The Unsaved Christians: Five Christian Failures Leading to Eternal Suffering

By Daniel Cho

This book categorized five different failures Christians make that affect their salvation. They are the unrepented, the money-loving, the unholy, the disobedient, and the ones who do not preach the gospel. This book earnestly and seriously covers why so many Christians end up going to Hell. And it leads them to Heaven.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Daniel Cho
• Release date: Jan 31, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201051457

Book preview

I Unrepented Christians

1. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near

2. No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again

3. Only a few are saved

1. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near

From that time on, Jesus began to preach, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." (Matt 4:17).

The first sermon Jesus preached was about repenting. Jesus came to the world and did great works. He healed many who had various diseases, drove out demons, made the blind see, made the deaf hear, made the lame walk, cleansed people with leprosy, brought the dead back to life, and performed many miracles. But as he began his ministry, Jesus did not raise his voice to say, Come and get your disease healed! or Watch miracles! Jesus also did not say, I’m the Son of God, so believe in me! His first word was, Repent!

All people are born with the nature of sin, and they sin. Jesus came down to the earth to save these sinners. But there’s a precondition for the sinners to be forgiven and saved. It is repentance. One must believe in Jesus to be saved.  But one must repent and believe in Jesus to be saved. This is why the first thing Jesus said when he began ministering was this: Repent, the kingdom of heaven is near.

It can also be said that the first word signifies the most important word. What could be more important than for us to repent and be saved? Thus, to speak to the people to repent is the same as saying to be saved. Therefore, the word repent is always a thankful and joyful word to hear, and we should be happier as we hear more of it. You will often listen to the word repent during today's sermon. I bless in the name of Jesus that you will be grateful to God and feel happy with your whole body whenever you hear to repent.

John the Baptist, who came before Jesus to prepare the way of the Lord and make straight his path, chose repent as his first word as well. The mere fact that the first word proclaimed by both John the Baptist, referred to as the greatest among those born of women, and God’s Son, Jesus, is repent shows how necessary repentance is and that it can’t be emphasized enough.

How touched are you, then, by these cries to repent? Are you moved to observe your sins with a desperate heart, saying, What shall I do? Or are you calm because you can’t recollect your sins? Does the word repent, by any chance, make you uncomfortable or cause you to grind your teeth? I ask you to pay attention once more to Christ’s cry to repent.

Jesus began ministry knowing that He would die on the cross after He taught and preached the gospel. Jesus’ single hope was for us humans to be saved. For that, God came to earth in the flesh. Jesus’ death was inevitable, and by his death, the whole of humanity should be saved, but that can’t be done unless people repent.

A man can’t be saved even if Jesus is nailed to the cross ten times. Jesus, who knew this, cried out to us wholeheartedly to repent and be saved. He wasn’t saying this with an indifferent attitude as if he were leaving it up to us to repent or not.

He said, I will die for you, and you must repent and be saved. As he was being crucified on the cross in the most painful, humiliating way, he was still crying out so that no one would perish just because they didn’t repent. It was a cry of agony, not to waste the price of his blood in vain. Thus, this single cry of repentance encompasses the desperate heart of Jesus for the salvation of souls, His determination to save humanity, and His love for humanity.

The Bible expresses regret over people not repenting. People avoid repentance in many different ways. Now, we will look into three different types of unrepentant people. First, some people don’t repent because they don’t know they commit sins. We’ll take a look at Luke 13:4-5

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. (Luke 13:4-5)

We see from this passage that those killed by the fallen tower died and went to Hell as unrepentant sinners. Jesus warned the disciples not to think they didn’t need to repent because they had sinned less than the people who died by the falling tower. In other words, because he saw that they were not repenting due to being blind to their sins while seeing sin in others, he warned them to repent so as not to perish. Also, the Bible says that if we claim we haven’t sinned, we are claiming that God is lying. Let’s look at 1 John 1:10.

If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar, and his word is not in us (1 John 1:10).

If you hear from someone that you should repent of your sins and you say that it doesn’t apply to you, then you’re making God a liar, and you will end up not repenting because you don’t even know you have sinned.

Secondly, some people do not repent out of stubbornness and a hardened heart even after their sin was pointed out. Let’s look at Romans 2:5.

But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed (Rom 2:5).

The people that this verse correctly applies to are Pharisees, scribes, and elders. Jesus called these people whitewashed tombs, and John the Baptist condemned them, calling them deadly sons of serpents. They gnashed their teeth and refused to repent even after they were called to do so many times, and they tried to kill Jesus, who pointed out their sins, and in the end, they did kill him.

They were destined to perish with their stubborn and unrepentant heart. In Acts 7, a scene shows Jews who never repented even though Stephen pointed out their sins. When they were called to repent, they gnashed their teeth and killed Stephen instead of being repentant. We’ll look at Acts 7:51-54, 59. 

You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it. When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him (Acts 7:51-54).

While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, ‘Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!’ (Acts 7:59).

To have your sins pointed out is something to be grateful for. This provokes you to realize what you need to repent of. But to those whose hearts are hardened and stubborn about their ways, they gnash their teeth and sin again when their sin is pointed out. We’ll look at Acts 7:54 again.

When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him (Acts 7:54).

These people knew in their hearts that they had committed those sins pointed out to them.  That is why it was expressed as being cut to the heart.  When cut to the heart, people should repent, but instead, these people killed Stephen. Likewise, the stubbornness that does not repent begets bigger sins, building God’s anger and eventually leading to destruction on Judgment Day.

