Luke 16:19-31 says, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores. And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. 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 receivedst 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. Abraham said unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.”
This was not a parable but a real life story told by Jesus. Both men actually existed, for the Bible says there was a certain rich man. There was actually a rich man and there was indeed a Lazarus. Beloved, know today that there is great danger in your not being sure of your salvation. And if you cannot make up your mind which way you are going, you are not sure whether it is heaven or hell, then you are on your way to hell because those on their way to heaven know it. And it is very good to understand these things now.
This message is for two groups of people: those who are candidates for heaven and those who are candidates for hell. You can divide the whole Christians into those two groups any day anytime. In the above story, the rich man died and when he opened his eyes, he found himself in hell fire. Lazarus also died and found himself in the bosom of Abraham. Then the man shouted to father Abraham, “I am tormented in this place, let Lazarus put his hand in water and cool my tongue.” Abraham said, “No, it is not possible. There is a great gulf between you and us. You cannot come here. Apart from that, while you enjoyed yourself in the world, Lazarus suffered. So, while you are now suffering, he is enjoying.” What Abraham was telling him was that there was no remedy at all. My prayer is that you would not push yourself to a stage where the issues of your life will have no remedy. Saul got to that stage and God said, “I regret making Saul a king. He has disappointed me.” Samuel cried to the Lord all night: “Father, please.” God said, “Talk no more to me about this matter. I have made up my mind.” And that was it. He had got to the point of no return.
You may ask, “Why did the rich man go to hell fire?” Luke 16:19 says, “There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.” Was it because he was rich? No, Abraham was also a rich man. He was rich in cattle and all kinds of things. So, a rich man can make heaven if the money does not become his idol, if he does not place that money above God, and if he learns the principle of giving out, not the principle of hoarding the money. Did the rich man go to hell because he was clothed in purple and fine linen? No. Being well-dressed is not a sin. Was it because he ate good food? No. Food is useful to the physical body. Was it because he did not look after the beggar at his door? No. No one can look after all the beggars in the world. The reason was that at a stage in his life, he had said no to Jesus repeatedly. People like him would always argue and would have no time for God.
A long time ago, somebody died at the age of 70. Someone analysed the 70 years he lived. He slept 23 years, worked 16 years, watched television 8 years ate 6 years, spent about 6 years travelling and 4 years on leisure, was ill for 4 years, spent 2 years dressing up, and 2 years on prayer and religious activities. So, this person was a likely candidate for hell fire. Candidates for hell fire can be known by the way they spend their time.
Many of us deceive ourselves. If you go to a big stadium, you will find many people there. If you touch a young man and say, “Who is likely to die first in this place?” He would look for people with grey hair, whereas age does not follow at all. A visit to the mortuary will convince you. Sometimes, you don’t find a person with grey hair in a whole mortuary. You may think you have time, but you don’t really have time. So, you must take a decision. Do you really have time for Jesus? Remember that each day we spend here takes us either nearer to heaven or nearer to hell fire.
That rich man opened his eyes and found himself in hell fire. Death is a leveller. It levels everybody. It does not recognise the high or the low and it cannot be bribed. You can’t give it money. One professor prayed for a child for a long time. Then his wife got pregnant, and then put to bed. They brought the man the news that his wife was delivered of a bouncing baby boy. He was so happy that he jumped up for joy, and by the time he got down, he was dead. He had what is called rupture of the vessel supplying blood to the brain. And that was it. Another man was shaking hands with his friend, saying “Congratulations, you have just received a major award.” Suddenly, the man found out that his friend was not talking to him again. He was dead. Death is a leveller.
