We come before God, we stand
here in the presence of God, and we stand here with eternity
laid out before us. We stand here with one single
hope that we just sang about, for us to enter into eternity,
nothing but the blood of Jesus. And my prayer for you and for
all those that hear us is that we might find ourselves hiding
in that cleft of the rock, that cleft that God the Father made
when he slew his son. We might find ourselves sheltering
in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ speaks of judgment. In anticipation of that judgment,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as you recall, in the Garden of Gethsemane,
he had that cup, the cup that the Father gave him, the cup
that he looked into and he saw in that cup, and it caused his
heart to break. And on a cold night, he sweated
great drops of blood in anticipation. And what was in the cup? What
was in the cup? In the cup were all of the sins
of all of God's people. And he took that cup, which means
that he had the cup and not us. And he drank that cup dry later
that morning on Calvary Street. He drank that cup dry. He suffered
all of the infinite wrath of Almighty God. See, we can't think
of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ without thinking of judgment.
We can't think of the Lord Jesus Christ and his precious, precious
blood unless we think that that blood was shed for particular
people, was shed by a sovereign God, was shed under the infinite
wrath of Almighty God, and was shed without a drop being
wasted. As you grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, you become more and more offended
by the modern notions that he loves everyone and he died for
everyone and he wants to save everyone. For God's children,
his blood is precious. He suffered hell, brothers and
sisters in Christ. He suffered hell. And we suffered
hell in him. until God declares, our great
God and saviour declares, it is finished. There are many passages that
warn of the troubles of hell. I'd like us to turn, as we think
about Felix, and think about Felix doing what this religious
world is doing again and again and again. It's saying at a convenient
time, if God loves you and Jesus died for you and the Holy Spirit
wants to save you, then any time for you is a convenient time,
a time of your choosing, a time when you can exercise your will.
A time when you can accept Jesus into your heart, a time when
you can make Jesus Lord of your life. He's been Lord for a long,
long time, brothers and sisters. And your puny free will, as imagined
free will, is not ever gonna dethrone the Lord of glory. But
there is just one passage in scripture, one passage in scripture
where we have a description of the torments of hell. And I'd like you to turn there
with me in Luke 16. The context of Luke 16 is once
again the Lord Jesus Christ dealing with the Pharisees. Dealing with the Pharisees who
see themselves as righteous. And they were accusing the Lord
Jesus Christ, weren't they? This man, back in chapter, verse
two of chapter 15, he says, this man receives sinners and eats
with them. They scorned the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a passage directed at
those who attempt to justify themselves before God and despise
the grace of God. And I want to say at the outset
that the warnings in scripture and the warnings are on every
page of scripture and they are written in the characters of
people who despise the grace of God and consider it, consider
the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ as a common thing
to be trampled under feet by this world. The warnings of scripture
are always for God's children. The only people who will ever
heed the warnings of scripture are God's people. The only people
who ever value and, and esteem and consider the Lord Jesus Christ
and his blood precious are the children of God. It takes a new
creation, it takes a new birth to heed the warnings of scripture. So therefore us, only the children of God will
hear. So let's read this story. It begins in verse 13 of Luke
chapter 16. As I said earlier, it is the
one place in scripture where we have an understanding of the
torments of hell. The only other place we have
anything resembling a description of the torments of hell are the
descriptions of the agonies of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross of Calvary. But this is a story. Let's just read it briefly and
then we'll look at it. Look at it briefly. He says in
verse 13, no servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate
the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
Verse 14, and the Pharisees who were covetous heard all these
things and they derided him. And he said unto them, you are
they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your
hearts. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination in the sight of God. What he's talking
about is what is highly esteemed in religion among men. If it's
popular and esteemed amongst men, it's an abomination to God. The law and the prophets were
until John, and since that time, the kingdom of God is preached
and every man presses into it. If God has laid it on your heart,
you'll be pressing into the kingdom of God. You'll be anxiously and
eagerly desiring the things of the kingdom and the king of that
kingdom. And it is easier for heaven and
earth to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever
putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery,
and whomsoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband,
committeth adultery. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and
fine linen. He had the long robes of religion
of righteousness. We are told that the Pharisees
were covetous, weren't they? And fed sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate. It actually means
he was thrown at his gate, as if he was cast aside. at the
gate of this rich man full of sores. Now I want to say at the
very outset that when the Lord Jesus Christ tells parables,
there is no parable like this one because this is not a parable,
brothers and sisters. This is a real event that happened
most likely in the lifetime of those people who were hearing.
