I want to read the text one more
time, Luke 16, verse 23. And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torment. And seeing Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom, 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." Now, my friends, I want you to behold, if you
can, the solemnity of the gospel ministry. I want you to behold,
if you can, the responsibility of men who have been blessed
with a true gospel ministry. And I want you to behold, if
you can, the need for earnestness on my part and on your part in
handling divine things. Am I preaching to immortal souls? Then let me not trifle. Am I
preaching to men and women tonight who will spend eternity either
in heaven or in hell? Then let me approach my task
burdened down with love, sincerity, compassion. Are you listening
to God for the last time? Are you in the presence of the
people of God for the last time? Are you hearing the gospel for
the last time? Then I beg of you to approach
this service tonight and this message with the deepest sincerity
and earnestness. and with a heart open to the
word of God. Not a heart bound and closed
by custom and tradition and prejudice, but a heart open to hear God
speak. And let me cry, O God, speak
through me. Let my mouth be thy mouth, and
my tongue be thy tongue. And may you cry, O God, let my
ears be tuned to thy word and to the truth." Richard Baxter
who was a man plagued with many diseases and many burdens, but
a man sound of mind and heart, a great pastor, who preached
for many years the gospel of Christ, said this, I never go
into the pulpit without tears. I never attempt to preach without
my knees knocking together, for I speak for God And I speak for
God to men who will soon appear before his judgment bar. I preach as one who may never
preach again. I preach tonight as a dying man
to dying men. Charles Spurgeon once said, Brethren,
it may be a matter of amusement to you to come to the gospel
meetings. but it is no matter of amusement
to us who are called to preach to you. We would not have accepted
this office if it had not been thrust upon us, for God has declared,
Woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel, but woe unto you
if I do preach the gospel and you don't receive it. Woe unto
me if I fail to warn you of judgment and eternity and separation from
God, but woe unto you if I am faithful in warning you and for
some reason you won't receive it. Preaching will seem like
dreadful work to the preacher when he comes to die if he has
not been faithful. But it will also be dreadful
work, preaching will be dreadful work to those who have heard
it and have not believed it. If God takes you out of this
world tonight, I wonder what you'd give, what would you give
for just one more Sunday to hear the glorious gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. If your hourglass is empty tonight,
If your candle at last is burned down, I wonder what you'd give
for just one more hour back on the earth in which to hear the
gospel and sue for mercy. If heaven is a myth, say so. Act a part of the infidel. Cry
out, there is no heaven to gain. There is no eternal life to seek. Say so. If heaven's a myth, say
so. but don't act indifferent. If
hell is fiction, say so. Act the part of the infidel,
the denier of God's word, the agnostic. Say so if there's no
hell. But if hell is real, and if heaven
is real, let us all cry to God for visitation of his mercy.
If heaven is real and if hell is real, let us crown to God
for visitation of his grace, for his merciful hand to be upon
us in the forgiveness of our sins. I read this past week,
I don't know the accuracy of it, but it came from a reliable
source. I read that when Michelangelo
painted his celebrated picture of the resurrection that he went
by permission to the morgue, and that night he made his bed
among the dead. He made his cot, and he piled
dead bodies all around it, and he slept among the dead, that
he might get his mind in the proper frame for painting the
happenings of that great day when God would raise the dead. Now, if we stand in the pulpit
and we talk about death, let us imagine those about us, dying
men. As we stand in the pulpit and
talk about judgment, let us try to imagine that those about us
will one day be assembled with that innumerable multitude in
the presence of God Almighty, to hear him say, Enter ye, blessed,
into the kingdom prepared for you, or to hear him say, Depart
from me, I never knew you. As we stand in the pulpit and
talk about heaven or talk about hell, let us remember that we
are dealing with people who will spend eternity either in heaven
by God's grace through Christ's mercy or in eternal hell, separated
from God forever and forever and forever. Every sermon ought
to be preached in the light of death. Every sermon ought to
be preached in the light of judgment. Every sermon ought to be preached
and heard in the light of eternity. I want to give you tonight four
things that God has revealed to me about heaven and four things
that I believe God has revealed to me about hell. And I don't
want my preaching to be with wisdom of words, lest the cross
of Christ be made of non-effect. I want it to be in simplicity
and plainness and clearness. I want the people who hear me
to know exactly what I believe God is saying. And the first
thing that I have learned about heaven is this. If you'll turn
with me to 1 John, chapter 5, I have learned from the word
of God, and there isn't the slightest doubt in my mind about this,
not the faintest doubt, I have learned that Jesus Christ is
the only way to heaven. Now, that's as sure as the throne
of God. I read to you this morning how
the Apostle said there is none other name under heaven given
among men. whereby we must be saved. Neither
is there salvation in any other. I read to you this morning from
John 14 where our Lord said, I am the way. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. I am the truth. I am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. I am the door. By me, if any
man enter in, he shall be saved, and go in and out, and find pasture.
