The following, “Preaching a Lost Man to Heaven at a Funeral: A Warning for Pastors,” is a letter written by Brother Bob Jennings in 1998. We have removed the names and uploaded this to serve as both a warning about the issue of preaching someone who was clearly lost into heaven, and as an example of the boldness pastors need in helping others see sound doctrine more clearly.


“Discretion will preserve you.” Proverbs 2:11

Dear ___,

You are no doubt still tender from your brother’s departure, but may I bring up a matter from his funeral?

You told me at the visitation that you would have to ‘tiptoe’ at the graveside service with all the family there. I can understand the need for discretion, and I appreciated your gracious manner. I desire more of that in my life and language. I also thought your eulogy of him was fine. But it was your small but powerful phrase, “____ believed in God; he trusted in Jesus” that I thought was in error. Let me explain.

To say these words gave to your hearers the message that your brother made it to heaven. I don’t believe for a minute that he went to heaven. Now, I don’t say this with animosity. His name, even before his illness, came up from time to time at our men’s prayer meeting. We had him on our hearts. But the Bible says so simply, so definitively:

  • 1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”

Isn’t it abundantly obvious that he did not love the Lord?

  • 1 Corinthians 16:22: “If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha.”

Yes, he may have “believed” and trusted. But his life revealed that it was superficial faith, not real, saving faith. That is, he was a false profession. Often this is the case:

  • John 2:23-24: “Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men.”
  • John 8:30, 59: “As he spake these words, many believed on him… [Later that same group, upon further truth,] Then took they up stones to cast at him.”
  • John 12:42-43: “Nevertheless among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.”

“Many” will make it all the way to the great day under a delusion:

  • Matthew 7:22-23: “Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord… depart, I never knew you.”

It is noteworthy that many of Jesus’ parables were given to teach this very point—the danger of false profession:

  • The Two Roads and Two Destinies
  • The Two Builders
  • The Sower and the Soils
  • The Wheat and the Tares
  • The Dragnet
  • The Ten Virgins
  • The Wise and Foolish Stewards
  • The Sheep and the Goats

The Lord expects us to judge our lives and the lives of others by Bible standards:

  • John 7:24: “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment.”
  • Malachi 3:18: “Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.”
  • Matthew 7:18: “A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.”
  • Matthew 12:33: “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree bad, and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.”
  • John 10:27: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”
  • 1 John 2:4: “He that saith, ‘I know him,’ and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

True, we are not saved on the basis of good works at all, but nevertheless, good works [holiness, purity, separation from the world, a changed life] are the sure result. Good works are not the root, but they are the sure fruit.

Admittedly, there are varying degrees of holiness and fruitfulness among true Christians:

  • Matthew 13:23: “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

Nevertheless, even the thirtyfold fruitfulness is significant.

Remember, “without holiness, no man will see the Lord.” Even Lot, though he made some shallow and foolish decisions and though he had a miserable fall, yet he was a righteous soul and stood against the world, being vexed by them. The character of his life was godly. David fell into adultery, but he did not live in it. The saints are “holy ones.”

The new birth and the New Covenant guarantee a changed life:

  • Hebrews 8:10: “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people.”
  • Ezekiel 36:26-27: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.”
  • Romans 6:2: “God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?”

The thrust of Romans 6 is that there has been a radical change of nature through union with Christ—we are now free from sin and slaves to righteousness. This is the second part of the gospel—not only deliverance from the penalty of sin but also its power.

The message you gave to the crowd was that he made it. His drinking buddies and lost relatives were thereby confirmed further in sin—“If he made it, so will I.” Do you realize you will have to give account for them? Paul was concerned to be clean in this matter:

  • Acts 20:26: “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.”

You sent me away sad:

  • Ezekiel 13:22: “Because with lies ye have made the heart of the righteous sad, whom I have not made sad; and strengthened the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by promising him life.”

I know most Baptist pulpits do not agree with what I’m saying. It is no wonder the country is in the mess it is in. Lawlessness in the populace is due to lawlessness from the preachers—preachers who have “turned the grace of God into lawlessness” (Jude 4). These are the ones who set the moral atmosphere.

Please do not think I am saying that a preacher must make a pronouncement on the deceased. If the departed had a clear testimony, then go ahead and magnify the grace of God in him; let his “deeds praise him in the gates.” However, if he was not a saint, I would think we should simply say something about the preciousness of the person, avoid making a pronouncement, and preach the everlasting gospel to the living at such a fitting occasion—a thing you did not do.

I know this letter will likely come as a pretty good jolt. But I hope it is written in love. Please think on these things. I really welcome further exchange with you and hope you might consider it profitable.

Bob Jennings' Signature