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 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 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 wouldest 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, they have the word
of God, let them hear them. And he said, No, no, father Abraham. But if one went unto them from
the dead, they will repent. And Abraham said to him, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead." Now this is a difficult subject
for me, as I told you this morning, what the rich man discovered
when he died. I enjoy preaching on faith. preaching
this morning so much because I felt like I had some good things
about faith and hope and love. I do not look forward to preaching
on death and judgment and eternal condemnation. I wish that God
would give me the compassion of the Apostle Paul for lost
people, for the unsaved, for unbelievers. Turn with me a moment
to Romans 9. Romans chapter 9. I don't have this kind of inner
session and the ability to intercede. I wish that I did, but I do have
a compassion for the unsaved and the lost because I do not
enjoy preaching on judgment. But Paul says here in Romans
9, I say the truth in Christ, verse 1, I lie not my conscience
also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great
heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. That is for unbelievers. Now, this next line, for I wish,
I could wish, I could wish that myself were a curse from Christ
for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Oh, for that kind
of compassion, for that kind of affection. You know, Moses
said something similar to that. He said, speaking to the Lord, the Lord's
judgment had fallen on Israel. And he said, Lord, are you going
to destroy all the people? Are you going to destroy all
of them? If you do, you can block me out of the book which you've
written. That's strong language, isn't it? I don't fully understand
it. But the Lord answered him. He
said, Moses, I'll blot out of my book whom I please. That's not up to you. It's up
to me. And then over there in chapter
10 of Romans, the book of Romans, Paul says, Brethren, my heart's
desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be
saved. That's my heart's desire and
my prayer. So when we preach a message like
this on a subject like this, let's do it with a broken heart. I remember reading about an old
preacher years ago who met a man on Monday and said, what did
you preach on yesterday? And his fellow preacher said,
I preached on hell. And the old man said, did you
do it with tears? That makes a difference, doesn't
it? I only wish that people would hear God's Word, don't you? I
wish they'd hear the Gospel and believe the Gospel instead of
refusing to hear the Gospel, incurring God's wrath. But the
Lord tells us that. You know, every prophet has said
something like Isaiah said, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Who believes it? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Well, thankfully, some do. Some
hear, some believe, and some receive the Word. Most do not. Most do not. Our Lord said that.
He said, you will not come to Me that you might have life. Search the Scriptures, He said.
Search the Scriptures. You do search the Scriptures.
In them you think you have life, but they are they which testify
of Me. hear the Word, they testify of
Me, and men will not come to Me that they might have life.
Those who do come, God makes them willing. The only reason we come is because
He made us willing. The only reason we believe is
because He revealed the Gospel to us. The only reason we bow
to Christ is because He broke our hearts. That's the only reason.
And we need to have compassion upon those who do not. The natural
will is in bondage. And the Word of God, when it's
read and when it's preached, they will not hear it and believe
it. And I jotted down five things
here. The natural will is in bondage
to five things. I want you to think about this.
This is the problem. When I'm preaching on television,
I preached this morning and I've preached now 21 years in June. That's over a thousand half-hour
broadcasts to this area. And most people don't hear it.
They just do not hear it. And they will not receive it.
