"What did the preacher mean by saying there are many lost in the church? I thought the church was the place where we were to get saved, and that taverns and gambling dens were the kind of places to get lost in." So said a young man to his Christian friend.
"You are right in thinking that numbers of people go to hell by the way of the tavern and gambling den. There can be no want of charity in saying that these are not the haunts of saved people, who are said to follow the Lord, and walk in newness of life. The frequenters of such places plainly show 'whose' they are and whom they serve. They belong to the devil. His service is their employment; and unless they are converted to God, born of the Spirit, and cleansed from sin, they will be shut out of heaven, and spend eternity in hell.
"But you are entirely wrong in the idea that connection with a church will secure your entrance into heaven. I know full well that many think so, and I do not altogether wonder at it. In many cases they are publicly taught that membership in 'the church' is the way of salvation. In other cases where this is not said in so many words, there is a tacit understanding that 'church membership,' partaking of the sacraments,' and attention to 'the means of grace,' partly, if not wholly, secure salvation, so that the people are really taught to expect salvation by being connected with 'the church.'
"That is all a delusion. Sinners go to hell through the church as surely as through the tavern, only the devil can more easily deceive them there. A false religion serves his purpose admirably; and so long as he can keep sinners from Christ, and thus hinder them from being saved and made fit for heaven, he will not find any fault with them for being 'in the church.' On the contrary, I believe he will favor making sinners church members, so long as they remain unconverted. In other words, 'Lost in the Church.' "
"I never heard the like before. It is high time that some of us church members were looking to our whereabouts."
"Yes, high time. I wonder you have been so long in beginning. Lose no time. Eternity is drawing near. The judgment is coming. How fearful, then, the doom of those who remain Christless-`Lost in the Church!"'
"Hell is deep and everlasting,
Turn, poor sinner, turn and flee;
Deeper down than Tire and Sidon,
Shall the false professor be."