Third, some people do not get the opportunity to repent or commit such a sin that they cannot be forgiven. We will take a look at Hebrews 6:4-6.

It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age and who have fallen away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss, they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace (Heb 6:4-6).

This verse is about the people who cannot be renewed again by repentance, and they are explained through five different characteristics. First, those who were once enlightened. Second, those who have tasted the Heavenly gift. Third, those who have partaken in the Holy Spirit. Fourth, those who have heard the good word.

Fifth, those who have experienced the power of the afterlife. It is impossible to renew them again unto repentance if they fall away. Simply put, these are the partakers of the Holy Spirit. In other words, these five expressions describe those who were baptized by the Holy Spirit, all expressing the same meaning in different ways.

Once the Holy Spirit is received, it is difficult to fall. This is because receiving the Holy Spirit is proof of repentance and salvation, and so it follows that strong faith has been established. Like the disciples and Stephen, receivers of the Holy Spirit risk their lives and are led by the Holy Spirit to live in such active faith that it’s almost impossible for them to sin again.

Still, the reason for the warning in Hebrews 6:4-6 is because there are people who perish even after they have received the Holy Spirit. The second Peter 2 talks about false prophets and false pastors. Let’s look at verses 20-21.

If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them (2 Pet 2:20-21).

There are two types of false teachers: those who live as false teachers from the beginning and those who are tainted and changed from true teachers to false teachers. This verse refers to the false teachers who were corrupted and changed. Because the text describes these people as ones who knew Jesus, escaped the corruption of the world, and knew the way of the righteous.

Also, this verse is in line with the expression in Hebrews 6:4 about those who have been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the Word of God and the powers of the afterlife.

I am sure you have heard, seen, and encountered these kinds of false teachers and pastors who initially start with the Holy Spirit but end in the flesh. People in these circumstances do not have the opportunity to repent. False pastors once on the path to corruption do not have the chance to repent again.

Up to now, we have examined the three types of unrepentant people and those unable to repent. The reason for reviewing these kinds of people is to ask you not to live such a life. You are to repent and live lives of repentance for the remainder of your lives.

Repentance is like washing off old stains, and just as colors will not come off quickly if you don’t wash for a long time, if you don’t repent right away every time and if you become negligent, then your neck becomes stiffer. You become more stubborn, so repentance becomes more complex, and you boldly commit bigger sins. You become like the ones who killed Stephen and the Pharisees.

Then how do we repent? What is repentance? Repentance starts with acknowledging that you have sinned and are a shameful sinner in front of God.  Thus, whoever regards themselves as righteous has no repentance. Also, simple penitence or regret is not true repentance of the heart.

Repentance is to realize and sincerely regret past sins and change thoughts, words, actions, and life to be holy and bear the fruits of that change. A mere guilty conscience and determination not to repeat the sins is not repentance. Thus, the Bible teaches us to bear fruit worthy of repentance. We’ll take a look at Luke 3:7-8.

"John said to the crowds coming out to be baptized by him, ‘You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?  Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. For I tell you that out of these stones, God can raise up children for Abraham’" (Luke 3:7-8).

This was the preaching of John the Baptist to those who came to be baptized at the Jordan River. To be baptized, one must repent, so what he said is obvious, but he proclaims it in a powerful and harsh tone. This is most likely because he could see the piles of unrepented sins in them. In Acts 26:20-21, Paul, the apostle, risking his life, preached and evangelized to bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds. That is why some Jews seized me in the temple courts and tried to kill me (Acts 26:20-21).

To demonstrate repentance by deeds or bearing fruit means that anyone who sees you should be able to recognize that you are a repentant person. That is, not only should your acts change, but your life should change as well. Changing your life is repentance and the fruits of that repentance. The fruit of repentance is the acknowledgment from everyone that you have indeed repented.

Let’s look at some examples of how the Bible shows us the fruits of repentance. When John the Baptist challenged the crowds, who came to be baptized to produce fruits of righteousness, they asked what they should do. There are three types of people who ask what they should do to bear the fruits of repentance, and we’ll examine each group. When the first person asked, John the Baptist replied as follows in Luke 3:11.

John answered, ‘Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same (Luke 3:11).

It says that producing the fruits in keeping with repentance is giving clothing and food, sharing possessions with the poor. Second, a tax collector asks. And John the Baptist says, Don’t collect any more than you’re required to. This means that the fruit of repentance is to stop exploiting taxes and collect only what’s required. Next, soldiers ask. Let’s look at Luke 3:14.

Then some soldiers asked him, ‘And what should we do?’ He replied, ‘Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay (Luke 3:14).

The worthy fruit of repentance is to stop using power to rob people. He gave three ways to bear the fruits worthy of repentance. But all three answers have something in common. That is, to abandon your greed for wealth. To turn away from the sin caused by avarice is the fruit worthy of repentance. In this way, repentance has to do with possessions. This is because most people live a life whereby money becomes the master.

Therefore, most sins of the world are caused by money. Theft, robbery, scams, economic crime, feuding over inheritance, trials, overcompensation, and so forth—most sins and judgments are due to money. Of course, there are other sins, and they should bear the fruits of repentance over those sins. But the teachings through John the Baptist regarding the fruits worthy of repentance focus on turning away from sins caused by avarice.

In the Bible, an individual was about to go to Hell but was saved by renouncing money. This person was very wealthy but volunteered to be poor, which became the fruit of repentance to salvation. Let’s look at Luke 19:8-9.

"But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, ‘Look, Lord! Here and now, I give half of my possessions to the poor,