And here's the problem. There are five things. See if
you understand what I'm saying. First of all, the natural will
is in bondage to ignorance. Ignorance. He was in the world
and the world knew him not. Ignorance. He came into his own
and his own knew him not. Even the leaders of the Jewish
nations, they said, whence comest thou? Where did you come from? The Son of God stood in their
midst, and they didn't know Him. Didn't know Him. Secondly, unbelief. That's why they don't hear that
they do not believe it. That mass of people that left
Egypt, all the miracles and wonders of God which they saw with their
own eyes, and didn't believe. They could not enter in because
of unbelief. It's will not believe. will not
believe. Thirdly, is the deceitfulness
of sin. The Bible talks about the deceitfulness
of sin. You see, sin is deceitful. Sin,
for a while, brings prosperity. Sin, for a while, brings pleasure. Sin, for a while, brings popularity. And it's deceitful. It's deceitful. It doesn't last. Here's a verse
of Scripture. I wonder if you've ever seen
it. Turn to Ecclesiastes. I want you to turn to this. And
this would apply. This would apply to American
justice. You know, I heard our President
say that these men who bombed that building in Oklahoma City,
that judgment would be Sure, swift, and severe. You can bet
it won't be any of those three things. It won't be swift. And
I doubt it will be severe. It may not even be sure. And
this is the reason that men do what they do. One of the reasons,
now listen to this. Ecclesiastes 8, verse 11. Because sentence against an evil
work is not executed speedily. Therefore, the heart of the sons
of men is fully set in them to do evil. In other words, a man
does evil and gets by with it. And he prospers. And he profits. And he has pleasure. And people
brag on him. Why would he not do it? But if when a man blaspheme God,
like they stand on a soapbox, if there be a God, then he strike
me dead. Nothing happens. So he does it again. Nothing
happens. So he keeps doing it. Nothing
happens. Their foot will slide in due
time. But because justice and judgment is not swift, and does
not sweep men away with the scourge of God's wrath immediately, They
say God doesn't hear. God doesn't hear. God's not going
to do anything. God's not going to do anything.
That's what David talked about in Psalm 73. That's what bothered
him. He said God's people have a full
cup lung out to them. They have trials and troubles
and sorrows and sickness and heartache. And the wicked, they
prosper. They're popular. They're powerful,
they're wealthy, they profit, and God's people suffer. David
said, what's going on here? Well, this is going on right
here. Sentence against an evil word is not executed right now. Then men's hearts go on sinning.
That's deceitful. See, sin is deceitful. It's deceitful
to these young people. It's deceitful to them. They
don't understand. They look at Christians and they
say, boy, they've got troubles. And they look at the worldly
folks, you know, whoop-de-doo, these sports heroes. They've
got it made in the shade on a downhill pole with no troubles, trials. Sin is deceitful. So it's ignorance. Ignorance of God is unbelief.
And it's the awful deceitfulness of sin. Riches are deceitful. Talks about deceitful. First
thing you know, you're caught up in these things and don't
have any time for God. I'll tell you the fourth thing
is pride. Oh, what a slave master is pride. Pride. Pride, pride. It keeps people
from repentance. It keeps them from faith. It
keeps them from reconciliation. It keeps them from friendship
and fellowship. It keeps them from the blessings
of God. Pride, pride, pride. A haughty spirit. A proud heart. The only way to hear from God
is to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God. And He'll
exalt us in due time. The way up is down. I guarantee
you, down, down, down. Everybody has to come down in
order to go up. It's got to. We've got to be
stripped before we're clothed. We've got to be broken before
we're mended. We've got to be brought to the
dust before we're going to view the throne. That's so. And then
the fifth thing, the natural will is in bondage to these things. Ignorance, unbelief, The deceitfulness
of sin, pride, and religious tradition. The folks are married
to religious tradition. I think a lot of people that
I speak to on television every Sunday morning, they listen.
They say, that's pretty good. But I can't leave the old church.
I can't leave the old ways. I can't leave the old traditions.
