SOME TRUTHS WE LEARN ABOUT HELL: LUKE 16:19-31 3-21-09
Today I’m going to talk for a little while about “hell”, it’s certainly not a comforting subject, but it is a subject that needs to be talk about more often because it a real place, it’s just as real a place as heaven is.
Jesus spoke more about “hell” that He did of Heaven. “HELL” is found 54 times in the KJ Bible.
Every one listening to the broadcast today will some time in the not to distant future find themselves either in Hell or Heaven, I say in the not to distant future because our little life span is really not that long, and some of us will go before others, and a persons age makes no differents, people die young and others die old, but one things for certain is, we’re all going to die some day, if the rapture don’t take place soon.
James 4:14--For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. [Read again] some one might say; “ I know people that have live to be over 100 years old,” but dear heart that amounts to something about like a grain of sand on the bottom of the sea floor compared to eternity.
Let me say before we begin that this record here in Luke 16: to do with hell is not a parable, it’s true that Jesus did speak many parables in the 4 gospels, but this is not one of them, lets remember that a parable is an earthly story or illustration to reveal a spiritual truth.
A parable does not have the names of individual people in them, a parable does not talk about specific places, and we have all of that mentioned here in this factual account.
Most Bibles will have written just above this account, “the parable of the rich man and Lazarus”,
But realize that that is the doings of the publishers and not of God, what the publishers put in the bible are not the inspired Word of God.
Another good illustration of that is in Luke 11:, THE PUBLISHERS HAVE WRITTEN THERE, ”The Lords prayer” and its not, it is the Lord Jesus telling His disciples how to pray, He give them an example there.
THE Lords Pray is found in John 17:, the entire chapter is all in red writing and its Jesus praying to His Father. LETS ALWAYS REMEMBER THAT THE WRITINGS OF THE PUBLISHERS ARE NOT Gods Word, instead, its another mistake man has made, God makes no mistakes.
So here in Luke 16: 19-31 is a true account.
Listen as I read this true record in LUKE 16:19-31
19 There was** a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus**, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: [paradise] the rich man also died, and was buried;
23 And in hell he lift up** his eyes, being in torments**, and seeth Abraham** afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.** [a place of rest and compassion]
24 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.
25 But Abraham said, Son,** remember** that thou in thy lifetime** receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now** he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 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.
27 Then he said,** I pray** thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:**[home]
28 For I have five brethren;** that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.**
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have** Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead,** they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
What a sad and pitiful true account this is, and lets remember that One did rise from the dead, and yet most people are still not going to believe.
Today we not only have the writings of Moses and the Prophets, but we also have the writings of the Apostles as well, the N.T. and most people still won’t believe.
One of the sad truths that we see here is, that now this man that was rich in his life time has suddenly had a change of heart and mind, just as soon as “he lift his eyes in hell” he became a believer, people are unbelievers when they go there, but once there, their all believers, there are no unbelievers there now.
And let me say that it wasn’t him being rich that he found himself in hell, it was the fact that he never trusted in God to save him, and now he’s in a place of no return, there’s no getting out of hell once a person goes there,
So we have here the account told by Jesus Himself of two men, one was rich and the other was poor, and they both had one thing in common, and that was “a life time”, there’s nothing wrong with any one being rich and there certainly nothing wrong with people that are poor, in fact there’s more of us poor folks than there are rich folks.
Jesus said in Mark 14: 7 For ye have the poor with you always,--
But both of these dear people had a certain amount of “life time” here on this earth, its told to us here that one was saved and the other was not, {now} the poor man was the one that was truly rich, and the other truly poor.
I’m sure that now if the rich man could, he’d gladly give every thing that he had ever had for just one little drop of water, but water was something that he would never see again, he would never forget about water, but he would never ever again have any. HELL is a place that no one will ever get out of.
Let me say, that there is one time that lost people in hell will get out, and that’s when their brought out just long enough to be judged of their wickedness at the White Throne judgment of the lost, and then cast into the lake of fire, ACCORDING TO REV. 20:-- about like, out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Hell, let’s remember is the holding place of the lost souls that are waiting for the White Throne judgment of the lost.
Whoever the 1st poor unfortunate soul that in may have been back in Genesis, to go to hell is still there at this present time, man has been on earth for over 6000 years, and that poor individual, whoever he may be, has been there for several thousand years now and will remain there until after the 1000 years reign of Christ, that’s when the White Throne judgment takes place, that poor suffering- --soul has never had a drop of water all that time, but there’s never been a day that’s gone by that he don’t cry out for mercy and water. There’s no getting out of hell.