So, this is the time to make yourself worthy of God’s calling. The rich man opened his eyes and found himself in hell fire. The Bible does not tell us that there is purgatory, a place which is neither heaven nor hell, and that you can stay there while somebody prays for you in the church and you eventually go to heaven. This is not in the word of God. Somebody who has no time for God but has time to look for money will pay dearly for it. The rich man had no time for God. His offering was always low. He did not attend fellowship neither did he pray. He did not bother to receive the Holy Spirit. But the other man had time for God, although he was poor. So, how do you spend your time? Time is one of the greatest gifts that God gives to us, and He gives everyone the same quantity of time. Your 60 minutes is my 60 minutes, your 60 seconds is my 60 seconds. But time is a perishable gift. Once you lose it, you lose it for ever. Your spiritual power is an indication of how you use your time. A fool may waste money but the greatest fool wastes his time. If somebody wastes 15 minutes every hour, and the person lives 100 years, he would have wasted 25 good years of his life. So, to find out what a man worships and where he is going, study how he distributes his time. Does God have the largest share of your time? If it is money, do you spend most of it in serving God? If you spend your time to sleep with sister ‘A’ on Monday, B on Tuesday, C on Wednesday and so on till Sunday before you get to your wife at home, you know where your are heading for. Can you account for the way you spend your day? Are you the type who do two hours work in four hours? Or you are the kind of believer who still has the time to be angry? Have you time to be moody, or to be gossiping and complaining? Or are you the type of Christian who talks too much, you say 200 words per minute? Do you say useless things or make purposeless visits? Examine how you spend your time. Do unworthy things take up most of your time? Do spiritual things take less of your time? The activities you spend your time on most, will indicate where you are going. Is it prayer? Bible study? Working for Christ? Witnessing or are you always idle? Are you one of those who worship the god of sleep, the god of entertainment, the god of television, or the god of games? Many people are addicted to television shows and the devil uses that opportunity to plant many arrows into many people’s lives because they substitute the time for prayer in watching television.
People who say no to Jesus are people who refuse to give their lives completely, and they are candidates for hell fire. Remember that life is a one-way street. You can’t go back and correct what you have done. There is no repentance in the grave. So, if you keep saying no to Jesus, you will find yourself in hell fire. Judgment will begin in the house of God. It won’t begin in the film houses, it won’t begin in the house of those who claim to be worshipping the LORD. In case today you have any malice against anybody, go immediately and settle with the person. Tell the person, “You did so, so and so to me and I didn’t like it,” because if Jesus finds that malice in your heart, you are a candidate for hell fire. No unclean thing shall enter heaven. God loves His people so much that He will not allow a single sinner to enter into heaven with them. The wages of sin is eternal separation from God. God is no respecter of persons and He has no useless activities.
There was a girl, whenever her parents went to church, she showed no interest. She found more pleasure in her boyfriend who was in Form Two. Not quite long this boy put her in a family way. Then the girl said, “I cannot find my menses.” The boy said, “Search for it.” After three months, it was known that she was pregnant. Then the boy went to one of those local chemists, a person who had no medical training, and bought a syringe and drugs which they told him to give the girl. After sometime, he asked her, “Have you found the thing?” She said, “I have not found it.” He told her that he had something and the girl who had no time for church services, submitted herself to the boy to administer the injection. Then trouble started. They carried her all over the place, and she eventually died. Before her death, she confessed that somebody gave her an injection. Her parents threatened to take the boy to court for manslaughter. But people advised them, “You are wasting your time. Where is the evidence? Who was there when he administered the drug? You better forget it. Your daughter has gone for good.” The girl had no time to follow her parents to church. She had time to go to hell fire.
One sin God can never forgive anybody is saying no to Jesus. Are you a candidate for hell fire? You better repent now. There is an opportunity now. Or are you a candidate for heaven?
LET US SEE HOW TO RECOGNISE CANDIDATES FOR HEAVEN.
1. They do the will of God: Matthew 6:10 says, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” So, candidates for heaven are those who do the will of the Father. They don’t do their own will. They will not allow the foolish things here to prevent them from getting home. Hebrews 11:15-16 says, “And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.” The Bible says that if they put their minds where they had left, they would have had cause to go back. That is, the people who are heaven-bound will not be remembering and be boasting about their lives as unbelievers. They would not be saying for instance; “You are very lucky that I am now born again.” If you had done this to me when I was not born again, the ground would have been higher than you now. You just praise God that I am now again.” They boast about their old lives. Any small thing you do, they would say: “Is this what you are going to do to me in this place? I am not coming here again. People don’t even greet me. I am not coming again.” To candidates who are heaven-bound, the will of God is natural. They do not have to be pressurised. at all. It becomes just a natural thing for them to do. Once God says something, that settles it. No matter their own opinion, they drop it.
2. There is no way that earthly powers can harm them: John 3:31 says, “He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: he that cometh from heaven is above all.” Those who are born again have come from heaven, and there is no way the earthly can harm them. They are masters over witches, wizards, juju (charm), and all the powers of the herbalists. If you are afraid of juju, and of witches and wizards, I am unhappy to tell you that you are on your way to hell, because candidates for heaven don’t suffer from such things. The Bible says that a sinner is running while no one is chasing him. Such is the lot of people who are candidates for hell.