I can't leave the old customs. I can't do it. Just can't do
it. And I have letters from people
like that. What it is, it's a refuge. It's
a refuge. See, they grew up in this religion. And mama did, and daddy did,
and brothers and sisters, and friends, and loved ones, and
neighbors, and they made their profession, and they got baptized,
and they joined the church, and they've been there all their
lives. And along comes a fellow with a gospel that is according
to the Word, and it sounds good, and it has a lot of truth in
it, and it blesses me, but I can't count all this, but lost, all
dead. I can't turn my back on all this
where I've been, where my family's been all these years. Just can't
do it. You've got to. Just got to. We've got to be
done with dead works. We've got to be done with Our
own righteousness, we've got to be done with, I did, I said,
I professed, I joined, we've got to be done with I and say
He! He did it! He did it! Oh, it's a terrible bondage. And
I don't know what bondage this man was in, but I'll tell you,
I'm going to give you some things he discovered. He discovered
some things Dawned on him in an awful day when he died. He
didn't discover him until he died. I want us to discover before
we die. Now, the first thing he discovered
is this. He discovered that death comes
to all men. Death comes to all men. It says
here in verse 22, And it came to pass that the beggar died. Well, that's not unusual. Beggars
die every day. Poor people die every day. Old
people die every day. Sick people die every day. Nothing
new there. It came to pass that the beggar
died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Whoa! Here's a shocking thing. The
rich man also, Henry T., Also. Chuck also died. Oh, that's different, isn't it?
He also died. Death came to him. He discovered
that he's going to die. But he discovered it after he
died. There's not one person in this
building. Not one person in this building. I guarantee you, not
one person, including this fellow right here. who really believes
that he may die tonight. Not one person in here. I don't
believe it. Now, if you were to ask me, do
you believe somebody present here tonight is going to die?
Yes, it's a good possibility. But not me. But this is what
this man learned. The beggar died. Other people
died. But he died. I shook hands one time. A lady
came to hear me preach in Michigan. And I shook hands with her, and
her last words to me were this, I'm going to go in my house and
study what you preached tonight. It was a blessing. Three minutes
later, she was dead. Three minutes. You see, I preached
that night in the church where she was a member, and her son,
she lived alone, she was a wither, and her son, I was staying with
him. And he drove his mom home. She lived alone. He drove by
the house to let her out. And we stopped in front of her
house. And he said to her, he said, Mom, we're going to go
out and get some pie and coffee and visit with the preacher.
Would you like to go with us? She said no. And she turned to
me and put her hand, shook hands. She said, I'm going to go in
my house and sit down and study what you preached on tonight.
I said, well, good night, Ms. Bile. Her name was Ms. Bile.
I said, good night. She got out of the car and we
sat there and watched her walk up the wall, up the steps, across
the porch, turned the key in the lock, opened the door, walked
in, turned on the light. We saw the light come on and
shut the door. And we drove off. He always called
his mother every morning from work. He called her and she didn't
answer. And then he called his wife and said, go over to Mother's
house and see if she's alright. I called and she didn't answer.
So she went over there and she couldn't get in. The door was
locked. She knocked and nobody came to the door. That light
was burning in that lamp by the window. And somehow she got in. I don't know whether she got
a key somewhere under the mat or something. She got in and
that dear lady had told us goodnight and got out of that car and walked
in, opened the door, turned the lamp on, shut the door and fell
dead. She was still lying there with
her purse and her Bible in her hand and went to meet God. And
you say, well, that's a wonderful way to go. It is if you know
Him. But this man didn't know Him.
And this dear lady had died Friday night up Pikeville. She was one
of the finest. I just couldn't talk enough about this dear lady,
Miss Gough. And she was at with us all last
weekend during the preaching like you are here today. We've
had a good day. And she fixed us all chicken
and dumplings last Sunday. Loved the Gospel. Sixty-one years
old. Thursday night, she was in the
service again. Not one murmur of the heart. Not one bit of trouble. Not one
thought of leaving here. And 24 hours later, she's gone. Do we realize that this man,
he discovered People die. He's going to die. You are supported
under me and wants to die. Lord, teach me the number of
my days that I may apply my heart to wisdom. Second thing he learned is this.
He discovered that death doesn't end everything. It says here,
and the rich man, verse 22, also died and was buried, verse 23
says, The rich man died and was buried,
and there is something else after death. It doesn't end all. Paul wrote, it is appointed unto
men once to die and after that, the judgment. I tell you something
else he found out. That nothing changed except his
location. The rich man died and in hell
he lifted up His eyes. His eyes. You know, a lot of
folks, I don't know where they get this impression, but they
got the idea that death changes everything. It wipes out everything.