Peter said, We are redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus Christ,
as a lamb without spot or blemish. And 1 John 5, verse 11 says,
This is the record. This is the record. If you want
to turn to the writings of men, that's your privilege. If you
want to turn to the writings of your denomination, that's
your privilege. If you want to turn to the fallible, error-filled
writings of the theologians, that's your business. But this
is God's record. And it says, this is the record
that God has given to us eternal life. And this life is in his
Son. That's where it is. It's not
in repentance and it's not in faith, it's in Christ. It's not
in the law and it's not in works, it's in Christ. It's not in decisionism,
it's not in prayer, it's in Christ. It's not in the church, it's
not in baptism, it's not in the Lord's table. This life is in
His Son. That's where it is, and that's
the reason people miss it. They try to find life in their
faith, they try to find life in their religion, they try to
find life in their faithfulness, they try to find life in their
good deeds, and it's not there. Eternal life is in the Son of
God, and he that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not
the Son of God hath not life, and shall never see life, and
the wrath of God abideth on him." You miss Christ, you'll miss
heaven. And this is the most important
point of all our preaching. Christ is salvation. Christ is
not just the way of salvation, He is salvation. Christ is not
just the way of life, he is life. Christ is not just the way to
heaven, he is heaven. Where he is, that's heaven. He's the elect. He is the covenant
surety. He is the Messiah. He is the
anointed of God. He was made flesh for us, he
is our federal head, he is our representative for us, he obeyed
the law, he died for our sins, and even now he is at the right
hand of God interceding for us. Turn with me to Romans 8. In
the 8th chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul voices his confidence
and his assurance And Paul, when he voices this confidence and
this assurance of eternal life, does not base it on the miles
he's traveled, and the souls he's won, and the sermons he's
preached, and the deeds he's done. He bases it on a person. Listen to Romans 8, verse 34.
Who is he that condemneth? He challenges heaven, earth,
and hell to lay anything to the charge of God's elect. to condemn
him. He says, who is he that condemneth?
It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Barabbas lives because Jesus
Christ died. That's the only reason. Barabbas
doesn't live because of the compassion of Pilate, Barabbas doesn't live
even because of the compassion of the multitude. Barabbas lived
because Christ died on His cross. That's why he lives. And I live
today because Christ died for my sins. If I walk the streets
of gold, if I enjoy the presence and glory of God forever, it
will be unto Him who loved me and washed me from my sins in
His own blood, and that's the only reason. Christ died for
my sins. I once was lost, but now I'm
found. I was blind, but now I see. And
I'm heaven-bound, and this is my plea. Christ died for me. Christ died for me. Second thing
I know about heaven is this. I know that heaven immediately
follows death. Will you turn to the book of
2 Corinthians, chapter 5? In 2 Corinthians 5, I want you
to listen to this scripture. I say that there's no such place
as purgatory. It's not taught in the Word of
God. It's the invention of the Catholic Church. It's not in
the Bible. There's no halfway house between
earth and heaven. There is no place of soul sleep. When a believer dies, immediately
he stands in the presence of God. Our Lord said to the thief
on the cross who cried for mercy and who was saved according to
our Lord's own testimony, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. He didn't say after you've spent
a while in purgatory, after your loved ones have paid the Church
so much money and pray you out of purgatory. He didn't say after
you've slept for a thousand years. He said, Today thou shalt be
with me. Where I am, you're going to be.
Where I go, you're going to go. Today thou shalt be with me in
paradise." And here in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 1, it says, "...we know
that if our earthly house of this tent, this tabernacle, this
frail dwelling place, is dissolved, and it will be, we have a building
of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."
Verse 6. We are always confident, knowing
that while we're at home in this tent, in this body, in this dwelling
place, we're absent from the Lord. You know that, and I know
that. Anybody with good sense knows that while I'm in this
body, I'm not in heaven, I'm not in the presence of the Lord.
