Let me say by way of introduction
that my message this morning is not an easy message to preach.
There is a place called hell. About 12 years ago or close to
it, I had a man from Ohio reach out to me who heard me preach
on the Internet. And this man seemed to have a
genuine interest in Christ and Him crucified. He would often
request copies of sermons and I would send them to him in the
mail. And this went on for at least 10 years. But nearly two
years ago, he wrote me and he asked me if I would preach a
series of sermons on hell. And at first I just ignored his
request, hoping that he'd drop it or forget about it. But he
didn't. After several emails to me on
the same subject, his request became more like a demand. One email after another, preach
a series of sermons on hell, preach on hell. You ought to
preach more on hell, he would say. And one day I had enough
and I wrote him back and as kindly as I could, I told him that it
was the goodness of God that led men and women to repentance.
not the preaching of hell. And he became quite irate. It
was then that I received an onslaught of hate mail every day, it seemed,
for nearly six months. He accused me of being a false
prophet, even a messenger of Satan himself. And I continued
to ignore these emails and they finally ceased. But occasionally,
just a month or so ago, I got another email from him accusing
me of heresy. Now let me first say this. Any
man or woman who enjoys hearing a message on hell has some serious
problems. And secondly, let me say that
any preacher that enjoys preaching on the subject of hell is not
a God called preacher. But there is a place called hell.
Hell is a place as real as heaven. Hell is a place as real as Madisonville. Hell is a place as real as the
throne of God. Just recently, another reason
for this message, I had a man that I think a great deal of.
He told me that he didn't believe in hell. He said that it was
his opinion that the scriptures did not support the fact that
there was such a place called hell. There are many people who
believe that their God is too merciful to punish sin and send
anyone to hell. But I believe that my God is
too holy not to. He says the soul that sins shall
die. That's what God said. He said
the wages of sin is death, not just physical death, but eternal
death, everlasting death. The Lord Jesus spoke a great
deal about such a place called hell. So first turn with me,
if you would, to Matthew chapter 13. I want to show you a couple,
three passages here in Matthew before turning to our text in
Luke chapter 16. But here in Matthew chapter 10,
chapter 10, verse 28, here the Lord said this. He said, and
fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill
the soul, but rather fear Him. That's speaking of God. Fear
God, which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Turn over a few pages to Matthew
chapter 13. Now the Lord here had just told
the parable of the sower and the seed. And then as you know,
a parable is a simple story used to illustrate a spiritual truth. A parable served as an illustration
to teach and to reveal a certain gospel truth. And this was especially
true when it was our Lord Jesus who told the parable. And in
verse 36, here in Matthew 13, we read, Then Jesus sent the multitude
away, and He went into the house. And His disciples came unto Him,
saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. And
He answered, and He said unto them, He that soweth the good
seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, The good seed are
the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children
of the wicked one. The enemy that sold them is the
devil. The harvest is the end of the
world, and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares
are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end
of this world. "'The Son of Man shall send forth
his angels, "'and they shall gather out of his kingdom "'all
things that offend and them which do iniquity, "'and shall cast
them into a furnace of fire, "'and there shall be wailing
and gnashing of teeth.'" Now here, hell is referred to as
a furnace of fire where there will be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. That doesn't sound too pleasant
to me. Turn over a few more pages to Matthew chapter 18. Matthew chapter 18, and look
at verse seven. They had set a little child in
the midst of our Lord. And you might notice in verse
six, he said, whosoever shall offend one of these little ones,
which believe in me, it'd be better for him that a millstone
were hanged about his neck and that he were drowned in the depth
of the sea. That's true. Verse seven, woe unto the world
because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come,
but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore, if
thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from
thee, it's better for thee to enter into life, halt or maim,
rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting
fire. And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out and cast it from thee, it's better for thee to
enter into life with one eye than having two eyes to be cast. into hell fire. The Lord is letting
his people know that it's through much tribulation that they shall
enter the kingdom of God, and it is. God's people will be offended
a great deal in this life and in this world, but woe to that
man, verse seven says, of whom the offense cometh. And what
the Lord is teaching here is that those who live godly, those
who live trusting in Christ to put their sin away, those that
are resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus, they're going
to suffer persecution. Trials are going to come. Suffering is going to be the
believer's lot in this life, and we're going to be persecuted.