It's a certain man. And it's another man named Lazarus.
This is the only time ever in a parable, for those who want
to think it's a parable, there is a man named. His name was
Lazarus. Do you know what his name means? He whom God helps. and desiring, this is Lazarus
verse 21, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell
from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried. In hell he lifted up
his eyes, being in torments. And seeth Abraham afar off and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy goods, and likewise Lazarus
evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this, between
us and you, there is a great goal fixed, so that they which
would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass
to us that would come hence. And he said, I pray thee therefore,
Father, thou would send him to my father's house, for I have
five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, they
have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said unto him, If I hear
not Moses and the prophets, neither will I be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead. He came to pass is a very. popular expression throughout
the scriptures, isn't it? What's the it that comes to pass?
The it is God's eternal purposes. It is just day by day, minute
by minute, second by second, millisecond by millisecond, in
every tiny event in all of this creation, the unfolding of God's
eternal purpose and counsel. He does all things according
to the counsel of his will. It came to pass. The reality
is there is an appointed time. There is an appointed place.
There's an appointed means of all of us leaving this world. It may very well be that the
car that we die in is being manufactured right now or the plane that falls
out of the sky when we're in it. is coming off the production
lines now. But it's appointed. It's appointed. You know that verse in Hebrews
9.27. It's appointed. Read it with
me. There's an appointment. We have
an appointment, brothers and sisters. These aren't mine words. It is appointed, verse 27 of
Hebrews 9, it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this,
the judgment. After this, the judgment. there
is an it came to pass. And it's set. For some of us
like me, whose body is falling apart at such a rapid rate that
I'm sort of holding it together with sticky tape and band-aids
most of the time, it may come very soon. For you young people,
You, like me, and nearly all young people you ever meet, think
that it's so far away that it doesn't even bear contemplating. There is an appointed time you
aren't promised. You aren't promised another second
on this earth. And it's a good thing, isn't
it? It's a good thing for us to spend time contemplating our
end. contemplating meeting and going
out of this world and contemplating what it's like. Contemplating
the wonder, the wonder of the joy of meeting the Lord Jesus
Christ as Lazarus did. And contemplate the wonder of
what it is. that the reason that you will
meet the Lord Jesus Christ as Lazarus did and be carried by
angels into his bosom is that the Lord Jesus Christ suffered
all that the rich man suffered and he suffered it infinitely
such that the justice of God is satisfied. There are so many
lessons. There are so many lessons here.
We never ought to imagine that because people are wealthy and
in good health and appear to be happy, that they are the blessed
of God. So many, many people do very
well in this world, and as a result of their doing very well in this
world, they have no place or room to worship God. I want you
to work hard. I want you to be responsible
citizens in this world. But if you really love someone,
you really want for them to live in this world such that the Lord
Jesus Christ will be a necessity to them, a necessity to them. We must never imagine, there's
no doubt those self-righteous Pharisees who walked past Lazarus
as they did that blind beggar and they said, well, who sinned?
Did he sin or did his parents sin? His poverty, his infirmity,
is a result of him being cursed of God. Earthly troubles, troubles
in this world, are often an indication of God's blessing upon you. The road to heaven is not going
to be paved with roses and gold for the children of God in this
world. We walk the streets of gold in another world, but here
we have trouble. What does Jeremiah say in 9 verse
22 and 23? He says, Thus saith the Lord,
let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty
man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches.