We walk by faith, not by sight. And we're confident, I say, and
willing, rather, to be absent from the body. and to be present
with the Lord. When I leave this body, I'll
be in the presence of the Lord. Let me read you a scripture from
Ecclesiastes, chapter 12. In Ecclesiastes 12, verse 7,
the wise man Solomon said, then, he's talking about death, when
the silver cord is loosed, when the pitcher is broken at the
fountain, when the wheel is broken at the cistern, then shall the
dust, that is, the body, return to the earth as it was, and the
spirit shall return to God who gave it. When a man dies, when
a believer closes his eyes in death, immediately he goes to
the presence of the Lord. His body goes back to the dust
where it decays and rots and goes back where it came from,
but his soul goes to God who gave it. Man's soul is a living
soul. It cannot The third thing I know
about heaven is this, 1 Corinthians 15. I know that the body is going
to be raised. I know that I shall not just
be a soul, I'm going to have a body. I'm going to have a body,
and I'll tell you more about it in a few moments, but the
body is going to be raised from the grave. You can cast it into
the ocean and let the fish eat it, or you can cast it into the
fire and let it burn and scatter the ashes over the world. Or
you can bury it in the ground and let the worms destroy it,
and nothing left at all. But I know that when Christ comes
again, this body is going to be raised. For the scripture
says in 1 Corinthians 15, verse 13, If there be no resurrection
of the dead, then Jesus Christ is not raised. There she is. If you teach that there's no
resurrection of the body, then you're also teaching Jesus Christ
never did rise from the grave. He's right now rotted over there
in Jerusalem. He never did come from the grave,
if there's no resurrection of the grave. But if Christ be not
risen, listen to this, our preaching is all in vain. We're wasting
our time. Your faith is in vain. You are
wasting your time sending missionaries to preach to the heathen if Christ
is not raised, if there is no resurrection. This is all a bunch
of malarkey. If Christ be not raised, if there
is no resurrection of the body, if my body is not coming out
of the grave, then he didn't come out of the grave. And if
he didn't come out of the grave, our preaching is vain, our faith
is vain, verse 15, and we have lied on God. We are false witnesses
of God. Do you see how important is the
resurrection? And verse 17 says, if Christ
be not raised, you are yet in your sins, and if you die in
your sins, you can't go to heaven, so forget it. Mark it out. No
hope. If in this life only we have
hope in Christ, if this is all, we're the most miserable people
in all the world. But the body is going to be raised.
Turn to verse 42. It says that the body is going
to be raised, and we know it will because Christ was raised.
And the resurrection of the dead is like this. It is buried in
corruption. And, my friends, there is nothing
more corrupt than a dead body. The minute the body dies, it
begins to decay. It smells. It's rotten. It begins to be destroyed from
within. It's corrupt. But it's going
to be raised in incorruption. It's going to be raised without
sin, without germs, without evil, without guilt. It's going to
be raised without disease. It's going to be raised incorruptible. It's thrown in dishonor. These
bodies of ours in their youth are strong and handsome and beautiful. When they get old, they get wrinkled
and they get ugly. And we bury the body. It's not
very attractive. But, brother, it's going to be
raised in glory. When that body comes out of the
grave, it's going to be raised in the glory of the original
creation. It is sown in weakness. The older
we get, the weaker we get. But it's going to be raised in
the strength of youth. It's going to be raised in the
power of God. It is sown a natural body. It's
going to be raised a spiritual body that can never die. Like
God kept the Israelites' clothes from decaying in the wilderness
for forty years, he's going to keep our bodies from any mark
of corrosion or decay or corruption throughout all eternity. It will
be raised a spiritual body. The fourth thing that I know
about heaven, that is that we shall retain our identity. That in heaven, in eternity,
I'm going to be the same person that I am right now. If I spend
eternity in heaven, I'm going to be the same person I am right
now. If I spend eternity in hell,
I'm going to suffer in hell the same person I am right now. I
can give you several proofs of that. Number one, in our text,
the rich man cried out to Father Abraham to send Lazarus. He remembered Lazarus. He cried
out to Father Abraham to send somebody back to his father's
house where he had, his memory was real good, five brothers. And then when Moses and Elijah
appeared with the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration,
Moses was Moses and Elijah was Elijah. And several hundred years
had passed, about 2,000 years had passed from the time that
Moses died to the time he appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration
with Christ, and he was still the same Moses that died 2,000
years before. When Lazarus came back from the
grave, when Christ stood before the open grave and raised Lazarus,
when he came back, who was he? He was still Lazarus. And another
thing, how shall I eternally praise the Lord for saving me
from my sins and redeeming me by his blood if I am not me? If I have no recollection of
my sins, if I have no recollection of my life on earth, if I have
no memory of what took place, how in the world will I ever
praise the Lord for saving me? How could I really be grateful
to Christ if I'm not me, if I'm somebody else, if I have no memory
at all of the past? Well, we'll have memory. Turn
to Revelation 5. It says in verse 9, this is talking
about those in heaven. Who are these and whence came
they? You know, these are they that have come out of great tribulation
and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. And they sung
a new song, verse 9 of Revelation 5, saying, Thou art worthy to
take the book and to open the seals thereof. For thou wast
slain, and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation." I'll even remember
what nation I was of, and what tongue, and what kindred, and
what people. Thou hast redeemed us. And thou
hast made us under our God kings and priests, and we shall reign
on the earth." Now, I'll tell you something else. You may be
surprised how much like this body, that body is going to be. I don't have time to go into
it tonight, but heaven is not going to be floating around on
a cloud up there in space, plucking on a heart with wings and a halo.