But woe unto that man whom the offense comes. Now this is not
some old-time radical and fanatical Baptist or Methodist preacher
talking, using some scared tactic of hell to convert people to
get a profession out of them. This is the Lord Himself speaking. Our Lord speaks of a furnace
of fire. He speaks of an everlasting fire.
He speaks of hell fire. Hell has many titles. Hell has
many names. What is eternal condemnation?
The Lord Jesus said, those that believeth not are condemned already. And this is the condemnation
that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light. What is condemnation, dear friend,
if it's not hell? Call it what you wish, but it's
hell. In 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7,
you don't have to turn there, but the Apostle Paul wrote this.
He said, 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. And then in verse seven,
the apostle makes reference to hell by saying those that who
will obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus shall be punished
with everlasting destruction. But he goes on to say from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. So we
see that hell is a place of everlasting destruction, but that's not all.
It's to be forever ousted from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of His power. That was another thing that my
friend asked me. He said, so you believe that
when a man dies without trusting in Christ, lost, without hope,
without God in this world, that he'll never, ever have the opportunity
again to be saved? No, I didn't say that. God said
that. That's what God said. That's
what God's word says, and he's very clear on the matter as we
will see. John refers to hell in Revelation
chapter 20 as the lake of fire, and he refers to hell as the
second death. In Revelation chapter 21, John
calls it the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. There's
a place called hell. None of us like to think about
such a place. I don't know of any gospel preacher
that enjoys preaching on the subject, but it's a real place. It's called a furnace of fire.
It's called everlasting fire. It's called hell fire. It's called
the lake of fire. It's called outer darkness. It's
called everlasting destruction from the presence and the power
of God. The Lord Jesus said it was a
real place. The apostles said that it's a
real place. Now, is that a literal fire? My friend asked me that, do you
believe that's a literal fire? And he read me some verses that
endeavored to prove that it wasn't. Well, it may or may not be, I
don't know. This fire may be representative,
it may be figurative, it may be symbolic, I just don't know. But there is one thing about
hell that I do know, and that is I don't wanna find out. I
don't want to know by way of experience. In Mark chapter nine,
the Lord said hell was a place where their, the unbeliever,
where their worm, never noticed that before. I always said the
worm that doth not, but the scripture says their worm. This is a place
where their worm doth not and their fire is not quenched. What does it mean that their
worm doth not? What does it mean that their
fire can never be quenched? It means that there's no deliverance. No opportunity of deliverance
in hell. Oh, the solemnity. I'm telling
you, friends of the gospel ministry. Oh, the responsibility of preaching. It's the dealing with the mortal
souls. Souls that will never die. It's
the message concerning eternity. And it could be this morning
that you're hearing the gospel, what Gene preached earlier and
what I'm telling you now for the last time. It could be that
this is the last message that I ever preach. I certainly hope
that's not the case. I would hate that my last message
was on hell. Preaching the gospel, though,
is a matter of life and death. Woe unto me if I preach not the
gospel, but woe unto you if I preach it and you don't hear it. And
on that day of judgment, you're going to hear one or two things.
Those who trust in Christ will hear, enter thou in to the joy
of the Lord. And the unbeliever will hear,
I never knew you. Christ said, I never knew you.
Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. Which will it be for
you? Now, if you would turn with me
to the gospel of Luke chapter 16, and that's where we'll stay. Chapter 16, you remember the
story of Lazarus and the rich man. And from this story, there
are at least seven things that we can learn about hell. I was
reminded by my wife and found online myself a message Brother
Mahan preached one time about five things that will be realized,
five things that the rich man realized in hell. Look at verse
19 if you would with me. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores. Now,
sometimes I just get in such a hurry reading the scriptures
that we miss things, but I just noticed this this week when I
was studying this, he was laid at this gate. He's in bad shape. He didn't walk down there like
we see these folks on the corner with their signs. There's a particular
corner that I pass quite often in my day-to-day endeavors, and
there's always a man out there with a sign. And I noticed last
time that he had a helper. When he'd get tired, he'd give
his sign to the other man. The other man's standing there
a while, and he'd sit down and rest. He had a substitute beggar. Not this fella. This fella was
in bad shape. He had to be laid there, just
like Bartimaeus had to be taken by the wayside there begging.
