I'm reading from Luke, chapter
16, beginning at verse 19. Luke, chapter 16, verse 19. There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. So what? vanity of vanities. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. So what? vanity of vanities. Life in this world, in its best
or at its worst, is just a passing puff of smoke, a vapor in the
air, no more. But now what next comes, that's
important. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell he lift 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 and send Lazarus. Now he's the beggar,
and Lazarus is rich. 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 receivest thy good things, 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 gulf 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. And 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 they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. And my subject this evening is
lessons learned too late. This morning I showed you that
this rich man learned, but he learned too late, that death
does not end all. There is life after death. He
learned that there is a real place called hell, and he learned
that a holy God will and must punish sin. Now this man also
learned in hell that hell is a place of endless eternal torment. The rich man said, I am tormented
in this flame. And John tells us in Revelation
19.3 that the smoke of the damned, the smoke of their torments,
arises up forever and ever. is a delusion of Satan. There
is no end to the agony of hell for one reason. Man has sinned
against an infinite God. He has made a breach of God's
holy law that deserves and must have infinite punishment. And
you and I cannot satisfy the infinite requirements of God's
justice. Though God should sweep the world
into hell and punish the world relentlessly forever and ever,
no man can satisfy the justice of God, for man is a finite creature. He cannot take upon him the cup
of wrath and drink it dry. He must drink of the cup of God's
wrath forever. Preachers over the years have
made a great much ado about whether or not there is literal fire
in hell. Well, I'm not going to debate
that issue. I don't really know. But I sometimes
recognize that in the scriptures, that which is in reality the
truth, we cannot comprehend. And therefore, we have pictures,
symbols, allegories given to us. For example, I do not expect
in heaven to see literal gates of pearl and streets of gold.
Now, it doesn't matter much. That's not what I'm going to
heaven for. But I don't expect to see those things. I expect
those things are merely pictures and illustrations of the beauty,
the glory, the riches of heaven, and their pictures to show us
things about heaven's glory. And I expect also that when we
read in the scriptures of the fire and the torment of hell,
it would do us good to understand what the torment of hell really
is. There are some things I see revealed
in this text which make hell far, far, far worse than literal
fire. Now, I'm not denying the literal
fire. I'm not arguing the issue. I'm
simply saying that physical torment is nothing compared with mental,
spiritual torment of the mind, the heart, and the soul. Hell,
what is it? It's memory awakened. Look in
verse 25, Abraham said, son, remember, remember. In hell, men and women remember. Your memory will be quickened.
In hell, you will remember every gospel sermon you ever heard
or read. You will even remember every
sermon you had opportunity to hear or read and did not take
advantage of. In hell, you will remember every
song of praise you heard sung from the lips of one singing
the praise of Christ. In hell, you will remember every
word of admonition Every word of instruction, every word that
you've ever heard in all your life, encouraging you to look
to Christ and believe. In hell, you will remember every
prayer uttered on your behalf. Every time anyone ever spoke
to God in prayer, you'll remember it. It'll ring in your ears forever."
I said, Pastor, I can't imagine that. I know you can't, but it's
so. And so, what is conscience? Conscience is a memory bank. It's a book of records where
everything is registered and stored in its proper place and
in its proper order. That's what it is. It's amazing
what men's minds will do to them when their consciences are made
keen and aware and their consciences remember. Well, in hell, your
conscience will have perfect recall, perfect recall. Ralph Barnard, I heard on the
tape years and years ago, described the hounds of hell, how that a man in hell will see the face and hear the
voice of a faithful preacher. The torments of Herod will be the face of John the
Baptist preaching to him, and him knowing the truth of what
John the Baptist has said, knowing it truly to be so, knowing the
reality of his deeds, And he cannot for the life of him shut
that preacher's voice. In hell, that young lady will
see the face of that mother, that father, that grandmother,
that grandfather who earnestly instructed them in the gospel.
And the young lady laughed up her sleeve all the while. That
young man who heard the gospel preached, who heard his daddy
deliver the message, who heard the deacon teach him and instruct
him, and all the while he's snickering up his sleeve and he would not
hear, you're going to see his face eternally. Eternally. You're going to hear his voice
eternally. Eternally. And you're going to
know. You're going to know. Right now some of you listen
to me preach. I read to you the word of God.
I preach to you the message that God's given me. And I know what
you're doing. You're sitting there laughing
up your sleeve. You think, well, Don's not an old man, but he's
an old fogey. He doesn't know what's going
on. That can't be so. God's not that way. I'm not that
bad. In hell, listen to me. See this
face? You're going to see it forever.