Heaven is going to be right down here on this new earth. The new
Jerusalem, the holy city, came down out of heaven. John saw
it descending down here from heaven on this earth. It's going
to be a new heaven and a new earth. And God's redeemed people
are going to enjoy not only heaven, but they're going to enjoy a
new earth. Creation is going to be restored to its Garden
of Eden perfection. And we're going to have real
bodies, real flesh and real bones. And I'll show you that. Turn
to Luke 24. We're going to have perfect bodies. We're going to
have incorruptible, glorified, strong, powerful, youthful bodies. We're all going to be like our
Lord. When we see him, we're going to be like him. Well, what
was he like when he arose from the grave? Look at Luke 24. And
verse 36, Luke 24, verse 36, And as they thus spake, Jesus
himself stood in the midst of them, and he said, Peace be unto
you. And they were terrified and affrighted. They'd seen him
die. They'd buried him in a tomb. And now here he was standing
right there among them, in the midst of them. And they were
afraid, and they supposed they'd seen a spirit. And he said, Why
are you troubled? Why do thoughts arise in your
hearts? They're all my hands and my feet. Don't touch a misty,
foggy ghost. Touch my hands and my feet. Handle me and see. A spirit, not flesh and bones
as you see me have. Embrace me. Feel the strength
of these flesh and these bones. This is real, not a ghost." And
when he had thus spoken, he showed them his hands and his feet,
and while they yet believed not for joy and wondered, one final
proof, he said to them, Do you have something to eat? Do you
have some meat? And they gave him a piece of broad fish and
a honeycomb, and he took it in his glorified body, in his resurrected
body, in the body like I shall have when I come out of that
tomb, and he ate it right there in front of him. I'm not prepared
tonight to explain everything that's going to take place in
eternity, but I do have sense enough to know what I read in
God's Word. Those things that are revealed for me, and those
things that are set forth for me, and those things the Holy
Spirit's been pleased to show us. And Christ shows us here
what kind of body he has, and John said when we see him, we're
going to be just like him. Just like him. What is hell,
preacher? What do you know about hell?
Well, I know four things. Hell is a place of torment and
suffering. The rich man tells us that. Look
at Luke 16. He calls it a place of torment.
Warn my brothers lest they come to this place of torment. He
calls it a place tormented, where I'm tormented in this flame. You say, do you believe there's
fire in hell? I really don't know. I really don't know. I know Christ called it an everlasting
fire. He called it a furnace of fire.
He called it a place where the worm doth not and the fire is
not quenched. Whether that is literal or whether
that is figurative, I don't know. It really doesn't matter. You
know why? The fire won't be the worst part
of hell. The worst part of hell is separation
from God. eternal separation. Abraham said
to the rich man, Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed,
and nobody can come from you to us and nobody can go from
us to you. It's set, it's fixed, this is
it. As death leaves you, judgment
finds you, eternity will keep you. If in Christ, it will keep
you in glory. if out of Christ you keep you
in hell. The only time that our Lord Jesus
Christ ever cried out, our Lord went through thirst and hunger
and sorrow and tears and heartache and all of these things. Our
Lord took the lash of the whip on his back, the print of the
nails in his hands. He took the crown of thorns in
his brow, but he never cried out for one time, and that's
when he was separated from the Father. And he cried out, nobody
can say it like he did, I know, he cried out so that it rang
through heaven, earth, and hell, and caused even the demons to
tremble, My God, where hast thou forsaken me? That's hell. I wouldn't want to live on the
earth without God, let alone in hell. I wouldn't want to live
in heaven without God, let alone in hell, for God is love. And God is light, and God is
truth, and God is beauty. God is all those things, and
hell is everything. God's not. It's darkness and
hate and evil and corruption. Hell is a place of torment! Hell is a place of separation
from God, and hell is a place of memory. Just as the saints
in glory are going to praise God for saving them, the demons
in hell and the angels who fell And the men who believe not on
Christ will have an acute memory. For Abraham said to the rich
man in verse 25, Son, remember, remember. I think people in hell
are going to remember every sermon they ever heard. They're going
to remember every song they ever They're going to remember from
the time their mother sat them on her knee and taught them in
her sweet, precious voice, Jesus loves me, this I know. And they're going to say in hell,
I wish I'd believed that. From the time in Sunday school
when they sat around and sang with the other boys and girls
away in a manger, no crib for his bed, the little Lord Jesus
lay down his sweet head. They're going to remember that.
