Ralph Barnard used to say we
ought to preach as if everybody sitting before us is going to
hell right now. Every now and then, we ought
to just presume that nobody who hears our voice knows our God. You see, faithful men, faithful
men, will do everything possible to destroy every refuge of lies
in which you seek to hide. Everything possible to destroy
any false hope you may have and force you to look to Christ and
Him alone and believe Him. My heart's desire and prayer
to God for is that you might be saved. Turn with me if you
will now to Luke chapter 16. In this chapter our Lord is addressing
religious Pharisees, those who justify themselves before men. It's very important the way he
puts that in verse 15. ye are they which justify yourselves
before men. You do what you do to impress
yourself and other folks like you. You do what you do so that
you can maintain a good opinion of yourself, and so that other
folks will maintain a good opinion about you with regard to your
relationship to God Almighty. But God knoweth your hearts.
For that which is highly esteemed among And that by which you justify
yourselves before men is an abomination in the sight of God. These are the men to whom the
parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son was
addressed. They are described as the elder
brother in that parable who despised the Father's goodness, the goodness
and grace of God. by which poor sinners are saved
and brought home to God at last. They scorned the Lord Jesus in
verse 2 of chapter 15, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and
eateth with them. It is specifically to all who
attempt to justify themselves before men, to all who despise
the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that the story The parable in
Luke 16, verses 19 through 31, is addressed. Let's read this
sobering, sobering parable together. Luke 16, verse 19. There was a certain rich man. Actually, the word might be translated,
a very notable rich man, notable in his own and notable in the
esteem of others, a distinct man. He was different from other
fellows, and he let everybody know it. Which was clothed in
purple and fine linen, the things from which the Pharisees made
their long robes, by which they separated themselves from others
in a visible way, so that everybody looked at them and said, My,
these are fine, fine men. and fared sumptuously every day. They never had a trouble in their
souls. This certain rich man. Are you concerned about your
relationship with God? No, sir, I've got that taken
care of. Are you concerned about eternity? No, sir, I've got that
settled. Everything's all right between me and God? I've made
my peace with God a long time ago. And there was a certain
beggar Now that notable rich man, God doesn't even bother
to mention his name. His name is not written in the
Book of Life, but here's a certain beggar, a certain poor, despised
pauper named Lazarus. His name is precious. It's written
in the Book of Life of the Lamb. He's chosen and redeemed of God.
which laid at this rich man's gate full of sowers, all his days were filled with
trouble and sore. And desiring to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs
came and licked his sowers, and it came to pass, it always does
sooner or always does at exactly the time of God's appointing,
that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried and forgotten. Forgotten. Nobody knows him. and nobody cares. And in hell,
he lift up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on and send Lazarus, that poor despised beggar
that I wouldn't give the time of day to, 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, remember. Remember that thou
in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise thy
receivable things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside this, between us and
you, there is a great gulf fixed, a huge chasm fixed. so that they which would pass
from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would
come from thence. Then 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. Abraham saith unto him,
They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear God's word. Let them hear Moses and the prophets.
Let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham. In other words, they're not about
to hear Moses and the prophets. They will not hear God's word. They will not hearken to God's
word. given what you are holding on
your lap right now. Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from
the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. The first thing we see in this
parable is the fact that eternity brings about great changes. Things
were not the same for the rich man after he died, and things
were not the same for Lazarus. What great changes are made when
breath is taken from these bodies. Here are two men, one very rich. The other, very poor. No doubt
there is a pointed application here to physical wealth and physical
poverty. But there's much more. The parable
is addressed to Pharisees. The one was very rich in his
own esteem, in righteousness, in goodness, and acceptable behavior
before God Almighty. The one fared sumptuously every
day. He lived in comfort all the time.
He was never disturbed by inward struggles. There was no warfare
in his soul, no struggles in his breast. The other was a beggar
full of sores. This one had nothing he could
call his own. Do you have any goodness, Lazarus?
Do you have any righteousness, Lazarus? Not a speck. Do you
have any confidence in yourself, Lazarus? None. Do you have any
hope in yourself, Lazarus? None. Do you have any experiences
you can look to? None. Do you have any feelings?