And these words that I speak to you, you're going to hear
them ringing in your soul forever. And you're going to know it so.
You're going to know that what I say to you so. You're going
to know it. Here in this life, the souls
of men are startled and awakened by the works of God. Sickness,
tragedy, and death startle us. But we soon fall asleep again
and forget it all. But in hell, the eyes of the
soul will behold clearly and be continually held awake. In
hell, your understanding will be clear and sharp. Your thoughts
will be profoundly comprehensive. Your conscience will be active.
Your memory will be perfect. You will not be able to forget
anything. Oh, if you could just forget
that message when you heard God speak. If you could just forget. That time when you heard God
speak and you recognized the truth of the gospel, and if you
had simply bowed to Christ, if you had but simply trusted Christ,
you would forever have life everlasting. Oh my God, if I could just forget. Forget you can't. Nothing. This is the fire that burns and
the worm that dieth not. You will not be able to forget
anything. And by all of this, your capacity
to take in the fullest measure of misery will be enlarged to
the utmost degree. Son, remember. What is hell? its truth realized
too late. Listen to this man who is in
torment as he speaks in verse 27. Then he said, I pray thee,
therefore, if I can't get out of this place, if you won't send
Lazarus with a drop of water to me, if you'll show me no mercy,
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, that he may bear witness unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment." Here is a man in hell begging
for somebody to go preach the gospel. to his family. Send somebody to warn my brothers. Send somebody to tell them about
the Lord Jesus. Send somebody to tell them about
redeeming blood. Send somebody to tell them about
imputed righteousness. Send somebody to tell them of
Christ's saving grace. Send somebody lest they come
to this awful place. It wasn't like that before. It
appears that this man was the eldest of the five of the six
brethren. He had taught them before how
to be good bankers and good lawyers and how to be good businessmen,
how to get a fine education, how to obtain the most wealth
they could possibly attain, how to get a good secure position,
how to secure something for their old age. He had taught them everything. But now, he's not the least bit
interested in those things. Now he doesn't care where his
five brethren live. Now he doesn't care what kind
of roof they sleep under. Now he doesn't care whether they're
beggars laid at somebody's door or whether they're the wealthiest
men in the world. He wants somebody to go and tell
them of Christ's redeeming grace. For he sees that nothing is more
important. Nothing is more important. You
see, now he realizes things as they really are. The things that
we see, the temple, the temple. Sooner or later you're going
to learn this. The things that we can't see, they're eternal. They're eternal. I'll tell you
what, there are two things you'll never find in hell. You'll never
find in the pits of the damned a materialist. They're not any
there. They're not any there. There's
nobody in hell who gives a flip about the price of gold. There's
nobody in hell who gives a flip about what the OPEC does with
the price of oil. There's nobody in hell who gives
a flip about whether the Democrats or the Republicans get elected
next term. There's nobody in hell who gives
a flip about the controversies that rage in this world. There
are no materialists there. None of them. Nobody in hell
who gives a flip about the price of cattle, the price of land,
or the price of cars. Nobody. Nobody. There are no
materialists there. And there are no unbelievers
there. There are no unbelievers there. None. Everybody in hell
believes. They believe, but it's too late.
They know, but it's too late. Hell is truth learned too late. This is the fire that burns and
is not quenched. This is the worm that dies not.
What is hell? It's lust and desire unfulfilled. Send Lazarus that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water to my tongue. I'm tormented in
this flame. Turn over to Revelation 22. I
want you to see something here. Revelation 22, verse 11. This is the time of the end.
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he which is
filthy, let him be filthy still." Men die just exactly like they
live. Whatever a man is like in this
life, he will be like in the world to come without restraint. Hell doesn't change men. Death
doesn't change men. The only thing that will ever
change a man's nature is a saving knowledge of and a vital union
with the Lord Jesus Christ. Here upon this earth, the cravings,
the lust, and the desires of the heart can be in measure fulfilled
and relieved. If you can't fulfill them, if
you can't relieve them, at least you can tranquilize them. You
can go to the doctor and get you a bottle of dope, or you
can go to the peddler and get him to get you a bottle of dope,
or you can go to the liquor store and get you a fifth and get smashed.
