Can someone still go to hell after Jesus died for their sins?

To some this may be an illogical question, but for others there may be lingering doubts about what will happen to them when they die. I would like to settle the matter once and for all.

So, answering the title question, “can someone still go to hell after Jesus died for their sins?” Absolutely not!!

Why?

Because that is why the Father sent the Son, to be a propitiation (or satisfaction) for the sins of all who would believe. And what are we to believe? That by confessing Jesus is Lord, and that God raised Him from the dead, we would be saved (Romans 10:9-10). The soul salvation that God grants to the believer is only an eternal salvation.

What profit is it for Jesus to die for us to only receive a salvation that is temporal in nature? God would have wasted His time sending the Son to die a despicable, humiliating death, and what good is it for us to receive a redemption that does not only save us in this life, but also in the life to come.

The atonement of Christ was completely efficacious – meaning that what Christ came to do, He accomplished. He could not have failed because He is God in the flesh, and God always does whatever He wants to do (Psalm 115:3).

Why do we doubt the promises of God?

The answer to that question is simple, because we lack faith, and we are fragile creatures who’s feelings vacillate like a double-minded man. Rest assured child of God, the Lord knows we are but dust, and he continually grants us His mercy – thank God!!

Once again, let us run to the scriptures so I can prove that those whom Jesus saves, He saves them forever. In John 10:27-30 we hear Jesus saying, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish (emphasis added), no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”

Matthew 1:21 says that Jesus will save (not might save, but will save) His people from their sins.

Galatians 1:3-5 says, “Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

In Ephesians 1:7 we read, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins according to the riches of His grace.”

Of course, there are numerous other passages I could site, but I believe you get the idea. We must not trust our feelings rather we are to totally trust what the Lord has done and declared regarding our salvation. Anytime we rely on our feelings, doubt will dominate our minds, and subvert the authority and immutability of the scriptures.

I will admit doubts plagued me for years regarding whether I was truly saved or not. But once I listened to men of God who were authorities in scripture, and through my own diligent study, I gain more confidence in God and His promises, and most assured of my eternal salvation. If I wasn’t sure, I would not be writing this article right now.

What would be the ramifications if Christ’s atonement wasn’t enough to keep people out of hell?

If Jesus sacrificial death was not enough to save souls, it would be as if He never rose from the dead. I will say it another way: For those that trusted their lives in the care of Christ, that is believed He saved them, for them to die in sin and suffer the flames of the eternal Lake of Fire means God the Father’s plan to send the Son to suffer and die failed. Jesus in essence, died for nothing when He was actually sent to earth to die for mankind’s sins.

If our sins are greater than God’s grace, then man’s evil is greater than God’s goodness (Romans 5:20b-21). That would make man more powerful than God. It would also mean that God’s salvation was impotent to defeat sin totally and finally at the cross – that somehow our sin gained an advantage over the efficient sacrifice of Christ.

Let’s take it a step further, If Jesus actually forgave our sins through His death, cleansed us and brought us into the family of God, made us His children only for us to die and still go to hell what good was His atonement for us? It was worthless. Because in the final analysis, Jesus suffered for mankind’s sins in vain, and then we die to suffer for eternity for our own sins in the Lake of Fire. That would make God the Father and Son liars, and this would be the worst hoax in human history! It would also be awful cruel of the Father to send Jesus to die for our sins for nothing (if in fact when it is all said and done we die and go to hell anyway). That’s not love. We would have been better off never hearing the gospel repenting of sin, believing in Jesus for forgiveness of sins when they are powerless to save.

Does any of this make sense? We all know the answer to that question.

It is utterly impossible for God’s plan to have not happened exactly the way He determined it.

God through the prophet Isaiah said, “declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times thing not yet done, saying ‘my counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’” (Isaiah 46:10).

Verse 11 says, “I have spoken, and I will bring to pass; I have purposed, I and will do it.”

Since it was God’s pleasure to save some of mankind (an enumerable number), He has and is doing that salvific work even as I write this (Ephesians 1:5,11).

God’s plan succeeded. All those who have genuinely repented of their sins, believe that Jesus is Lord, and that God the Father raised Him from the dead are saved, and will be forever saved because that was God’s plan before He created the entire Universe (Ephesians 1:4).

Our salvation is secure so walk in victory and turn away from sin (2 Timothy 2:19b). We are now free to serve God because we are secure in Christ. Our salvation must never be a license to sin because we have been delivered from sin (Romans 6:1-2).