Let me read my text again in
Luke 16, beginning in verse 19. There
was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and linen,
fine linen, and he lived in luxury very sumptuously every day. There
was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full
of sores, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table. And the dogs came and licked
his soles. 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. And in hell he lifted up his
eyes, being in torments, and seeing Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am
tormented in this way. And Abraham said, Son, remember,
in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and you are
tormented. And besides 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 there. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for
I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they
also come to this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have
Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said,
No, father Abraham. But if one went unto them from
the dead, they would hear and 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. Our text begins here
in verse 22. It came to pass that the beggar
died, and the rich man also died. I bet you if you had asked this
rich man, are you going to die tomorrow? He would have said,
no, I can't believe that. He was planning for his future. The night he died, he was planning
for his future. What can I do to take care of
all these goods? I'm going to tear down my barns
and build a greater barn. But he died that night, and he's
praying. If you'd have asked Ladderson, are you going to die
today, you'd think. I doubt that, he said. I doubt
it. Death is a mysterious thing, ain't it? It's such a mysterious
thing. Almost everything in life you
and I can relate to. We can grasp it. We can get our
hands around it. And though the Bible tells us
it's appointed unto us once to die, we can't believe it, can
we? I don't believe I'm going to die today. I just can't believe
that. But I may not live another minute.
I may fall over in this pool pit. But that's the thing about
death. It's something we're going to
have to experience to know anything about it. And they died. They died. And the first thing
we know this year when they did die, is how differently these
two men were treated in the world to come as opposed to the way
they were treated in this life. You'll notice there in verse
22, it said that the beggar died and was carried by angels, but
nothing said about his burial. It said the rich man died and
was buried. They had him a big funeral. Can
you imagine what the obituary page said about him? Dignitaries
came. They ran newsflash, a bulletin,
breaking news. Oh, so-and-so has died. Did you
hear about the rich man that died? And his funeral was with
great pomp and long lines that you'd have to stand in to view
this man. But what about Lazarus? They
either burned his body that was full of sores and infections,
or they piled a bunch of rocks over him. Nothing was said of
him. I was somewhere this week coming
back from someplace when Elizabeth Taylor died. And they had a newsflash. Breaking news! Breaking news. Elizabeth Taylor has died. And
they spent some time telling about all her accomplishments.
And it was not only nationwide, but it went worldwide. Elizabeth
Taylor has died. Nobody announced it on the news
when Scott Richardson died. Nobody knew Scott Richardson
died but a few of the Lord's people. The way the Lord's people
is treated in this world and the way famous people are treated
in this world is vastly different. You know that? And I tell you,
they're going to be treated differently in the world to come. But it's
going to be reversed. It's going to be reversed, you
see. He said here that the beggar
died and was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom. The world that's to come, the
spiritual world, treated this man much different than they
had treated him here. Here he wasn't even allowed into
the rich man's house, but now he's in the Father's house, you
see. The angels, the angels. David said, The angel of the
Lord encampeth about round about them that fear Him to deliver
Him. We can't see them, but there
are these ministering spirits, these holy elect angels that
encamp around about the Lord's people. And they minister to
them, and they watch over them, and they protect them. The Lord
sends them for that cause. Are they not all ministering
spirits? sent forth to minister to them
who shall be heirs of salvation?" But we are told about this rich
man here, while the world was celebrating his life and talking
so much about his exploits and his accomplishments and the riches
that he had amassed in this world. What about him? How was that
world to come treating him? Well, the Scripture says here
that somewhere or another, he was either driven or he was carried
down to hell and was in torment. That's different, isn't it? That's
different. That passage that I read to you
where David said, The angel of the Lord encampeth around about
them, but fear him to deliver them. To deliver them from what? Well, in this world, in the air,
there's not only holy angels, holy elect spirits, but there's
these fallen angels. Brother Larry told us about this
chief angel, this Lucifer, Satan, and he flies to and fro, seeking
whom he may devour. He's like a roaring lion. Then
we have all these principalities and powers that you and I fight
against. They are called rulers of the
darkness of this world. Rulers! Rulers! And they have these weapons that
they fight with us. Can you imagine when this poor
beggar died and his soul, his spirit, left his body? Can you
imagine what would have happened to that poor soul if these angels
of God had not encamped around about him? and bundled his soul
up in their arms and delivered him from these wicked spirits. Well, I'd better drug him down
to ruin and torment. They're more powerful than you
and I. But how did the world succumb?