You can either relieve the desire, the lust, or you can tranquilize
it so you forget about it. But not in hell. In hell, there's
no fulfillment. In hell, there's no relief. Men
are just as greedy as ever, just as covetous as ever. just as
lustful as ever, just as ambitious as ever, just as proud as ever,
but there's no relief and no satisfaction. What a man is when
he lives and when he dies, he shall be forever. The believer,
on the other hand, when he dies, drops his old nature in the grave,
and he too lives in perfect exactness of what he really is. He lives
in unrestrained righteousness. You see, here on this earth,
the unbeliever, the ungodly, the unjust, the wicked, the filthy,
they're restrained by the hand of God's providence, restrained
by moral government, restrained by society, so they can't really
live quite like they really are. In hell, the restraints are cast
off. The believer, on the other hand,
in this world is restrained by his sinful nature, by his body
of sin, by the corruptions of his nature. But when he drops
this body in the grave, he drops the restraint. And look at what
he says here, Revelation 22, verse 11. He that is righteous,
let him be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. The believer shall have every
desire and every ambition of his heart fulfilled with Christ
in heaven." Boy, that's most profound, more
than I can imagine. without sin, a heart full of love for Christ
and men, a heart of perfect holiness, a heart in perfect communion,
perfect submission, perfect commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. Yeah,
he that is righteous shall be righteous still. I will behold
thy face in righteousness, David said, then I shall be satisfied. We shall be satisfied with the
goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. What is hell? Hell is eternal separation. from God and from all that's
good. There is a great goth fixed. Right now you don't think much
about that, you who are without Christ. Any who are here who know him If you stop and think about it,
nothing on this earth could be more horrifying than to be eternally
separated from God. Eternally separated from all
that is truly good. And you who perish in hell, that nothing you will
want more than God and His Christ. And you can't have any eternal
separation. This is what our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered on the cross. When he was made to be sin for
us as he hung on the tree, he cried, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? That's hell. That's hell. He didn't cry in any other torment
or any other agony. Nothing else rung from his heart
such a cry. But when the substitute was forsaken
of God, when the sin-bearer was forsaken of God, he cries, My
God! My God! Why hast thou forsaken
me? Our substitute, bearing our sins,
was separated from God for us that we might never be separated
from Him. But those who perish without
Christ must forever be separated from God in hell. There is a
great gulf fixed. Hell is God's pest house. It's
God's isolation ward. It's God's prison. It's the place
where God puts rebels so they cannot harm or defile his kingdom
any longer. In hell, this rich man also learned
that Christ is the only way of salvation. He thought his riches
would do him good. I'm sure he was a very moral
man, and he thought his morality would do him good. I'm sure he was a very religious
man, and he thought his religion would do him good. I'm quite
sure, as most wealthy men are, he was a man who had the means
whereby he could do some little something, and he thought it
was a great good work, and everybody else thought it was a great good
work, and he thought his works of righteousness would do him
good. I can just picture him every
day walking out of his house, He thought he was a very charitable
fellow. After all, he allowed that beggar, that filthy beggar,
Lazarus, to lay at his gate and the dogs come lick his sores.
He could have called somebody, had them haul Lazarus off, but
he was a charitable fellow, you know. His neighbors come by and
say, well, why don't you, why don't you get rid of him, that
riffraff? And he said, oh, I couldn't do
that. He's so charitable, he'd even
give him the crumbs, the scraps off of his table. And he really
thought he was impressing God and men. But in hell, he found out that
Christ alone saves sinners. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Christ saves sinners. by his
suffering and his death as our substitute. Christ became a prisoner under
the law. He became a prisoner under the
law for us and as such he suffered the full extent of the law's
wrath against us. He satisfied every claim of divine
justice in our stead. By His obedience in life, Christ
Jesus fulfilled every requirement of righteousness. And by His
death, Christ satisfied the law's penalty for our sins so that
God can require no more. That's how Christ saves sinners.
That's the only way God in heaven can or will save sinners. That's
the only way God in heaven can or will be merciful to your soul.
That's the only way God in heaven can be just and yet justify the
ungodly. And that's by the righteousness
of Christ and the redemption of Christ, His righteousness
imputed to us, His redemption washing our sins away, satisfying
God's justice. God's gut satisfies justice.