But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercises loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things
I delight, says Jeremiah, says our God. In death, Everything changes. Just imagine the changes in heartbeat. The rich man lost all of his
wealth. He lost all of his honour. He lost all of the esteem of
others. He lost all of the pleasures
of this world. In death, Lazarus lost all of
his poverty, all of his sickness, all of the dishonour that he
suffered from those who saw him as a cursed man. Well did Paul write to the Corinthians,
isn't it, in 2 Corinthians 4, he says, We faint not, for this
cause we faint not, though our outward man perish, yet the inward
man is renewed day by day. Some of you have seen Owen of
late, haven't you? It's glorious to be in the company
of people whose new man is being renewed day by day. Outward man
is wasting away. And there's a new man, and what
does the new man say? I'm thankful. My body's falling
apart, but I'm thankful, I'm thankful. He goes on in 2 Corinthians
4, 17 to say, for our light affliction, that means our featherweight
afflictions, that's what they are, they weigh heavily on us. They hurt our bodies enormously.
And they hurt us in more ways spiritually than otherwise, don't
they, just in living in this world of sin and rebellion against
God. With love in our hearts for the
people that we meet and the people that we care for, we have to
go through a veil of tears. But this light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. Lazarus would have said, Amen.
you would have said Amen. In 2nd Corinthians it goes on
in verse 18 of chapter 4. But while we look not at things
which are seen, but which things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen are temporal. They are all going to pass away. Everything you look at with your
eyes is going to melt when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back.
It will disappear. The elements will melt. We look
for things that are not seen. The things that are not seen
are eternal. For we know that if our earthly house of this
tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we
groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house
which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed,
we shall not be found naked. What's the clothing of the saints
in heaven? It's that white robe, pure and white. It's the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ He robes you with. We walk, he goes on to say in
chapter 5 verse 7, we walk by faith and not by sight. See this parable is designed
firstly, it's only speaking to the Lord's people. It's there
as a warning to those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ, but it's
speaking to God's people. It's to assure the chosen children
of God that the death of this body is a blessed prospect. And you, like me, might not find
as much of the grace of dying that you'd like to have. and
not as much of the rejoicing about leaving here as you'd like
to have. Dying grace will be received
at the time of dying. Grace is meted out sufficient
for the hour that we have. It's a blessed, it's a blessed
thing. Listen to what he says, isn't
he? He was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. Carried by
angels. Like that chariot that carried
Elijah up to heaven. Blessed are the dead that die
in the Lord. To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. What did David say in Psalm 17?
He says, when I behold thy face in righteousness, I shall be
satisfied when I awake in thy likeness. A blessed salvation. A blessed salvation, and I remind
you again. that the rich man's troubles
in hell give us something of the agonies of the Lord Jesus
Christ, something that he suffered and we suffered in him. See in
Acts 24 we read of Felix and Felix was a man that was about
to join the rich man. So he'd heard of the faith of
the Lord Jesus Christ and he was pressed by the Apostle Paul
to bow and be saved, to put his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And he just said, I'll make up
my own mind. I'll make my own decision. And I'll do it when
it suits me. I'll stay on my throne. I'll
go my way. I'll seek my good. And I'll say
to you, you go your way, Paul. You lead me. I'll seek my good. For the Lord's people, salvation
is vital. It's immediate. And it's personal. And that's why one of the glories
of the gospel is it comes with a command. Your warrant for believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ, your warrant for calling upon the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ is that it's a command. When
he says, come unto me, he's making a command. Our warrant for coming
is that he commands us to come. We know that dead people can't
come and he gives life before that. but the promises of the gospel
are sweet. There are, in this passage of
scriptures, some lessons that I pray the Lord will cause us
to take to heart. There are lessons that are learned
and learned too late, learned not in this world. And I pray
that you might learn them now, brothers and sisters in Christ.
And for you who don't know him, I pray that you might take careful notice
of your history which is laid out before you here. This is
the history of people that leave this world. The first lesson
the rich man learned, isn't it? The first lesson we all need
to learn is that death does not end your existence. You are an
eternal being. You are created in the image
of God. You have an eternal soul. And
you can't give anything for your eternal soul. We are immortal
souls. That's a great question, is it?