None. He had nothing. He was poor. Yet it was Lazarus,
the poor beggar, who possessed all things. You see, he was born
of God. He was loved of God. He was accepted
of God in Christ Jesus. He had all things, for Christ
was his. The rich man had nothing. Lazarus, this poor man, who had
nothing in himself, but all things in Christ, is a man who lived
by faith, who walked in the steps of Father Abraham. The rich man
was a man who was thoughtless, self-righteous, A selfish, self-serving
worldling, dead in trespasses and in sins. While on earth,
the rich man was at the top of the world. Oh, everybody admired
him. Everybody envied him. Everybody
looked to him. Everybody wanted his opinion
about everything. Lazarus, down here, nobody. Nobody even spoke
to him unless they wanted to ask him, hey, can you get out
of my way? Nobody cared about Lazarus. Nobody remembered Lazarus. Nobody thought of Lazarus. Nobody
ever asked his opinion about anything. But now, Lazarus is
just as high as humanity can rise. And the rich man is in
hell. We ought never to imagine that
men and women are blessed of God because of what we see with
these eyes. We ought never to imagine that
many women are blessed of God because they have much or because
they live in ease. We ought never to imagine that
many women are blessed of God because they're wealthy and healthy
and respected. Those things which appear to
be the blessings of God are often God's curse. He sets the world
in their heart that they should not believe. Oh, God don't set the world in
my heart. David said, when I saw those
things that caused me to envy the prosperity of the foolish,
I went into the house of God and I understood that God had
these folks shut up like an ox in a stall who gets the best
of the grain. the very best of treatment, the
very best of care, constant attention, because he's fattening the ox
to killing. Now you want to envy the ox? And we ought never to presume
that because men and women are poor, despised in the world, because men and women have much
trouble, much heartache, and much sorrow, that they are the
objects of God's curse and God's wrath. Very often, those things
that you and I would never choose for ourselves, or for our families,
or even for our enemies, those are the very things, Bob Lee,
by which God graciously forces us to lean on him. By which he graciously forces
us continually to trust him. The wise word of Jeremiah is
this, 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. That is, you're a fool if you
trust your wisdom. You're a fool if you trust your
might, be it intellectual power, physical power, emotional power,
academic power, the might you have over others, you're a fool
if you trust it. And you're a fool if you trust
in your riches. But let him that gloryeth, glory
in this, that he understandeth, and knoweth me, that I am the Learn this too. Death is the
common end of all men. The trials of the beggar and
the sumptuous living of the rich man both ceased at the appointed
hour. At God's appointed time, both
men died. Both men went to the grave. As
Solomon put it, all go to one place. That is, everybody here
is going to the grave. We are going to die. You and
I are dying creatures. Now, few like to think about
it. Fewer still discuss it, especially concerning themselves. I have the privilege and the
responsibility when one of our own is sick and dying, to go
and speak to them. And sometimes I have the awesome
responsibility of doing so because I'm asked. when somebody else
is dying and speak to them about death and eternity and judgment
and heaven and hell. Now you talk about something
tough to do? Look a dying man or woman in the face and deal
with their souls honestly about death. Well I want to look you
in the face and deal honestly with you. You're dying. You're
going to meet God. And not one second longer shall
you live on this earth than God Almighty has appointed. I don't
care who the physicians are, what the treatment is, or what
the medication is. Not one second longer. It is
appointed unto men once to die. But that's not all. After this, the judgment. Someone said he that would live
well should think of his last day and make it his constant
company keeper. If you would value things aright
in this world, value nothing more highly than you'll value
it the day God Almighty takes your last breath from you. Nothing. You know what? That makes that
bank account totally insignificant, doesn't it? That makes whether
I own the biggest house in town or live in the poorest tent that
I rent from somebody else totally insignificant. That makes whether
I have a great education and academic influence or whether
I'm totally illiterate totally insignificant. That makes what
I wear, whether I buy it from someone who makes tailor-made
clothes or whether I buy it at the Goodwill thrift store, totally
insignificant. Totally insignificant. Did you
hear the word? Totally insignificant. Make the
constant realization of your death day your constant companion
and you'll quit living like a fool. You'll quit living. as though
you're going to live here forever. We entertain our children with
those little old things. When I was a kid you just got
the little wand and waved it around and blew it and made bubbles
and go chase them. Now they've got these guns and
you can squirt a whole gallon of it in no time. And kids just, oh, they get so
excited and laugh and even fight trying to get the bubbles. I've
got it! Now it's mine! Kind of like we do with everything
else. Chasing bubbles. Nothing else. The beggar died, and his pains
and sorrows and needs all died. The rich man died also, and his
sumptuous living, his wealth, his delight, his esteem, his
name all died. Be wise then and prepare to meet
thy God. Now here's the third thing. This
parable is intended to assure us that for God's elect, the
death of this body is a blessed prospect. In that hour that all
men dread, believers are specifically and tenderly cared for by God
Almighty. Look at this. Lazarus died, and
he was carried by angels. into Abraham's bosom. Death cuts all the cords that tie our souls to this world.