How did the spiritual world treat them? Well, I'll tell you this. These holy angels cared nothing
about this rich man's soul. They weren't sent there to deliver
him. He had been ashamed of the Lord Jesus and His salvation,
and now the Lord Jesus was ashamed of him. He refused to profess
Christ before this world, and now Jesus Christ refused to profess
Him before these holy angels. I don't know that man. Don't
lay a hand upon him to deliver him. Let the devils have him. He loved them. He served them
here. Now let him go to be with us. And they left his soul to
fend for itself. And can you imagine how these
wicked, devouring spirits treated him while they carried him on
and put him in hell and there tormented him? They tormented
this rich man. Brothers and sisters, who cares
what this present world thinks of him? What does it matter? What's their pats on the back?
What's their brag in boastful terms going to do for you and
me when we come down to die? What does heaven think about
us? That's it. Does Christ know us? Are we accepted
of God? Are we pleasing in His sight?
That's all that matters, isn't it? That's all that matters now,
and that's for sure all that matters at death. I want to profess
Christ now. I want Him to know me here. And
I want Him to profess me at death. And I want Him to profess me
when I stand there at the judgment seat. I know Him. I know that
man. He sought me for mercy, and He
obtained mercy. He's one of mine. Now you're
deliberate. If God be for you, that's all
that matters. That's all that matters. If God
be for you. Here in verses 23 and verse 24,
we're told three things that this rich man did that he had
never done before in all of his life. First of all, we're told
here in verse Twenty-three. And in hell, he lift up his eyes. What did he lift them up to?
To heaven. The first time in his life, he lift up his eyes
to heaven. He never had done this before.
Why not? He was looking on the earth.
He was looking at his riches. Looking at his wealth. That's
all he thought about. The cares of this life. The pleasures
of this life. The temporal advantages. Looking
down. Looking down. Looking down. Never
did look up to heaven. Never did. Until the flames of hell awoke
him. And then he looked up to heaven.
John Bunyan talked about the muckraker. A fellow had an old
rake, and he's raking around in the muck of this world. Had
an old rake he had wore out, just raking around. He's an old
man, had a picture of him, an old man all bent over, raking
around in the muck of this world. And just over his head was a
beautiful crown of gold. But he never did see it, because
he was looking down, looking down. There's some people, there's
many people, there's most people, who go through this life, they
never look up. They never look up to see there's
treasures in heaven, there's a Savior in heaven, there's salvation,
there's life. But they never look up. They
never think until suddenly the flames of hell smarts and it
awakens them. And then they look up. That's the first thing. And look
at this in verse 24. He looked up, and here's something
in verse 24 that he had never done before. He cried, and he
cried. I bet you've never seen this
rich man all sobbing in secret somewhere. But now he cries. Can you imagine that? Here was
this man who lived in this world and says, man, I can keep my
soul alive if I want to. I'm the master of my faith. I'm
the captain of my soul. What a strong, determined man
he was. But now he cries. Hell will bring
a man low on it. Hell will strip a man of his
courage and the strength of his mind and make him cry. What did he cry about? I imagine
he cried about this, the sudden and devastating change that he
had suddenly come into. The screams of the damned, he's
there with them. The presence of tormenting devils. And this flame licking at his
tongue, it startled him and it made him cry. He cried because
he was forever cut off and cut out of the land of the living. Never again would he participate
in the things of this life. He was gone forever. Oh, surely
it made him cry to think that the gospel of Christ would never
be preached to him again. He would never profit from it
again. And he had never reaped one single
benefit from it again. Never would he hear the gospel
of salvation again. He surely cried to thank what
a fool he had been. Fool! The Lord said to him, you
fool. And now he realizes, what a fool
I've been. I followed my pleasure. And I
followed it right off into torment. And Lazarus followed Christ into
heaven. What a fool! What a fool! Oh, and he surely cried to think
he was separated from God and from Christ and from the kingdom
of heaven forever. He cried when he thinks of Lazarus,
whom he slighted and refused the crumbs from his table. Now
this very man is going to be my judge someday. And he cried to think that his
crying would do him no good. Oh, despair! Your crying will
do you no good. Your crying is part of the judgment
upon you for your sin. And thirdly, and look at this,
this is something that he knew nothing about and he never called
for. But verse 24, He said to Abraham,
have mercy on me. Now his attitude changed. Before,
he came bragging. Oh, I've kept all the commandments
from my youth. Tell me something else that I
can do. But here he sees mercy. was his
only help and only hope, but he saw it too late. Have mercy,
have mercy on me. I love Luke's gospel. If you
take your commentator sometime, just look up the word mercy.