His gut satisfies justice. He'll either satisfy His justice
for you or He'll cast you forever in hell, one of the two. The
Lord God will either put away your sin and have the full, complete
satisfaction of justice or He will never show you mercy. Never. The Lord Jesus Christ took the
cup of God's wrath and He turned it up. And it was not a sweet
cup like this. It was the cup of the fire of
the anger of a holy God. He put it to his lips. And he drank damnation dry. That's the only hope any sinner's
got. Only hope you got. He did that
for somebody. He did that for somebody. Why
not me? Why not you? Christ Jesus incarnate is our
representative. Christ living is our righteousness,
Christ hanging on the tree is our sin-bearer, Christ dead is
our redemption, Christ risen is our assurance, Christ exalted
is our intercessor, and Christ seated is our salvation. Our infinite Savior by his infinite
suffering, made an infinite satisfaction to infinite justice, and obtained
an infinite reward for all his people. Oh, what infinite mercy. What infinite love, what infinite
grace God has bestowed upon us in Christ. No wonder Paul said,
thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. Jesus paid it all, all
to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain,
he washed it white as snow. Because it is Christ that died,
we are free from all condemnation. We are forgiven of all our sins. We are pardoned of all our crimes. We are justified from every offense. Christ has freed us from the
danger of being cast into hell's black, dark prison. The law's
power to condemn us has been utterly annihilated. Justice
has no claim upon us. Hell has no torment for us. God says, since Christ died,
their sins and their iniquities I will remember no more. Since Christ died, we have a
free pardon. We're justified freely by His
grace. Since Christ died, we have a
full pardon. He took our transgressions, the
handwriting of the ordinances that was against us, and Paul
says he took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross. That
means the offended law of God, he put away! No more offense. No more offense. And we have
a firm pardon. an irrevocable pardon, an irreversible
pardon. Blessed is the man to whom God
will not impute iniquity. He can't do it enough, Christ
died for us. He can't do it, not if Christ satisfied His justice.
He can't do it, not if Christ has fulfilled His law. God Almighty,
in His holiness, in His justice, and in His truth, must forgive
every sinner for whom Christ died. His justice demands it. His law is satisfied. On Christ,
almighty vengeance fell that must have crushed the world to
hell. He bought it for a chosen race.
and thus became our hiding place. Here's something else. This rich man learned in hell that except a man repent, he'll
perish. Our Lord said, except you repent,
you shall all likewise perish. He prayed that Abraham would
send Lazarus to his brethren. He said, if somebody go to them
from this terrible place, somebody go to them from the grave, somebody
come back from heaven, surely they would repent. He saw the
value of repentance. Now, I can't give you a message
on repentance, but repentance is a change of heart and attitude. It's turning to Christ. Repentance is something more
than walking down a church aisle, shedding a few tears, getting
into baptismal pool, learning to read your Bible and say your
prayers and be regular in attendance at church. Repentance is a turning
of the heart to Christ. J.C. Ryle said, Repentance is
a thorough change of a man's heart on the subject of sin. Repentance essentially involves
three things. Repentance is an abhorrence of
self that squeezes out a confession of sin. Job said, I abhor myself. It's simply taking sides with
God against myself. David said, you're just when
you speak. I acknowledge my transgression.
My sin is ever before me. He said, you're clear when you
speak against me in judgment. David said, God, I take sides
with you against myself. Your justice, your truth, your
law, your holiness requires punishment of such a one as I am. Repentance
is that abhorrence of self that squeezes out from the heart a
sincere confession of sin. Lots of men confessed their sin.
Pharaoh confessed his sin, and he perished. Saul confessed his
sin and he perished. Pharaoh said, I've sinned. Saul
said, I've sinned. But Job said, I've sinned. Well,
they said the same thing. They did. The difference was
Job said it from a heart of repentance. Saul and Pharaoh and many others
said, I've sinned, simply to get what they could from God.
So I don't understand the difference. If you ever get it, you will.
If you ever get it, you'll understand. Repentance is a turning to Christ
in faith, trusting his blood and his righteousness and his
saving power, like that leper who came in his leprosy and he
fell down at the feet of Christ and worshiped him and said, Lord,
if you will, you can make me clean. It's an acknowledgment
of my need of Him, an acknowledgment of His power, an acknowledgment
that His righteousness, His blood, His power, that's enough even
for me. And if He will, He can make me
clear. Repentance is bowing to Christ
as Lord, submitting everything to His rule and everything to
His will. The man comes after me and take
up his cross daily and follow me. You cannot be my disciple. If you will save your life, you're going
to lose it. You're going to lose it. Will you hear me? God help you
to hear me. As long as you insist on being
your own boss, as long as you insist on living unto yourself
and for yourself, you're going to lose your life. You're going
to lose your immortal soul. You're going to perish in hell.
