. Wonderful comfort. And he sees that Lazarus is there in the presence of Abraham. And this man in hell, he’s got a mind. He can think. He can understand. It’s not like he’s mindless so he won’t feel the pain. He recognizes Lazarus. He recognizes Abraham. And he said, Oh, Father Abraham, have mercy and let Lazarus just dip his finger in the water and come and put it on my tongue because I’m tormented in the flame. Amen. And Abraham said, I’m sorry, son. Remember in your lifetime? Remember you had many good things. Where Lazarus, he didn’t have anything. But now he’s comforted and you are being tormented. Amen? And so then when he says, and there’s a great gulf between us, there’s no way we could come to you if we wanted to. And there’s no way you can get out and come to us. Amen? And so then what does the rich man, all of a sudden he thought, oh my God, I’m here forever. Amen? I’m here forever. I will never get out of this place. And suddenly he thought about his five living brothers on earth. And he said, please send somebody to warn them not to come to this terrible place. I wish God would just pull back the curtain and let us see hell. And he has for some people. Watching a program the other night, just the other night, Friday before coming to church, of people that died and went to hell and came back. And if you want to know what hell is like, get the book 23 Minutes in Hell. And you will know what hell is like. And when he realized his five brothers could come to that terrible place, he begged them to send somebody to go and warn them lest they would come. But Abraham said, I’m sorry. They have the Bible. They have Moses. They have the prophets. They’ve got preachers. They’ve got evangelists. They’ve got TBN. They’ve got Inspirational Network. They’ve got the Word Channel. They’ve got Daystar. They’ve got all kinds of books and CDs and syllabus. I mean, they’ve got preachers on every corner. If they won’t receive them, they wouldn’t receive somebody, though he came back from the dead. Amen? Hell is for real and it’s a terrible place. I want you to know that Jesus said hell is so terrible that it would be better for you to pluck out your eye and go through the rest of life with a blind eye than to go to hell with two good eyes. He said it would be better for you to cut off your arm that makes you steal and commit unholy things, kill, perversion. It’d be better for you to cut it off and go through the rest of the life maimed than to go to hell with a whole body. That’s how terrible hell is. Now that reference is Matthew 5, 29 and 30. He said, that’s how terrible hell is. The Bible says in Proverbs 15, 11, hell and destruction are before the Lord. You know what that means? God always, 24-7, even though they don’t have time up there, but to just bring it to our understanding, has a window. God, every second of every moment of every minute and hour and day is looking into hell and hearing the cries. and the screams of those who, like this rich man, are in torments. It’s ever before God. That’s why he gets so frustrated with us when we lose our burden for the sinner. Amen? The Bible says in Proverbs 27, 20, hell and destruction are never full. And the Bible says that, therefore, hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure. Isaiah 5, 14. Now, you’ve probably heard some foolish sinners say such stupid things as, well, if I go to hell, all my friends will be there and we’ll have a party. Now, they may be correct in assuming that all their friends will be there. But I assure you by the word of God, they will not be having a party. Amen. Amen? There’s not going to be a party going on. Jesus said they shall be cast into a furnace of fire. There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth where the man does not die and the fire is never quenched. Won’t be no party going on. Now, it’s true. God did not originally create hell for people. Because I know somebody’s thinking, well, what kind of God would… Do that. He didn’t create hell for people. God never intended anybody to go to hell. The Bible says in Matthew 25, 41, specifically Jesus said that hell was created for the devil and his angels. That’s what God created hell for. But the thing of it is, is there are people that love darkness rather than light, that choose Satan and evil rather than Jesus and truth. Do you want all them guys going to heaven with you? Do you want to go to heaven with a bunch of murderers and rapists? So he didn’t intend for them to go to hell, but this is their choice. It says in Psalm 917, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. Now Satan knows that this is his future residence. He already knows this because it’s written in the scripture. We’re not going to go there, but it’s written in Revelations 20, 19. It says the devil will be cast into hell and hell will be cast into the lake of fire and the fire of their torment will rise up forever and ever. The devil knows the Bible. Believe you me, he knows it. He knows that that is his ultimate destination. And that’s why somebody said when the devil throws your sinful past up in your face, you remind him of his future. The Bible also says in Revelations 12, 12, the devil knows his time is short. Amen. He is smarter than a lot of Christians. And he’s definitely wiser than a lot of sinners. That they have a short time. The Bible says Satan will come down in great wrath because he knows his time is short. Amen? But you see, that brings us to number five. There are a lot of sinners that are blinded by the fact that they believe they’ve got plenty of time. You know, they do believe in Jesus Christ. They do believe that he is the Savior. They do believe that they have to come through him in the blood of his cross to get into heaven. They do believe that hell is real and that if they do not know Jesus Christ, that’s where they’re going to go. And they have no intention of going there. They have every intention of getting right with God. They believe that they’re going to get saved, but they think they’ve got plenty of time. Amen, amen. Surely the Holy Spirit has birthed this word into our hearts so we can be able and effectual witnesses of the New Testament. I believe you can discern the spirit of conviction that was upon the delivery as these truths penetrated the hearts of the hearers, shedding light in dark places and peeling away calluses of resistance to the truth. It also serves to enlighten us as how to deal with hard cases when sharing the gospel. Paul said that Satan is a mind blinder, and he uses these eight strategies to keep people from getting saved. I’m a good person. 2. Not ready to give up their sins.
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3.
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No fear of God.
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4.
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No fear of hell.
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5.
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I’ve got plenty of time.
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6.
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The fear of man.
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7.
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There are too many hypocrites.
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8.
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I just can’t live the Christian life. Each of these points is scripturally supported and there’s enough ammunition in this teaching to prepare you to be a powerful soul winner. So be sure to add this message to your spiritual library. For a love gift of $10 or more for the radio ministry, request offer SK151. That’s SK as in Sharon Knotts, 151. Our mailing address is R.G. Hardy Ministries, P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Or if you prefer, order online at RGHardy.org. That’s RGHardy.org. Again, to receive eight reasons some are not saved, on CD, offer SK-151. Send your love gift of $10 or more to P.O. Box 1744, Baltimore, Maryland, 21203. Until next time, Maranatha.