Luke loved this word mercy. He started it the very first
chapter, went right through his book talking about mercy. He
talks about the mercy that's upon those who fear the Lord. And he talks about mercy that
the Lord remembers. He has helped Israel in remembrance
of his mercy. He talked about promised mercies,
covenant mercy. Listen to this, to perform the
mercies promised to our fathers and to remember his holy covenant,
covenant mercy. He talks about the tender mercies
of the Lord whereby the day sprang from on high as visited us. He talks about the beggar and
the publican calling upon the Lord for mercy. Mercy. I tell you, if you're here this
evening, dear soul, and you don't think you need mercy, you're
not among good company. I tell you. My mind and I know
yours is too. You know what you need, don't
you? You love mercy. You want mercy. You're hoping
for mercy. Brother Bob read it to us this
morning in Jude, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. And notice what he says here
in the latter part of verse 24. He says, Send Lazarus. Have mercy
upon me and send Lazarus. Send him down here where I am.
that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue."
Sin lies with him. But you despise Latter-day Saints. You wouldn't even let him in
your house. And you want his company now? Well, things have changed, haven't
they? Things have changed, brothers and sisters. You can't get anybody
up and down this street to come here for a service. If they come
here and set one service, they're miserable. But things will change. Things will change. This world
despises God's little flock. They can't stand their company
for a few minutes. They want to get away. Got something
to do. Got fish to fry. But things will change. I just wonder if you could find
those Sanhedrin, those people that sat on the Sanhedrin that
abused and shamed Peter and John and whipped them. I just wonder
if you could find those and look those fellows up in hell and
ask them, would you like to have the company of those two poor
uneducated apostles? You know what they'd say? Oh,
send them. Send them. If to do nothing else, to listen
to them again, to have their godly company. Felix and Festus
and Agrippa that abused Paul and wouldn't set him free when
they knew he wasn't guilty. That prisoner standing there
in his chains and prison clothes. Don't you think they'd love to
have his company again? Send Lazarus. Send Lazarus. You despised him. You despised
him. You came out of your house and
he asked you for crumbs and you was ready to spit on him. You
hated him. Yes, but it's changed now. I
love his company. Can you send him? Can you send
him? Oh, Christ Lazarus, the world
hates him now, but things will change. And here in the latter
part of verse 25, Abraham seems to mock this rich man. Abraham
said unto him, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime, thy
lifetime, you received thy good things, thy lifetime, thy good
things. He seems to mock him. Thy, thy,
thy. Remember how you bragged about
yourself? What you was going to do? I'm
going to tear down my barns and I'll have a place to bestow my
goods. They're mine. I need mine. Remember how you talked about
that? Remember how you talked about
that? Those were your good things. I said this morning, I tell you,
I'd hate to be a rich man and go to hell. I'd hate to live
in this world and be without Christ and be a rich man. I tell
you, there's something about riches when a man sets his heart
upon them. They'll just make him so presumptuous.
Make him bragging. Why wouldn't they? The heart's
corrupt and deceitful anyway. I mean, Glenn is talking about
this morning about Pilate. I mean, Glenn is talking about
Pilate. I've got power against you. I've got power. Boy, I tell
you what, no wonder power corrupts men. I've got power against you. And that's what rich men say
sometimes. They think everybody will just
bow down. They ought to have their way. They get so presumptuous
and self-willed and boastful. And then when they get to hell,
they're going to be mocked because of it. I wouldn't want to die without
Christ. And I sure don't want to die without Christ as a rich
man. Remember? Remember? Thy good things. And you called
them good things. You bragged about your things. And look here. Likewise, lazeth
evil things. Lazeth evil things. Well, I said this morning about
this man. He was full of sores. And I doubt, seriously, brothers
and sisters, if you and I would have believed this could have
been a child of God. I mean, that's how this man was
afflicted and bagged. The Lord says, A man's life consisteth
not in the abundance of the things which he possesses. And yet we
turn around and think it does. It does. His life consists of
the spiritual knowledge that he has. If he doesn't have a
lot of it, we doubt him. If he gets really sick where
somebody has to take so much care of him and wipe his bottom
because he's messed on himself, and he's pissed on himself, and
he stints, could this man be saved? And he goes half-crazy,
and he loses his mind with some awful disease, and he can't even
remember his own name. Could this man be saved? A man's life don't consist in
his health and in his wealth. And I tell you, it wasn't just
something that come up on him and left. This was this man's
lifetime. Remember in your lifetime the
good things you have, and in his lifetime the evil things. Year after year, month after
month, day after day, this man had this old dirty blanket as
his only security. His belly was never full. He
was never clean. He laid on the sidewalk, not
a soft bed. Every day of his Christian life,
this man suffered. And yet he was loved of heaven.