One was rich and one was poor, but both died - heaven and hell is the division of death. It is the only division when a person slips into eternity.
God is not interested whether you were a Baptist or Mormon, or Catholic, Islamic or no denomination at all.
There is nothing in your heart that will tell God that you were moral or immoral, that you were religious or not religious at all.
There is simply the divide of those who were saved by the grace of God and those who are not.
Those who are saved by God’s grace will end up in heaven, and those who have rejected the grace of God and the Son of God will end up in hell. There’s no laying over place, there’s no Purgatory, it’s heaven or it’s hell and it’s right then. the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up** his eyes, being in torments-
Notice; as soon as he died he lift up his eyes, he was there- And in hell he lift up** his eyes- not after he stayed in purgatory for a time, that’s one of the biggest lies the devil has ever told.
And let me say right here that the devil don’t mind people having a good dose of religion, in fact that makes him happy, just don’t get saved, he had just as soon take people to hell off the Church pew as he had a bar stool.
If he can keep people content in religion minus salvation he don’t want to change a thing, just sit tite, but when that religious but lost person dies, he or she will lift their eyes in hell, and hell is a place of no return, no one can get out of hell, it’s a set and done deal, people have their entire life time to make things right with God, but if these people squander their chance away, they’ll lift their eyes in hell.
God don’t want any one to go to hell, He gave His Only Begotten Son to die in all of lost mankind’s stead in order to keep people out of hell.
2 Peter 3:9-- but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
God has put up road signs all along peoples paths of life to keep people from going to hell,
Ezekiel 33:11-- As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die
Ezekiel 18:32 For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Jesus said in
John 5: 40 And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
The rich man here in LUKE 16: -- was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
He had everything that he needed of luxury and affluence; he had no want - yet this poor man
was laid at his gate, full of sores, begging every day. He had sores all over his body, and the dogs came and licked his sores.
The thing that both had in common was the thing called a {lifetime}, this rich man had everything and the poor man had nothing, but that was only what was temporal.
The things that are eternal are not seen with the naked eye, the only way that we can see what is unseen is to see in God’s word what He has revealed to us about eternity and about the matters of salvation.
In the temporal realm this rich man in his lifetime, fed his body with all the worlds’ goods, but when he realized he was in hell, his soul was starving and parched.
This poor man, Lazarus in his lifetime, was poor and starving and begging, and the dogs licked his sores, but when he died the angels came and carried him to Paradise because he was a child of God.
You might say, Brother Brown, you’re scaring me, well I hope so, because we’re dealing with the eternal here. You might say that God would never send a person to a place like that, to be tormented forever; all I’m telling us is what has already been told.
Hebrews 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Whether a person goes to heaven, or whether he goes to hell and lifts up his eyes being in torments like the rich man, will be determined by what that person does with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, in his or her lifetime.
As your listening to this broadcast right now, you are still in your lifetime; you still have an opportunity to make things right with God
The tragedy of this story that we read in Luke chapter 16 is that it was too late for this man. He learned too late and couldn’t do anything about it. There’s no getting out of hell.
Hell is a place where there’s no hope, it’s a place where prayer avails nothing. It’s a place where this man that called on Abraham and asked him to send Lazarus to bring him just one drop of water to touch the tip of his tongue was not answered.
The prayer was not answered because the prayer that this rich man prayed was too late to be prayed.
If he had called on God through Jesus the Son, and asked God to save him - he would have been saved! - God would have heard him then, but now he’s in hell and God’s not hearing him.
And another sad truth is that there are countless people all over the world today that do pray, but their praying to other people.
They’re bringing their confessions to these so called priests in these little confessional booths, they’re coming to Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus, and they’re bringing her their repentant prayers.
These people are on their way to hell - they’re praying to the wrong person to keep them out of hell.
Many people make a mockery of God; they make fun of the things of God and of Christians.
But be certain of one thing, [God will have the last laugh.]
Proverbs 1: 24-33 Because I have called,** and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; 25But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: 26I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;** 27When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you.
28Then shall they call upon me,** but I will not answer; they shall seek me early, but they shall not find me: 29For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD: 30They would none of my counsel: they despised all my reproof. 31Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own way,** and be filled with their own devices. 32For the turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools** shall destroy them. 33But whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet from fear of evil. There is a wonderful promise from God.