They're going to remember every sermon they ever heard, every
preacher they ever heard, and turn their back on his message
because of prejudice, or because of tradition, or because of custom,
or because of denominationalism. I invited a woman to come hear
me preach last week. She said, I'm a Methodist. I
said, Methodists go to hell too. And I think people in hell are going
to remember every invitation they ever had to come hear the
word of God. They're going to remember every
radio sermon they ever listened to, every faithful minister of
God who ever warned them of the wrath to come. They're going
to be haunted by memory! Memory. Memory. I'll tell you something else
hell is. Hell is a place where you realize
the truth too late. There are no unbelievers in hell.
There's nobody in hell who's saying, I don't believe in the
sovereignty of God. Everybody there believes in the
sovereignty of God. Everybody there knows that God's
on the throne. There's nobody in hell saying,
I don't believe in particular redemption. Everybody there believes
in particular redemption. They know Christ didn't die for
them, or they wouldn't be there. That's right. Nobody in hell
who thinks that salvation is by works. They tried it. They
said, Lord, we did many wonderful works in your name. He said,
I never knew you. Cast them into hell. They know
salvation is not by works, they know salvation is in Christ.
Hell is true, realized too late. Because this rich man said, Father
Abraham, send Lazarus back there and warn my brothers, lest they
come to this awful place of torment. He's a missionary now. He wasn't
a missionary while he was on earth. He didn't worry about
his brothers when he was on earth. He didn't worry about hell when
he was on earth. He didn't worry about somebody
warning the people while he was on earth. He's too busy! But
now he realizes truth. Too late. I'll tell you something
else about hell. Hell is a place of unfulfilled
lust. Turn to Revelation 22. In hell,
we're going to be separated from God. In hell, we're going to
have some real memories. In hell, men are going to realize
truth too late. In hell, men are going to have
the same evil desires and passions and thirsts and lusts that they
have right here on this earth. But in hell, there's no fulfillment.
The drunkard's going to have the same thirst. He's going to
have the DTs inhaled, but there won't be a bar from which he
can buy a drink. In Revelation 22, verse 11, it
says, He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. Let him
go on throughout eternity, hating and swearing and blaspheming
and cursing and loving himself and hating everybody else. Let
him go right on. unjust. He dealt unjust with
men, he'll be unjust throughout eternity. Let him that's filthy
be filthy still. Let him go on throughout eternity
in his filthiness, but there'll be no satisfaction. There'll
be no fulfillment. There'll be no peace. Let him
that's righteous be righteous still. Our righteousness is Christ. But Edmund, we're going to lay
aside our natural bodies, and we're going to be a spiritual
body. The people in hell, the people in hell, are going to
keep the same old rotten evil nature that they had right here
on this earth. The same hatred for God, the
same hatred for their neighbor, the same hatred for everything
holy. They're going to keep it in hell.
And he that is holy, let him be holy still! but holier than
ever. Now I see through a glass dimly,
but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then
I shall know, even as I am also known. Now I know something about
the presence of sin. When I get to glory, I won't
know a thing about it. I'm going to love like God loves,
and I'm going to think like God thinks, and I'm going to desire
like God desires. I'm going to be like God. But
in hell There are no acts of pardon passed in that cold grave
to which we haste, nothing but darkness and death and long despair. For these things reign in eternal
silence there. Hell is a place of loneliness,
total darkness and total loneliness. separated eternally from all
that is good and all that's holy and all that's pure. Our Father, by the power of thy
Spirit, shake us to our foundations tonight and make us tremble at
the wrath of God. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of a living God. Let us all see our guilt and
our sin. Let us take our place before
Thee at Thy feet in the dust as guilty sinners, having no
righteousness or holiness of our own, and let us cry, O God,
let the blood of Christ atone for my guilt. Let Christ be my
refuge, my city of refuge, to which I can flee and hide from
the avenger. Let Christ be that rock in which
I hide, that rock in a weary land, that shelter in the time
of storm. Let Christ be the arc of safety
that lifts us above the flood of our wrath and the flood of
judgment. Let us find our way to him and rest only in him,
for we are complete in him. And let the beauty of Christ
be seen in us, all his holiness, love and compassion and all his
purity. We ask it in his name and for
his sake. Amen.