It annihilates everything. It cancels all debts. It erases
all evil. It gives everybody an equal new
head start. I beg your pardon? Not so. The only thing that wipes out
everything is the blood of Christ. The only thing that cleanses
sin is the blood of Christ. The only thing that erases all
evil is the blood of Christ. Death won't do it. Judgment won't
do it. Hell won't do it. That's right. Turn to Revelation 22 and listen
to this. No sir, he found out that All
men die, including himself. He found out that death didn't
cancel everything, change everything. Revelation 22, 17. Listen. Revelation 22, 10. Revelation 22, 10. Last chapter
in the Bible. And he said to me, Revelation
22, 10. He said to me, seal not the sayings
of the prophets of this book, for the time is at hand. He that
is unjust, let him be unjust still. This man was unjust on
earth, he's still unjust. You follow me? He's still unjust. Let him that's filthy, let him
stay filthy. And he that's righteous in Christ,
he'll be righteous still. And he that's holy in Christ,
that's the only way we're holy. He chose us that we might be
holy and without blame before Him. Let him be holy still. You see that? This man, the same
person, the other side of death as he was here on earth. And
I'll show you some of the things that reveal that. He only thought
of himself on earth. Only thought of himself. He didn't
think of Lazarus. He didn't care about Lazarus.
Lazarus desired to eat the crumbs that fell from his table. But
he didn't care anything about Lazarus. He cared only for himself. And you'll notice, as I read
a while ago, he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on who? Me. On me. Send Lazarus that he may cool
my tongue. He wasn't the only one there.
You follow me? You see where I am? He's not
the only one there. My brothers. Send him to my brothers. Don't send him to preach to everybody.
Send him to my brothers. Send him to my daddy's house.
This man thought of no one but himself on earth and now he's
thinking of no one but himself in hell. That's right. Not one thing changed about him.
Not one thing. Not one thing. Job said, if a man dies, shall
he live again? Oh yeah. Yeah, Job said, I know my Redeemer liveth, and
He will stand at the latter day on this earth, and I shall see
Him with my eyes. I shall see Him." Well, sad thing
here, this man died, and he lifted his eyes, not to see Christ,
but in hell. That's sad, isn't it? He discovered
a third thing. The third thing. And it says
here, He says in verse 23, And in hell he lifted up his eyes,
being in torments. You know, this man discovered
God will punish sin. God's got to deal with sin. Most
people really do not believe that God has any wrath or anger. They don't talk about anything
related to God's character except love. Love, love, love, love. And God is love. I always hesitate
when I mention this particular point in a message. God's wrath
and God's judgment and God's anger. I always don't want to
give the impression that I'm not taken up with and enamored
with the love of God. I am. God is love. Oh my goodness. God is love. I wish I could talk
about His love like it ought to be preached. The love of God.
The love of God. But let me tell you something.
Don't be so taken up with one attribute of God that you miss
the other attributes. He's holy. And He's just. And the Scripture says He must
punish sin. God will in no wise clear the
guilty. You know a man can tell a lie
and still be a man, but God can't tell a lie and still be God. And God cannot overlook sin and
still be God. He must. He must punish sin if
He's going to be God. If He doesn't deal in judgment
and righteousness with rebels, He's got to step down from the
throne and let somebody else on the throne. Is that right?
Because He's God. He can't. He cannot overlook
sin and remain God. He can't do it. He's got to punish
sin. I tell you, people fall into two categories. Alchonder. Not you. Alchonder. People you
deal with. They fall into two categories.
One, a bunch of them believe God's too good to send a man
to hell. And the other bunch feels like
they're too good to be sent to hell. Isn't that right, Bob? They fall into one or two categories.