There was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his
gate, the rich man's gate, full of sores and desiring to be fed
with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. This man
was starving. These signs I see will work for
food. You stop and ask them if they'll
come mow your grass for a good meal and see if they do. But
this man was hungry and full of sores. He's in bad shape.
He had a desperate need. Did you hear me? He had a desperate
need. And desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, verse 21, 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. But the rich man also died and
was buried. And in hell, you see that? And in hell, he lift up his eyes,
being in torment, and he seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus
in his bosom. So the first thing we see, and
the first thing that the rich man realized about hell, we've
already mentioned, there is a place called hell. The rich man lifted
up his eyes in hell. Hell is a real place. Hell is
not a curse word. It's a place. Hellfire is not
an expression. It's a very real place. It's
a place of misery. It's a place of torment. It's
a place of suffering. And the rich man lifted up his
eyes, being in torments, plural. Verse 24, and he cried and he
said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he
may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for
I am tormented in this flame. This man sought mercy. He longed
for just a dip of water from Lazarus' finger. He longed for
his tongue to be cooled. Why? Because he said, I'm tormented
in this flame. Now you may want to call it figurative,
symbolic, I don't know, but it sounds to me like real fire.
There's a place called hell and it's a place of torment and suffering,
but there's more to hell than just physical suffering. There
is suffering of soul. Just as our Lord Jesus suffered
on the cross, that was much more than physical suffering. Yes,
they beat him, they plucked out his beard, they placed a crown
of thorns on his head, That cat of nine tails ripped into his
flesh. Oh, what a horrific sight that
must have been. And oh, what pain our Lord must
have suffered. But that wasn't the real suffering,
not compared to the soul suffering of the Lord Jesus. He suffered
separation from God. He cried, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? There was so much more than just
the suffering, the pain on the cross. And as we saw last week
in Isaiah 53, verse 10, it pleased the Lord to bruise Him. Pleased
the Lord to put Him, Christ, to grief because God made His
soul an offering for sin. The agony of soul far exceeded
the agony of physical pain. In fact, our Lord nearly died
before He ever went to the cross. For that reason, in Gethsemane's
garden, under the agony of Saul, our Lord sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood falling to the ground. What's the reason for
this suffering of Saul? God put all the sin of all his
people throughout all time on the Lord Jesus and made him an
offering for that sin. The scriptures are clear. God
is able, as we just read a moment ago, to destroy both body and
soul in hell. There's much more to be dreaded
in hell than just fire. Secondly, we see that hell is
a place where physical death in this earthly life does not
end the life of the soul. The rich man was in hell, but
he still had eyes to see. Hell is a place where the soul
of man never dies. The rich man still had his senses.
He knew who Lazarus was. He knew who Abraham was. He knew
that he was thirsty. He knew that he was in torment.
He knew that his soul would live forever. Thirdly, in hell, you'll
see and understand that poverty with God is better than prosperity
without him. Oh, don't you wish folks could
learn that? I get so tired of this prosperity message that
we hear today, this health and wealth gospel, it's called. Oh,
God wants you to have the big house on the hill and the big
expensive car. And in verse 25, Abraham said,
all your life you received good things, but Lazarus received
evil things. But now he is comforted and you
are tormented. For what is a man? if he shall
gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
man give in exchange for his soul? Men that have died billionaires
that are now in hell, what do you think they'd give to have
one more shot? Fourthly, we see that hell is
a place of memory. You know, as I considered these
points and listened to Brother Mahan's message, I thought that
may be the worst torment of all. Remembering. Remembering. Verse 25, Abraham said, Son,
remember. Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime receivest thou good things and likewise Lazarus evil
things. But now he's comforted and you're
tormented. Son, remember what mental anguish
there is in hell. What emotional anguish there
is. You've got eternity to remember. God is light and in Him is no
darkness. There's no light in hell. It's
darkness. It's outer darkness. God is love. There's no love in hell. God
is good. There's no goodness in hell.
In hell, everything is opposite from God. And in hell, men will
be separated eternally from all that God is and all that God
gives. Son, daughter, remember. In hell, a sinner will ask himself
for eternity. Why didn't I mind the things
of God? God sent his son into the world,
but I would not have him to reign over me. I would not bow to Him
as God's Savior and God's substitute and God's sacrifice for sin.