If a man shall die, shall he live again? Yes, he shall. You
are eternal. You will live forever. Verse
23 of Luke 16, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in
torment, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
You see, the rich man in hell, the rich religious man in hell,
the rich self-righteous man in hell, he could lift up his eyes
and he could see. He was in torment and he could
seek relief. Just a drop of water was all
he wanted. He could see a great gulf fixed. He could cry. He could plead
for a mission to be sent to his family. He was very much alive. When people leave this world,
they become alive in ways that they had never possibly imagined.
You die with infirmities in your flesh and you die with infirmities
in your mind the moment, the millisecond you die and you stand
before the Lord Jesus Christ, you have perfect lucidity, you
have perfect intelligence, and you have an existence like this
man does, or Lazarus. He now knew that there was a
place called hell. It's a popular notion, isn't
it, to think that hell doesn't exist. Amongst modern religion,
because God loves everyone, they want to say, well, God still
loves people in hell. What a strange way of loving people. Or, as
some famous people like A. W. Tozer said, God loves everyone
up until the gates of hell. And then God turns and hates
them. You can read about that in Malachi
3.6. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. God doesn't change.
I love that word that woman, the Canaanite woman said, isn't
it? Whenever she was confronted with very, very serious and challenging
words of the Lord Jesus Christ, challenging words which went
to the very heart of her existence and her needs at the moment,
her response was, Truth Lord. It's a good thing to practice
isn't it when you're reading your Bible. Truth Lord. I might not understand all of
it and I can't figure out all the implications of it but I
can say truth Lord. I can say truth Lord. He knew
there was a place of hell, a place of conscious existence, a place
of unquenchable fire, a place of inescapable torment, a place
of everlasting darkness, a place of undying worms. Of all the
references to hell in the scripture, almost universally they come
from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ because he was the one
living person that was going to experience it and come back
and tell us, having saved his people from it. He learned that there is a place
called hell and there's an eternal existence. He learned that there
is a God who is holy and that he must punish sin. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. In hell, verse 23, he lifted
up his eyes being in torment. Verse 24, and he cried, have
mercy upon me, said Lazarus. For the first time in his life,
he cries for mercy. He'd had all of his life hearing
how God delights in mercy. He'd been to the synagogue day
in and day out. He'd been esteemed. by men, he'd
been to the religious festivals and he'd seen how God was merciful,
shedding his blood as a substitute for sinners. And he never ever
saw himself as a sinner and he never saw himself as anything
than righteous. That's exactly what people are
today, aren't they? Those that go to hell leave here
believing that they're righteous. Psalm 73, you can read Psalm
73 at your leisure. It says that there are no bans
in their death. For many, many people, they go
from here and they are told by this world that it's a party,
they're going to a barbecue with their mates. That's the Australian
version of it, isn't it? Beer and rugby and a barbie with
all of my mates. It's a lie, brothers and sisters.
He was fully aware for the first time in his life of his sin. He was fully aware that every
time there were promptings of his conscience, promptings of
the reality of his existence as a creature created by God,
prompted by every death that he'd witnessed, prompted by those
Bible verses that he'd read in the synagogue, he'd dismissed
every warning. and every proud thought, and
every thought of his that said, this is not gonna befall me. What a change, what a change
in an instant. Guilt will lie heavily on those
who are promised, as the Lord Jesus Christ said to these Pharisees.