But if you lose your life for Christ's sake in the gospel,
if you give over the rule of your life to the Son of God. If you give over the dominion
of your life to Christ, if you live not to yourself but to Christ,
as you sang, Ruth, if you live unto Him, if you lose your life
to Him, then you'll save your life forever. You'll gain it
forever in eternal life in glory. And in hell, this rich man learned
that no one can ever be saved but by hearing and believing
the gospel. He became a missionary, but it's
too late. He said in verse 28, I have five
brethren, send Lazarus to testify to them lest they come to this
place of torment. Abraham said they've got Moses
and the prophets, let them hear them. He said, Nay, Father Abraham,
but if one went to them from the dead, they'll repent. One
went to them from the dead, and they didn't repent. Christ Jesus
the Lord. He said unto him, If they hear
not Moses and the prophets, if they will not hear this word,
then neither will they repent or be persuaded, though one rose
from the dead. It pleased God. by the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. All the multitudes in hell have
learned, but they've learned too late the value of hearing
the gospel preached. They've learned. They've learned,
they know it, but they learned it too late. Faith comes by hearing, hearing
by the Word of God. Oh, my soul. I hope you don't have to go to
hell to learn the value of hearing the
gospel. This old boy, had he the opportunity, would
gladly sacrifice everything he had just to hear the message
one more time with an opportunity to believe it. We sit in our pews and sing,
oh, how I love Jesus, and talk to folks about being Christians.
I get so sick and tired of it. I'm so sick of religion. I'm
so sick of men and women playing games with God and trying to
play games with me. I'm so sick of it, I don't know
what to do. Talk about their faith in the Lord and their faith
in Christ. Come to hear the gospel preached
whenever it's convenient. Just whenever they take a notion.
Well, we've been so busy, you know. Can't come to church. Just got
a headache this morning. Not feeling well today. My wife
often says, I wonder if he stayed out of work Monday. No, can't
do that. God, that's important. I know. I know. Yeah, that's important. And you will give some value
to whatever is important to you. You'll give some value to it. If hearing the gospel is important,
you're going to hear it. And if it's not, you won't. It's that simple.
It's that simple. Please don't ever come to me
and give me some excuse why you don't
come hear the gospel. I might be nice, but you might
catch me in the wrong mood. And I might tell you the truth.
I just might. Men who have no value for the
gospel place no value on their souls, on the word of God, on
Christ Jesus, or on eternity. In other words, I don't believe
this book. Just don't believe this book. Somebody said to me one time,
said, Don, you sure do shoot straight. I hope so. I hope so. I aim to shoot straight. I want you to understand. These
are truths this man learned in hell. He learned that death does not
end all. or his life after death. He learned
there's a place called hell, a real place. He learned that
a holy God will and must punish sin. He learned that hell is
a place of endless eternal torment. He learned that Christ is the
only way of salvation. He learned that except a man
repent, he'll surely perish. And he learned that without hearing
and believing the gospel, no one can ever be saved. He learned these things, but
they were lessons learned too late. He learned them in hell. Now listen to me, listen to me. Please, everybody here, everybody
here, just for a few minutes, forget Every notion of religion
you've ever had in your life, everybody here, from the pulpit
right here to the back door, everybody forget it for just
a minute. And hear what I'm saying. Soon, we're going to stand before
God in judgment. And we're going to meet God face
to face. We're going to meet the living
God. How do you hope to stand before
Him? How do you hope to stand before
it? Do you hope somehow or another that God's going to accept your
sincerity and your little religious works and your little religious
profession? Do you hope somehow or another
that God's going to look on you and favor you because of something
you've said, experienced, or done? Or do you lean? with all your heart and soul
upon the merits of Christ, His righteousness and His blood. Will you take time to consider
it? Take time. Ask God to give you a heart to
know, to understand, and to believe His Son. I ran across something the other
day. Let me read it to you and I'll
send you home. I dreamed the great judgment
morn had dawned and that the last trumpet had blown. I dreamed
that the nations were gathered to judgment before the great
white throne. From the throne came a bright
shining angel who stood on the land and the sea and swore with
his hand raised to heaven that time was no longer to be. The moral man stood at the judgment,
but his self-righteous rags wouldn't do. The men who had crucified
Jesus had passed off as moral men, too. The religious man was
there, but his good deeds, when death came, were left far behind. The angel who opened the record
not a trace of his goodness could find. The rich man was there,
but his riches had melted and vanished away. A pauper he stood
at the judgment. His debts were too heavy to pay.
The man who had put off salvation, not today, I'll seek the Lord
by and by. No time now to think of Christ
Jesus. But at last he found time to
die. And oh, what a weeping and wailing
as the lost were told of their fate. They cried for the rocks
and the mountains. They prayed, but their prayer
was too late. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Call upon him while he is near. Amen. God bless you, you dismissed.