He was a believer. That's amazing, ain't it? And how do you and I doubt? Sometimes
when we've suffered a month and we've suffered a year, sometimes
our souls and minds are filled with doubts. If I was a Christian,
would I be going through something like that? We're called to suffer. Hear what she said? We're called
to suffer. We have a good example of it
in our Savior. He has a lot of Lazarus in this
world. If they're not suffering in their
body, they're suffering in their soul. Evil things. Evil things. And in one sense,
they are evil. But I tell you what makes the
difference when the Lord saves you, it's the cause for which
you suffer then. It's the ends for which you suffer.
You suffer for Christ's sake, for righteousness' sake, for
conscience' sake. It makes a big difference then,
doesn't it? It makes a difference. Oh, Peter said, there's times
when you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory and thank God
for it. But if you ask this last, I fear
to tell you that was few and far between. I suffer affliction. And Jacob said, My days have
been full of evil. Blasphemous. Blasphemous. It's all here in the last part
of verse 25. But now, he is comforted. Now. There's a now in this world. And we suffer. But there's going
to come a time when we say, Now. It's different now. It's changed.
Now, he is comforted. What a change death will bring. Now! He suffered his evil things. Now! Now! You may say, Bruce,
I've been so tempted, just tempted day after day. But I tell you,
brothers and sisters, it's going to end in this lifetime. You
may say, I'm having a hard time getting by, and this has happened,
and trials and struggles in my family. But I tell you this much,
it's going to end at death. It's going to all change. Your
suffering will not extend beyond death. But now, in this lifetime,
there's family problems. There's soul problems. There's
heart troubles. But I tell you, it will not extend
any further than death. Now. But now. The Lord Jesus told His apostles,
He said, Verily I say unto you, that you shall weep, you shall
lament, and the world is going to be rejoicing. And you shall
be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. I'll see you again. If I don't
see you in this lifetime, I'll see you at death. When the angels
bury your soul into my presence, I'll see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice And no man will take your joy from you.
There's this world, and we suffer, but it'll end. It'll end. Weeping may endure for a night.
Joy comes in the morning. The tears shall be wiped away
from your eyes. The fears of your mind shall
be dispelled. The grief shall be wiped from
your heart, and pain shall be wiped from your body. Not now! But when you die, when you die,
now he is covered. Oh, but here's an awful word,
but thou art tormented. Things have changed for him too,
didn't they? Now you're tormented in this
flame. Now you're tormented by these devils. Now you're tormented
by the screams of the damned. Now you're tormented by your
fears and the wrath of God. Now you are tormented. And notice this in verse 26. Ain't this an awful word to hear?
And what more could he have said? I mean, after saying all of this,
now you're tormented. You're in this flame. And now,
he said, beside all this. What worse thing could he say?
He had described to him his condition, and he had driven him to despair,
and now he says, listen, the worst is not over yet. I've got
some more things to say to you besides all of this that I've
said to you. There's even more devastating
news. And it's going to cause your soul to sink further down
into the blackness and darkness of despair. Beside all this,
I tell you, the bad news for a tormented soul in hell will
just keep on coming. When a man thinks, surely it
can't get any worse than this, more bad news. Beside all this. Beside all this. What was it? Well, he said there is a gulf,
there is a great The gulf fixed between me and you. And it keeps
you from coming to us in heaven, and it keeps those who would
go from heaven to you. There's a gulf. And you can't
get over this gulf. Now, brothers and sisters, I
doubt if it's a physical gulf. But what is this gulf? It's fixed. Look here in this same book in
chapter 12. And look in verse 58. Here is this goal in verse 58 of chapter 12. When you go with your adversaries
to the magistrate, as you are in the way with him, give diligence
that you may be delivered from him, from this arresting officer,
lest he hail thee to the judge And the judge delivers you to
the officer, and the officer casts you into the prison. What
prison? The prison of hell. Agree with
the law that you're guilty and seek salvation in Christ. Because
if you wait and the law brings charges against you before the
judge of all the earth, and you're cast into hell, I tell thee,
you shall not depart out of that place. till you have paid the
very last bite. You can't get out of hell once
you're there until the debt's paid. And how in the world is
a man going to pay his own debt if anything he'll amount throughout
eternity? That's that God. It's God's decrees. They shall be tormented day and
night forever and forever. You can't get past that. His
everlasting punishment. That's God's decree. That's His
Word. If it was just a physical gulf,
somebody might find means to spand it. But when God says it,
that sells it, man. That sells it. You can't get
past what God says. When he draws the line and says,
you can't come any further than that, that's it. He said to the
mighty seas, I've set your bounds and you can't pass over them.