For eternity I'll remember I didn't do that. I should have repented. I should have trusted in Christ.
I should have believed God. And now I remember. I could have
believed God. I now remember every warning
God brought me. I now remember every witness
God sent me. I remember that every single
time I rejected it, I wouldn't have this man to rule over me.
As I said, to me, that could very well be the worst part of
hell. Son, remember, remembering. A person remembering their sin,
remembering their hatred of God, remembering their hatred for
Christ, which was without a cause. Choosing the pleasure of sin
for a season. Forsaking the pleasure of eternity
in being with Christ. And fifthly, in hell, there will
be no second chances. Salvation is not by chance. Salvation is on purpose. And
there are no do-overs. No do-overs. There's no purgatory. Look at verse 26. And beside
all this, between us and you, Abraham said, there is a great
gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot. Neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. You see, friends, hell is a place
where truth is realized too late. There's no unbelievers in hell. Have you ever thought about that?
There are no unbelievers in hell. Just as there's no unbelievers
in heaven. Men and women in hell won't and don't love Christ. But in hell, they believe in
Him. In this life, they didn't trust
in Him, but now they see that He really was God's Savior, Substitute
and Sacrifice. And they'll remember it forever.
but they would not have this man to rule over him. They didn't
trust Christ as their Savior on earth, but in hell they'll
know that he's a just God and Savior, but it'd be realized
too late, too late. While on earth in this life,
men would not come, would not bow, would not trust, would not
have God substitute to rule over them. But in hell, themselves
now have bowed their knee and confessed in their heart that
Jesus Christ is Lord. But it will be too late. One
will say, well, I thought God's mercy endured forever. That's
what my friend said to me. And I said, oh my, my, God's
love, God's mercy, God's grace is only in Christ. Only those
who loved and trusted His Son, only those who rested in Christ's
finished work is God's mercy forever. Sinners are not changed
by going to hell. Hell is the proof that they were
not changed. Sinners are changed by coming to Christ. Men are
not saved by knowledge of Christ in hell. Men are saved by union
with Christ in this life. That's why we preach what we
do. Be you reconciled to God. That's our message. It's a faithful
saying worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners. Sinners aren't changed by going
to hell, no. Listen to these words found in
Revelation chapter 22, verse 11. He that is unjust, let him
be unjust still. And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. You see, hell won't change a
man. Hell won't change a woman. Only God can do that. And in
hell, a man will see and understand that he wasn't changed by God. The man that has an unquenchable
appetite for sin in this life, no matter what it is, No matter
what it is, he'll have that same unquenchable appetite for sin
and hell. A man that hates holiness here,
he'll hate holiness in hell. And he that is unjust here is
unjust still in hell. He that is filthy with sin in
this life will be filthy with sin in hell forever. Not unless Christ does a work
of grace in a man now, and he misses hell altogether. Now,
we don't preach Christ as a far escape from hell, no. We preach
Christ as the way, the truth, and the life, and we tell men
that no man, no woman, no body can come to God but by Him. He is our message. He is our
salvation. I'm not preaching this message
this morning trying to scare you or alarm you into making
a profession of faith and saying, oh, you know, I believe in Jesus. I sure don't want to go to hell.
That won't keep you from going. No, sir. And that brings me to
the sixth thing. Hell is a place of separation
from God. Again, verse 26, there's a great
gulf fixed. So that they which would pass
from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us. That rich
man said, oh, let Lazarus dip his finger in the water and come
and touch my tongue. Abraham said, can't be done.
The great goal fixed. It's too late. And you'll remember
that all eternity. You see, it's not fire that makes
hell so horrific. It's separation from God that
does. Hell is forever. It's eternal
separation from God. And there's no repentance. There's
no salvation. Only the realization of everlasting
separation. It's hell to be forever separated
from your maker, your God, the only one who could save you.