Either they think God's too good to send a man to hell, or they're
too good to get sent to hell. God sends men to hell because
He is good. He's good. He's holy. He's righteous. He's just. He's a good God. God is good. And that doesn't
mean just good in dispensing alms from His storehouse. That
means He's good. He's holy. Righteous. He's good. None good but God. My friend Adam discovered in
the garden that God will punish sin. The people of Noah's day
discovered in the flood that God will punish sin. Pharaoh
discovered at the Red Sea that God will punish sin. Sodom discovered
it in the plains that God will punish sin. Israel discovered
in the wilderness that God will punish sin. Our Lord Jesus proved
it on the cross. God will punish sin. He spared not His own son. Our
sins are punished in Christ. That's right. You see, I give
this illustration. I've given it before. In Egypt,
when God passed over Egypt, there was death in every home. Somebody may say, well, you mean
in every Egyptian home? No, sir, there was death in every
home. In the Egyptians' home, the firstborn died. In the Israelites'
home, the Lamb died. But there was death. And the
Lamb died for sin. And there is the soul that sinneth
shall die. The only reason we are not going
to die is Christ died for us. Do you understand that? He who
knew no sin was made sin for us that we might be made the
righteousness of God in Him. He died and by His stripes We
don't die, we're healed. It's substitution. Young people,
that's the gospel. God doesn't take us to heaven
by hook or crook or by getting around the law or finding a loophole
or something like that. God takes us freely into heaven
because the debt's paid. Sin is counsel. Evil is erased. This man went to hell because
he had no savior, no advocate, no mediator, no substitute. And he found out God will punish
sin. God's got to deal justly with
sin. And God's got to one day abolish
sin. And God's got to one day put
the evil where they can do no more harm. Why hell? I don't know a great deal about
hell. But I do know this, that Satan And everybody under His
influence and power, demons, whomever, have got to somehow
be put where they will do no more harm. They've got to be
done away with. He's going to reign until every
enemy is under His feet, and the last enemy destroyed will
be death. That's right. The fourth thing he discovered. You know, he kept saying, listen
to this, if you see what I see here. And in hell he lifted up
his eyes, verse 23, being in torment, and he seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, Father Abraham! What is this man? He's a Jew.
He's a religious Jew. Or he might be a religious Baptist
or a religious Catholic, but he's a religious man. He calls
Abraham, Father. And here's what he discovered.
Listen. He discovered that his religion introduced him to Abraham. But he never met Abraham's Lord. He knew Abraham, but he didn't
know Christ. He kept appealing to Father Abraham. He calls him several times, Father
Abraham, but our help doesn't come from Father Abraham. It
comes from the God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. It's
not whosoever shall call on the name of Abraham that shall be
saved. Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be
saved. He looked to Abraham, but Abraham wasn't looking to
himself. He was looking to Christ. That's where religious people
miss it. They look to the means and miss
the Master. God sent His Son into the world
through a woman. And what did man do? He worshipped
the woman. That's amazing. He worshipped the woman. God
put His Son in a manger, and now every Christmas they've got
mangers around everywhere. God hung His Son on a cross to
pay for our sins. Instead of worshipping Him, they've
got crosses everywhere now. And they're kissing Him and making
signs. That's human nature. They bow to the means. And this
man's religion introduced him to Abraham, but he missed Abraham's
Lord. Our Lord, when those people said,
we have Abraham to father, and Christ said, Abraham, rejoice
to see my day. He saw it and was glad. They
said, well, we got Moses. He said, Moses wrote of me. This
man kept the Passover and missed Christ our Passover. This man
boasted in the law, and the law now is damning him. The very
law in which he boasted Yes. Oh, the shackles of religion.
The shackles of religion does not bring a needy sinner to Christ.
It brings him to the means, and that's where he stops. Don't stop with the means. Oh,
people say, I love the Word of God. I do too. But as it points
me to Christ, I love Christ. Well, I believe in the sovereignty
of God. I believe in the God who is sovereign. Now there is
a difference. I believe in the resurrection.