And he says to those in hell, you'll never come out. And he
says to those in heaven, you'll never leave it. That's the God. That's the God. And oh, here's
what he says in verse 27. I can almost feel despair in
this man's voice. You can almost feel His whole
attitude here. I pray Thee, therefore. Oh, therefore. Don't you feel the despair in
that? I pray Thee, therefore. Since Lazarus can't come to me,
and I can't get out of here, I pray Thee, therefore. Oh, since
I'm here forever, and God has fixed my eternal ruin, I pray
You, therefore. I have one more request, therefore,
therefore, send Lazarus, send Lazarus, for
I've got five brethren that he may testify to them, lest they
come to this place of torment." Why did he make this request?
Some people think different. Some people say that he loved
his brethren, and maybe he did in a sense. But I just wonder
if there's another interpretation to this. If there'd be another
opinion why he didn't want his brother to come down to this
place of Tartman. Not just sympathy for them. But
since he was already dead, perhaps he was the oldest brother. He
was the firstborn and he got all the inheritance. And since
he was the firstborn, he was the boss of the family. He was
the head of the family when his dad and mother had died. And
I wonder what kind of example he was to his brother. You think
he told him about this place? I doubt it. He wasn't concerned
about it himself. You think he told him about the
Lord Jesus? I doubt it. He despised him himself.
Oh, I imagine he was an example of covetousness and greed and
crooked dealings and blasphemies and cursings. And now he says, Oh, my soul,
they're going to come down here where I am. They're going to
scream at me, too. Here I am hearing the screams
of the damned, and now these five brethren whom I led into
sin and did not tell them the truth, now they are going to
be screaming at me. I wonder how many popes are in
hell this morning, this evening, and wish that somebody would
go back and warn their congregations, I lied to you. I lied on God. I wonder how many preachers,
emus, whatever they call those silly fellows over there chanting,
I wonder how many there is, brothers and sisters. I would give anything
if somebody go back and tell people that they lied to you.
Oh, don't come to this place. Repent. Repent. Oh, repent. Seek the Lord while he may be
found. Forget everything I told you.
I lied to you. Don't come down here. If the
blind lead the blind, they both shall fall into the ditch. And
those that fell off into the ditch with Him are going to land
on top of Him. And they're going to crush His
soul. You lied to us. You lied to us. Now you've burned our souls.
Oh, how could you have done that to us? How could you have been
such an example to me? Oh, I saw you day by day. I never
heard you say a thing about the Savior. You never mentioned him
to me. O my soul, go back and warn my
brothers, lest they come to this place of tarment." And notice
what he says here. Abraham says in our text, in verse 29, they have Moses
and the prophets. Let them hear them. The Gospels and Moses and the
prophets. Let them hear the Gospels. Let them hear God's Word. If
they want to be saved, the Scriptures will make them
wise. That's all they need. That's all you need, Annie. That's
all you need. The Scriptures alone. Christ alone. Faith alone. Need nothing but that. Oh, but
he's still not satisfied with that. Look what he said. No,
no, no, no. But if one went unto them from
the dead, they'll repent. I heard Brother Mayhem preach
a message on this years and years ago. He said one did rise from
the dead. They didn't believe him, did
they? Tried to kill Lazarus when the
Lord raised him from the dead. Still didn't believe. Still didn't
believe. And Abraham said in verse 31,
No, if they hear not and they believe not Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead.