And at the same time, it ties a knot of infinite strength that
binds us to our Redeemer. Oh, what a prospect. There's
much comforting in this. Lazarus was carried by angels
to Abraham's bosom. I don't know much about what
I've got to say here. We know very little or maybe
nothing at all about the true inward experiences of dying people. I've watched a few men die, a few believers and a few unbelievers. This much I know, blessed are
the dead that die in the Lord. To be absent from the body for
God's saints is to be present with the As for me, I will behold
thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awaken
thy likeness." Those who sleep in Jesus are in good keeping
forever. They're not disembodied spirits
floating around in the atmosphere somewhere looking for a final
resting place, while their bodies sleep in the earth. awaiting
the resurrection. They are at rest among friends
in Abraham's bosom. Best of all, they are with Christ,
Paul says. They have no want of any kind. Truly for the believer to die
is gain. I just noticed something back
in the office when I was reading scripture to the men, Psalm 27.
David spoke of the prospect of death, and he said, Had it not
been that I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land
of the living, I would have thanked him. Paul says exactly the same
thing in 2 Corinthians. He says, For which cause we thank
not, though we are persecuted and despised and afflicted. Though
our outward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory While we look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things
which are seen, the temple. Things which are not seen, they
are eternal. Now listen to this. But 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. And for this house we are groaning. We grow, not that we might be
unclothed but clothed upon, so that we might be forever with
Christ in his glory. Soon, very soon, we will die. And we will join one of these
two men, either Lazarus in heavenly glory or the rich man in hell. Lazarus died and was carried
up to heaven. the rich man also died. What
became of him? In hell, he lifted up his eyes,
being in torment. So far as I can determine, this
is the only place in the entire Word of God, the only place in
the entire Word of God Which means this is the only place
in the whole world where we're given any glimpse at all as to
what takes place when sinners are cast into hell. I ask you now, are you ready
to die? Come back to Ecclesiastes 7.
I seldom ever preach a funeral, but what I don't read or refer
to these three verses. Ecclesiastes chapter 7, verse
2. It's better to go to the house
of mourning than to the house of feasting. I know some of you They don't
like to visit hospitals, don't like to visit rest homes, don't
like to visit funeral homes. Oh, I can't stand to go there.
Go. You need to. You need to. Every time you get a chance,
stop by a cemetery and just walk around and think about what's
ahead of you. The wise man, the wisest human
being who ever lived, said it's better to go to the house of
mourning than to go to the house of feasting. It's better to go
to the graveside than to the party next door, for that is
the end of all men, and the living will lay it to his heart. You
might not pay any attention for very long, but for just a little
while you're going to recognize, I'm fixing to die. Sorrow is
better than laughter. That's strange language, isn't
it? Sorrow is better than laughter.