He said, you will die in your sins. I can't contemplate what
the depth of that is, but the Lord Jesus Christ said that of
those people. He said, you're children of the devil. and you
do your father's work and you'll die in your sins which means
that every tiny look that you have from that place of torment
is a look that you will see that is your sin and your rebellion
and you are there 100% because of your activities. 100%. You can read about it in Isaiah
28 where time doesn't permit me but God talks about a refuge
of lies. That's what the world has isn't
it? They have a refuge, they have a hiding place which is
lies. And God will sweep away that refuge of lies, he'll sweep
away that refuge of lies either here when he comes and reveals
himself. See, Paul walked as a Pharisee
like this man, and then on the Damascus road, his refuge of
lies was stripped away from him in a heartbeat. The refuge of
lies is stripped away when you meet the Lord Jesus Christ, and
you will meet the Lord Jesus Christ when the gospel's preached
to you. Which is why we don't play games with the word of God
no matter who we're speaking to. Paul had a death sentence
over his head before Felix and he was prepared to talk to Felix
about the judgment to come. To talk about these things that
we're talking about now. God is holy. A holy God must
punish sin. Sin must be punished. It'll either
be punished in the Lord Jesus Christ infinitely or it will
be punished in hell, and that's why hell goes on forever. It's
infinite because you never pay it. You can never pay it. That's what he says, doesn't
he, to those Thessalonians who were being troubled on all sides
by Jewish false brethren, by people writing letters, disturbing
them. He says, the Lord Jesus Christ
is gonna give you rest. seeing it as a righteous thing,
verse six, with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble
you. And to you who are troubled,
rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel is a command. who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of his power. God is holy. Punishment is the
response of holiness to sin exposed. The other thing that the rich
man learned too late, he learned that life goes on forever. He
learned that there was a real place called hell. He learned
that God is holy and just and he learned And he got to see
salvation. They see the saved in glory. It's extraordinary, isn't it?
It's hard to work out, and we have to not trouble our minds
too much with the whole notion of the geography of all of these
things. If we can lay it out in some way, we can understand.
We know that there is a great gulf fixed, and you cannot pass
from one to the other. And thankfully, you can't pass
either way. The children of God can't get there. You can't possibly
get to hell, child of God. The Lord Jesus Christ keeps and
preserves his own. The damned see the saved in glory. And this just adds to their pain.
Listen to what he says in verse 25. Abraham said, Son, remember that in thy lifetime
thou receivest thy good things. and likewise Lazarus evil things,
but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. See in verse 23,
he lifted up his eyes in hell, being in torments and he sees
Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried, Father
Abraham. He could cry to him, have mercy
upon me and send Lazarus. He's tormented in this flame. The Lord Jesus in a previous
passage just a few chapters earlier in Luke 13 verse 28 says, there
shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you shall see Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God
and you yourselves thrust out. Truth, Lord. He sees Abraham in his bosom. Abraham's bosom is that beach
out at Cararon, isn't it? It's a great picture, isn't it?
It was called Abraham's bosom. I'm not sure why it was called
Abraham's bosom, but it was a refuge, wasn't it? When those great southerly
swells came in the days of those shipping boats, you could come
up that coast looking at rocks that were going to dash you and
all of your people to death. And if you rounded those rocks
at Abraham's bosom, you went into this quiet cove and all
the waters were still. It was very aptly named by our
forebears, wasn't it? It's still a beautiful place.
Now it's the first place I ever had the opportunity to preach
to people about the Lord Jesus Christ. If only I could go back
and do it all again. He learned the value of salvation
too late. He missed Christ and he missed
everything. And all of those things which
were his pleasure and all of those things which were declared
a blessing for others around him while he lived in this world,
now just added to his condemnation. And there's a great gulf fixed. and there's no passing from one
to the other, verse 26. You see, he becomes a man of
prayer too late. He becomes concerned about the
salvation of others too late. Verse 27, and he said, "'I pray
thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him "'to my
father's house, for I have five brethren, "'that he may testify
unto them, lest they also come "'into this place of torment.'
"'Verse 29, Abraham saith unto him, "'They have Moses and the
prophets, "'just like you had Moses and the prophets. "'Let
them hear them. He learns that without repentance,
there is no salvation. Verse 30, and he said, no, Father
Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will
repent. If someone goes from the dead, if they have some evidence,
they will repent. The Lord Jesus Christ is talking
to a group of people He had the most extraordinary evidence of
who he was that was ever laid out before any man on this planet.