And then lastly, the rich man learned in hell that you can
only be saved one way, and that's by the word of God. That's by
the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the word of God and the only
way to salvation. Look at verse 27, then he, The
rich man said, I pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldst send
him, being Lazarus, to my father's house. For I have five brothers,
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment. And Abraham said unto him," Now
look at this. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. They have
the Word of God. In other words, they have the
Word of God. Now listen, if a sinner won't
hear the Word of God, believe on Christ, who is the Word of
God, they won't believe, though one rose from the dead. Verse
30, and he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto
them from the dead, they would repent. Would they? No, they would not. Gene said
in the Sunday school hour, miracles. Signs and wonders never saved
anybody. Israel saw all the miracles that
God did in Egypt and in the wilderness, they died. Why did they die?
Unbelief. Faith comes by hearing and hearing
by the word of God. Verse 31, and he said unto him,
if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be
persuaded. The one rose from the dead. Miracles don't save people. They
never have. And they never will. the thousands
that our Lord Jesus fed with five loaves of bread and two
little fishes, they didn't follow Him because of the miracle that
He performed. They didn't follow Him because
in that miracle that He performed with the bread and the fishes
proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that He was God in the flesh.
They didn't follow Him because He was God. They followed Him
because their bellies were filled. Men can have their visions and
their dreams, They can trust their signs and their wonders,
but none are ever saved because of them. Never saved a soul,
not one. The Jews said to our Lord, they
said, show us a sign that we may see and believe you. They
said, what shall we do that we might work the works of God?
We'd like to do a few miracles ourselves. We've got men today
trying to. And they use deception to convince
men and women that they do. And the Lord said, this is the
work of God. Now listen to me. This is the
work of God that you believe Him who He has sent. Salvation
is not only of the Lord, salvation is in the Lord, and that's the
Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, there's a place called hell. Our Lord said there was, and
His disciples said there was, and God's Word says there is. But I can't leave you on that
note. There's also a place called heaven. First, heaven's a place
of eternal joy and peace and rest, not misery and suffering
and torment, but joy, peace, and rest. Secondly, heaven's
a place of eternal life. It's a place where the soul lives
forever and forever sings, worthy is the Lamb of God, who loved
me and gave Himself for me, who died and shed His blood, who
took all my sin upon Himself so that He might give me His
perfect righteousness, so that I might be here in heaven's glory,
singing face to face to Him, oh Lord, You're worthy. of all
my worship and praise because of who you are and what you've
done for me. Thirdly, heaven is also a place
of memory. It's a place where God's people
always remember what Christ did for them through the shedding
of His blood. It's a place where we always
remember that God remembers not our sin and iniquities no more.
Fourthly, heaven is a place where you see and understand something
of the riches of God's grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh,
it's better to have died on earth as a pauper and to have been
enlightened with the hope of His calling and to know the riches
of His glory of our inheritance in Christ Jesus. Wouldn't you
say? Sixthly, in heaven, there'll be no need of second chances.
As I said, God on purpose saved His people by His grace. In heaven,
there's no separation from God. Beloved, when he shall appear
to take us to glory, to heaven, we'll forever see that we shall
be like him. For it's there that we shall
forever see him as he is, perfect, holy, without spot or blemish,
forever righteous, and we'll forever be in the presence of
the one who loved us and gave himself for us. And lastly, in
heaven, we will fully realize that by the full revelation of
God and the fact that we have no sin, we see through a glass
darkly and dimly now, but not then, not then, because we won't
have any sin to cloud our vision. We'll forever see that salvation,
the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. Thank God for
His mercy and His grace. Thank God for the giving of His
perfect Son. Thank God for the revelation
of our sin and our need. Thank God for the death of His
precious Son. Thank Christ for paying the wages
of our sin, which was death. Thank God for the everlasting
life of those who believe and trust in His perfect Son. Thank
you, Lord, for saving my soul. Thank you, Lord, for making me
whole. Only you can. Thank you, Lord, for giving to
me. Salvation is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourself. It's what? It's a gift of God.
But I work. No, no, no. It's not a work,
lest any man should boast. It's the riches of His grace.
Thank you, Lord, for giving to me Thy great salvation, so rich
and free. Come. Buy without money, without
price. How do you do that? It's charged
to the account of another. You know whose account that is,
don't you? Christ is heaven's glory. Heaven will be glorious
because He is there. May God, by His grace and His
mercy and through His gospel, the preaching of it, save your
soul. Cause you to trust in His finished
work.