A lot of pagan religions believe in the resurrection. I believe
in Christ who rose. He is the resurrection. See what
I am saying? This man is wrapped in religion. Father Abraham.
Alright, here is the last thing he discovered. He discovered
that Christ is the only Redeemer. And Christ is revealed to sinners
through the preaching of the Word. Now listen to him. He said in verse 27, I pray thee,
Father, that thou wouldest send Lazarus to my father's house.
I have five brothers. He didn't want his brothers to
come to the place of torment, so he began to think of ways
to warn them. He said, send him to my father's
house, that He may testify unto them that they come not to this
place." I wonder what Lazarus could tell us about sin that
the Word of God hadn't already told us. Say Lazarus came back and preached
tonight instead of me. This is not the same one Christ
raised. This is another Lazarus, a common
name. Suppose he's standing here tonight. I want to ask you, what
could he tell us that God hadn't already told us about sin? Not
a thing. If we won't believe God, why would we believe Lazarus?
What could Lazarus tell us about death and judgment and hell that
he hadn't already told us? What could Lazarus tell us about
salvation through Christ? What could Lazarus tell us that
Isaiah didn't tell us and that Paul didn't tell us and Peter
and James and John and our Lord and this preacher told you this
morning? What could he tell you? What could he tell you about
how God saves sinners that God hadn't already told you? Now,
if we don't believe God, why would we believe Lazarus? And this is amazing. Abraham
told him that. Abraham said in verse 29, they
have the Word of God. They have Moses. They have the
prophets. Let them hear the prophets, the preachers, the apostles.
And this man said, no, they won't hear them. And he's right. He's
right. It's sad to say, but he's right. He wouldn't hear them. His brothers
won't hear them. And he said, no, but if one went
back from the dead, they'd hear. If they could see a miracle,
if one came back from the dead and they didn't hear him, our
Lord Jesus Christ rose. They didn't hear him. I don't
read about any revival after he raised Lazarus. You know,
when our Lord raised Lazarus from the grave, instead of revival,
it created a rout. The Pharisees wanted to kill
Lazarus and him. You remember in the Sunday School
lesson, they wanted to kill Lazarus. There wasn't any revival. Listen
to the last verse. And let's just soak in. And he said, if they hear not
Moses and the prophets, if a man, woman, boy, or girl will not
hear the Book, the Word of God, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. I know we think, I have to argue
with you preachers. I believe they are impressed
for the moment, but not for long. The miracle excites them for
the moment. The vision excites them for the
moment. But the only thing that is far-reaching and long-standing
and soul-converting is the Word of God, its promises, its truth,
its Christ. And that when God takes His Word,
That's the reason at the close of the service, I preach this
sermon on death and hell and everybody in here is moved, and
I'm moved. And so at the end of the service,
you say, well, let's do something about it. Let's make a decision.
And under the emotional impact and influence at that moment,
we make a decision, and then later on, You know what, have
you seen thousands of them through the years? Billy Graham has them
come down by hundreds and hundreds and hundreds, and not 2% of them
are left a year. But when God takes His Word and
is preached over a period of time, whatever, and opens this
heart, His Word, and convicts me and troubles me, and strips
me, and breaks me, and does business with me, between Him and me,
His Spirit and me, that's lasting. That'll last. When it's between
me and God, that'll last. That's no emotionalism, or excitement,
or psychological move, and hand raising, and choir singing softly,
and organ playing. That's between me and God. God
showed me I'm a sinner. God showed me death's waiting
and judgment and hell. I don't want to perish. I want
to be with God. I want to be in His kingdom.
I want to be His child. Lord, save me. Speak to my heart. Reveal Christ to me. Give me
the will to follow Him. Now, if it's that, that'll last. That's all. Hear the Word. That'll last. Amazing grace. Let's sing that 2 Thirty-six.
How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I was lost,
now I'm found. I was blind, now I'm free by
His grace.