For by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. The
heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of
the fools is in the house of mirth. I urge you, flee the wrath to
come. Find refuge for your soul right
now in Jesus Christ the Son of God. If you and I would be saved,
if we would escape the wrath of God, if we would stand before
God Almighty with Lazarus in heaven at the feet of our Savior
forever blessed, we must find acceptance with God through the
blood and righteousness of his Son, because God requires something
of us we can't produce. God requires of you and me total
satisfaction for his offended law and justice. He requires
atonement, and we can't give it. We can't make up for sin,
we can't make up for our awe, we can't make up for our evil,
we cannot atone for our sins. And God requires perfect righteousness,
and we can't perform it. Christ Jesus the Lord, the God-man,
the sinner's substitute, came into this world to establish
for sinners perfect righteousness by his obedience unto God, obedience
unto death. By his sacrifice, he made complete
atonement to the full satisfaction of God's holy justice. And that
righteousness, that atonement, can be had only by believing
on the Son of God. Your goodness won't get you to
heaven. Saying, I believe in Jesus, won't
get you to heaven. Walking a church house, shaking
a preacher's hand, signing a decision card, won't get you to heaven.
Saying what folks call the sinner's prayer won't get you to heaven.
Being a good man, a good woman, a good child, good boy, good
girl, won't get you to heaven. All those things will just take
you to hell. Even David, the man after God's own heart, said
in the psalm, My goodness extendeth not unto thee, O God. You see,
your goodness, your perceived goodness, is nothing but self-delusion
and self-righteousness. And our perception of goodness
in other people is but the biased opinion of people who have received
some benefit from that which people do for us. So we have
no right judgment of goodness. God requires absolute perfection
and absolute satisfaction. And that's found only in his
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have the Savior. We must trust him. Now, sooner or later you're going
to learn what I'm preaching to you so, and you're going to learn
sooner or later that it cannot be, the weight, the burden, the importance
of what I'm saying to you cannot be overestimated. And look with
me this parable, Luke 16, 19-31, and let me show you some things
this man learned in hell. I pray you'll learn them before
you get there. Number one, as soon as the rich
man lifted up his eyes in hell, he discovered that death does
not end all. You and I are men and women who
are immortal souls. We live in these bodies for a
time, but we are immortal souls. And when these bodies have died,
we will spend eternity, you and me, somewhere, either with Christ
as Lazarus in the bliss of glory. are in the darkness of hell and
the torments of the damned like this rich man. Oh, what a meeting
place hell will be. Mamas and daddies look upon their
lost children in hell and those lost children look upon mama
and daddy who led them there. Preachers look upon lost church
members in hell, and those lost church members look upon the
preachers who led them there. Can you imagine the hatred, the
vicious, indescribable hatred, when you look eyeball to eyeball
at someone who's supposed to influence you for good, at someone
in whom you trusted, at someone who's supposed to have taught
you right, and see that their influence, their direction, their
example brought you at last to destruction. No, death doesn't
end all. When this man woke up in hell,
he learned secondly that there really is a real place called
hell. J.C. Ryle wrote there are a few
more dreadful passages perhaps in the whole Bible than this.
And he from whose lips it came, be it remembered, is he who delighteth
in mercy." Don't talk to us about hell,
preacher. If you love us, you won't talk to us about judgment
of God. If you really cared for folks, you wouldn't talk about
those things. Tell that to the Son of God who
gave us this parable. Hell is as real as Danville,
Kentucky. The same inspired book that tells
us about heaven tells us about hell. That book that tells us
about the bliss of redeemed sinners in heaven tells us about the
torment and misery of the damned in hell. The Lord Jesus tells
us plainly that after death the rich man was in hell, tormented
with fire. What a picture! I don't know where hell is. I
can't imagine what it is. I know it's a real place. The
rich man found it so. Hell is a place of unquenchable
fire, undying worms, inescapable torment, everlasting darkness, eternal conscious separation
from God and all that's good. Unending, miserable hopelessness. Here's the third thing. Lifting
up his eyes in hell, the rich man found out what he tried his
best to ignore all his life. A holy God will punish the soul that sinneth, it shall
die. When God Almighty found sin upon
his own son, when Christ was made to be sin, and the holy,
just, and true God of heaven found sin on his son, he cried,
Awake, O sword, against one that is my fellow, smite and slay
the shepherd. And if God punished sin in his
son, you be dead sure you understand he will punish sin in you. Your
sin must be punished God cannot wink at it. He cannot pass it
by. He cannot declare that one who
is guilty to be righteous. He will not do it, his justice
won't allow it. Your sin must be punished, either
in you forever or in Christ to substitute to the full satisfying
of God's justice at Calvary. And in hell, this man began to
experience the punishment of sin by God. In hell, the torments he experienced are
indescribable. He had a full knowledge of his wasted life. Aren't you thankful that you've
forgotten a lot. When you wake up in hell, you
won't forget anything. Abraham said, son, remember, the guilt of all your sins will
lay heavily upon your soul forever. And you'll understand that you have brought yourself
to this horrible, horrible death by your own deliberate refusal
to hear God's voice. I got a letter this afternoon.