They saw God, Emmanuel, God with us. They saw him walking in his
flesh. They saw him declaring that he
was God. They saw him doing the things
that only God could do. They saw him fulfilling every
single Old Testament prophecy about him. No amount of evidence is ever
going to help, brothers and sisters. There is just one solution. And
this man now knew it, didn't he? You must hear the gospel. He learns that without hearing
the gospel, there is no salvation. He knew in hell better than modern
religion does. Modern religion believes you
can be saved without knowing the truth of who the Lord Jesus
Christ is. Modern religion believes that you can be saved with a
complete and utter ignorance of the character of God. A complete
and utter ignorance of the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified.
Just some notions in people's minds is sufficient for them
to declare them saved. Sadly often because that's all
they have in their own mind, just notions of him. See, salvation
is knowing Him, knowing Him in His true character. Salvation is calling upon Him
at the time He comes. This rich man had heard the gospel,
Felix had heard the gospel over and over again. Salvation in Romans 10 is declared
in such simple terms, isn't it? It says in verse 11, the scripture
saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever,
verse 13, shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
There is no difference between Jew and Greek. The same Lord
is rich unto all that call upon him. He's rich, call upon him. Call upon him in his riches,
he's rich in mercy, he's rich in grace, call upon him. How
then shall I call upon him whom they have not believed? And how
shall I believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how
shall I hear without a preacher? And how shall I preach except
they be sent? And as it is written, how beautiful
are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace and bring
glad tidings of good things. That's what Paul was bringing
to Felix, wasn't it? That's what this man had heard. Good things. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the word of God. He learns He learns that eternity is stamped
unalterably on every look and pain and torment. I shudder when
I hear people talk of others and wish them to go to hell.
I know they do it in terrible, terrible ignorance, but brothers
and sisters, it is no small thing for the children of God. You may think that I make it
worse than it really is. We can't make it as bad as it
is. You can't make it as bad as it is. The reality of these
words, this man, this rich man, and countless multitudes from
Cain on. have been declaring the truth
of these things for millennia. And when the Lord Jesus comes
back and they get resurrected bodies, they just go back to
this place of torment with resurrected bodies. Lazarus will have a body
sometime. When the Lord Jesus Christ come,
he'll have a body and he'll still be in Abraham's bosom. He'll
have a glorious body, he'll be made to be just like the Lord
Jesus Christ and he'll enter that place which is the home
of the righteous. You see, as I said earlier, to
the Lord's children salvation is vital. Salvation is nothing
other than being snatched from the very jaws of hell by a sovereign
God. Salvation is being made to realise
that hell is what you deserve and what you earn. because you are no better than
the rich man, brothers and sisters. You are no better than the Pharisees.
The Pharisees and the Sadducees and the scribes are in scriptures
to describe you in your flesh, unmoved by the spirit of God. Self-righteous and religious.
See, we are born kings. We're born kings, and unless
we are dethroned by Christ in sovereign grace, You will meet
him and you'll realise that he is the king and you're not a
king, but you're just a slave to sin and to self and the devil.
Learn the lessons, brothers and sisters. He that has ears to
hear, let him hear. The hearing ear and the seeing
eye, they are both from the Lord. Death, as this man learned, does
not end existence. There is a reality of a place
called hell. God is holy and sin must be punished. The torments of hell are heightened
by the fact that they will see the saved in glory and that there
is no place, no place of escape from where they are. They'll
see the value of salvation too late. They'll become people who
cry for mercy and there will be no mercy. They'll be concerned
about the salvation and too late. They'll learn the beauty of the
gospel and it will be too late. Felix said, I'll meet you at
a convenient time. The scriptures say now, right
now is the day of salvation. Right now there is no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus. Right now. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, you write these
warnings that we might be drawn as your children to the Lord
Jesus Christ, and we might look to that precious blood that he
shed, and we might find it delightful, Heavenly Father, we might see
that he bore that wrath in his own body on the tree, and he
put away our sin that so righteously and justly condemns us. Oh, our
Heavenly Father, we thank you for the salvation that's in your
Son. Grant us, Heavenly Father, the
grace of simply believing on Him and calling upon Him and
coming to Him and doing it again and again and again. We pray
You to have mercy on us, Heavenly Father, for the Lord Jesus Christ's
sake. Amen.