Now in conclusion, let me give you quickly five reasons why
this world undervalues the Word of God. This man still had no
use for the Word of God. He wanted miracles. He wanted
signs. But no, not the Word. I didn't believe it when I was
there, and they won't either. And that's the first reason this world undervalues
the Word of God. They don't believe it is the
Word of God. That's it, ain't it? That's it. The Word preached did not profit
them. Why? Not being mixed with faith. I don't care, brothers and sisters,
how beautiful heaven is. I don't care what a glorious
place and what a place of rest it is. I don't care how hot hell
is. If a man don't believe it so,
it won't affect him at all. It just won't affect him. Men
do not believe God's Word is God's Word. They think some man
wrote that. You tell me what Paul said? When
you receive the Word of God, you received it not as it is
the Word of men. But as it is in truth, the Word
of God. And what does it do? It affectionately works in you.
Why? Because you believe it's God's
Word. Somebody says, if you don't believe it, it's not God's Word.
It's God's Word whether you believe it or not. But I'll tell you
this, if a man don't believe it, it ain't going to do you
a bit of good. It'd just be another page with words written down
on it. Man undervalues God's Word because
man, by nature, is spiritually dead and senseless and stupid,
and doesn't believe the wrath of God abides upon his head. Oh, he said, don't let us sleep.
Oh, he said, brethren, don't sleep as others do, but watch
and be sober, for they that sleep, sleep in the night. And they
that be drunken are drunken in the night. What does a drunken
man know about what's going on around him? Nothing. When you're
sleeping, you're not conscious about what's going on around
you. And that's why the world undervalues the Word of God.
Because it's asleep. It's drunken upon this world
and the things of it. And it sleeps while the house
burns down around it. It doesn't believe God's Word.
Thirdly, the world undervalues God's word because of these false
prophets that misinterpret the scripture and cry, Peace, peace,
when there is no peace. Beware of false prophets. And
where are these false prophets? Right around the gate. That's
where they hang around at. Right around the gate of salvation.
You've seen people, all of us have seen people. They get concerned. They're a little bit awakened.
They come and you're a message or you're a witness to them.
You'll show them a passage of Scripture. And what do they do? They go back and ask their pastor
about it. And what does he do? He explains that verse away.
And he's got them hooked. What does this verse mean? It
don't mean anything. It don't mean anything. Man,
look it, you're a nice fella. Peace, peace, peace to you. You shouldn't be concerned. So
he's not. He forgets about what God's Word
said because these false puppets have deceived him. I remember years ago, and I will
forget this, a man came to some of you folks here. He was awakened
somewhat about his soul. Concerned. And boy, his pastor
came running when he found out about it. You shouldn't listen to these
people. You shouldn't listen to these people. Don't pay attention
to these people. I don't mean that. That don't
mean this. For as I know, the man is still lost. Don't believe
God's Word. It's God's Word. False prophets.
And fourthly, they undervalue God's Word because they misjudge
God Himself. The Lord said, you think that
I'm altogether such a one as yourself. And because you've
seen someone live a wicked life, and judgment's not fallen upon
him, and you think because it hasn't fallen, boy, God must
not be true. Because judgment against a wicked
work is not executed speedily, you think, well, God's not just.
The Word must not be true. And you don't put any value upon
it. And you turn his patience and long-suffering into something
that you think, well, it must not be a God. It must not even
be a God. His Word must not be true. And
lastly is this. The world undervalues the Word
of God because the devil himself tempts them to. I was reading
the paper. B.J. Paschal is his name. I've
read him for years in opinion pages. Must be an educated man. He said, well, don't pay much
attention to God's Word. He's a religious man, by the
way. Goes to church all the time. He said, we got it through such
a messy process. And there is so many interpretations,
nobody even knows we got the Word of God. A messy process. Can you imagine the people that
read that and think, well, he's probably right. He's probably
right. If the devil can convince a man
to have no confidence in the truth of God's Word, I tell you,
he'll drag you down to hell. He'll drag you down to hell.
If the devil can keep this world in the dark, concerning God's
Word, he's got it hooked. And that's his aim ever since
the beginning. Yea, hath God really said. And that's his aim today. Hath
God said. Yes, God has said. And we've
got His Word. Infallible Word without error. We've got it. Believe it and
be saved. Believe it as God has spoken
it himself. Or shun it. Cast it from you,
and you'll wind up in hell. That's what this is about, ain't
it? That's what this is about. Believe
the Lord Jesus Christ. Believe Him in your heart. You'll
follow Him, and you'll follow Him right into heaven. Put His
Word from you, put Him from you, and follow the course of this
world, and you'll go to hell. You'll go to hell. There's no
ifs, ands, buts about it. You'll go to hell. That's so. That's so. May God bless His
Word. Let's pray.