A friend asked me, said, I believe in predestination. I've learned
that, but folks, tell me About choices, does man really have
a choice? Let me tell you something. Learn it now, or you're going
to learn it, sure enough. Yes, sir. You make choices all
the time. And your choices are your responsibility. And they're your choices. Choose
you this day whom you will serve. The choice is yours. The choice
will always be evil unless God Almighty intervenes, because
your heart's corrupt and defiled, a rebel against God. But the
choice is yours. And the Lord God says, I called,
and you refused. He says, when distress and anguish
comes upon you, I'll mock. I'll laugh. You'll call on me,
but I'll not answer, because you hated knowledge and did not
choose the fear of the Lord. Though he was forever confined
to hell's dark prison, this prison of torment, this rich man saw
Lazarus way far off. blessed in Abraham's bosom. He's conscious of all his corruption
and sin. Conscious of all his torment
and conscious of the blessedness that he's missed because he would
not choose the fear of the Lord. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth when you shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the
prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. And his company, his only company,
are damned angels and damned men, all of whom hate him as
much as he hates them continually in darkness. and isolation, with
a keenly awakened conscious, fully conscious of everything, with no hope, suffering the wrath
of God Almighty in all His power without mercy, and is in that
condition forever. forever. When I think of all the times
in my foolish youth, I'd hit somebody or stick my
finger in their face and say, go to hell. If men only knew If me and only
you, I don't think the most hardened conscious in the world could
wish such a thing upon another human being. This is the second death. Blessed and holy as he that hath
part in the first resurrection, he that is born of God, on such
the second death shall have no power. In hell he seeth Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. He sees and never ceases to see
all the blessedness enjoyed by that one whom he despised, the
blessedness of that God whom he despised. Here's something
else he learned. As soon as he went to hell, he
learned that Christ really is the only way to God. The rich man's riches, his religion
and his works, were of no value to him now. Missing Christ, he
missed all. Some years ago I read about that
mad atheist infidel, Voltaire, who crusaded all his life trying
to get folks to take the Bible and throw it away and not believe
that there is such a thing as God, much less believe God. When
his young son was dying, Voltaire kept squeezing his hand and said, And the last words his boy spoke,
he opened his eyes and he said, Dad, there's nothing to hang
on to. And whatever it is you're hanging
on to, if it's not Christ, I'm telling you, there's nothing
to hang on to. Nothing. In hell, the rich man
learns, but learns too late. Except the man repent, he'll
perish. He said, Abraham, send Lazarus
to my father's house, I've got five brothers who are going the
same path I led them in, and go tell them, send Lazarus to
tell them that they may repent lest they come to this awful
place. He finally saw what really mattered. all what multitudes will never
discover what matters until in hell they see forever what matters. And one more thing, this rich
man learned in hell but learned too late that no one can ever
be saved without hearing and believing the gospel. He found
out faith really does come by hearing, and hearing by the word
of God. He said, send Lazarus, so that
he'll tell my brothers. Abraham said they've got Moses
and the prophet, they've got the gospel, they've got the word
of God, let them hear them. Oh no, they won't pay attention
to that, that's just paper. That's just words on paper, they
won't pay attention to that. But if they have a miracle set
before them, they'll believe. If somebody raised from the dead,
they'd believe him. No, no, they just have another
delusion. If they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither would they hear the woman raised from the
dead. And you wonder why we place such a premium on gospel preaching.
If they don't hear the preaching of the gospel, they won't hear
puppet. If they don't hear the preaching of the gospel, they
won't hear magician. If they don't hear the preaching of the
gospel, they won't hear show. If they don't hear the preaching
of the gospel, they won't hear a good singing convention. If they don't
hear God in His Word speak to them, they won't.