3. They are fools for Christ: Isaiah 35: 8 says, “And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called the way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the way fairing men, though fools, shall not err therein.” They are fools for Christ. They are not wise in their own eyes, they are not wise in the deceit and the counsel of the world. That is why Peter in his first message, when he was preaching on the day of Pentecost, told the Jews that God came in the image of His Son, and that they killed Him by their wicked hands. The Bible says that when they heard this, they were pricked to their heart, and they cried out: “Brethren, what shall we do?” Peter said, “Repent and be ye baptised, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus, and you shall receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost.” The Bible says that with more words he exhorted them to save themselves from that crooked generation. If one is not careful about this generation, he will find himself where he does not want to go.
By the way candidates for heaven dress, other people will call them foolish people. By the way they walk, they would be called foolish people. By the way they pray, they would be called foolish people. By the way they refuse to react when people want to make them angry they would be called foolish people. Many people abuse them but when they refuse to be angry, they call them fools. The Bible says, “Though they are fools, they will not miss it.”
4. They do not steal God’s money: Matthew 6:19-21 says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” So, the candidates for heaven will not steal God’s money. They will give more than is required of them. Most believers today are not even giving enough. They are crying that they want financial breakthrough, can they get it when they are not giving? For the fact that you are hoarding money, the LORD allows devourers to take it away from you. You may spend 250 naira on one drug. Candidates for hell will always steal God’s money for carnal purposes. Their hearts are where their money is. But those who are banking with God in heaven, will go to heaven. So, think about this.
5. They live holy lives, not dirty lives: Hebrews 12:14 says, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD.” It does not say, “No man shall see miracles, but that no man shall see the LORD.” It does not say that no man can see vision, or can prophesy, or can even see the supernatural power of God working, but that no man shall see the LORD without holiness. Think about this.
6. They are already living in heaven now: Some of the worldly songs that are in our hymn book should be removed from there. A popular one says: "When I get home My sorrow will be over."
If it is not over here, it is not likely to be over when you get there. Believers are not supposed to be living carnally, but experiencing the life in heaven. If you are one to reign with Jesus for 1000 years but you have never seen His pictures, you have never seen His angels, you are always seeing masquerades and you want to reign with Him, how will you do it? You ought to start living in that heaven now. 2 Corinthians 12:2-5 says, “I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man(whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory; yet of myself I will not glory but in mine infirmities.” Paul said, if you want to boast, that should be your boasting. Somebody who was alive was caught up to paradise to see what was happening there. Many believers are afraid of dying. It is necessary to find out from them where they want to go. Apostle Paul says in Philipians 1:23, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ, which is far better.” Verse 24 says, “Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” So, the reason Paul was still alive was because he wanted to continue to minister to the people, not because he did not want to go to heaven. He was in a position to go or to stay. That was the life of somebody already living in the spirit. Peter also knew when he was going to die. 2 Peter 1:14 says, “Knowing that shortly I must put to this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me.” He knew that he was going. There was a man of God in America called Godwin Peterson. As he was preaching one day he said: “Ladies and gentlemen, I am going home.” They did not understand what he was saying. He went back to his seat, sat down and was gone. He knew when he was going to die. That was somebody living in the spirit.
Beloved, I want you to take a decision within you. Where are you heading for? Is it hell or heaven? If it is heaven, you have heard. The Bible says that precious is the death of the righteous. This means that some deaths are useless to God. You have to check up where you belong. If your mind is too much in the world, the world will hold you down here. But if your mind is in heaven, then that is where you are going. Have you been saying no to the voice of the Holy Spirit on the faults He has been pointing out in your life? Where are you going? Religion cannot save you. You say you are confirmed in a church. Is there confirmation in the Bible? Can confirmation save you? If you have not repented and they baptised you, what happened was that you went into the pool as a dry sinner and came out as a wet sinner. There is therefore no difference between you and somebody who went to the swimming pool to have a bath. Church membership cannot save anybody. Many people will discover that too late. “I belong to this, I belong to that,” is not relevant to God at all. What is relevant to God is whether your name is in the Book of life. So, if now you have a feeling of secret, selfish pride, or pride about your position in life, you are not on your way to heaven. If you feel that an important and independent spirit is within you, or you are bitter over something that has passed which you cannot forgive, or you have no hunger for God at all or that anger is still stiring up inside your spirit, that your spirit is so sensitive and touchy, that people try to avoid you because they know you may spark off at any moment, or you have an unteachable spirit and you refuse to be taught, then you are not on your way to heaven. If you are always complaining or you like being noticed, you are not on your way to heaven. Or are you compromising your faith because of money? Are you so unstable in the faith and you are afraid of God, of Christ and of the Bible? Do you love human praise and find fault with every other person? Or do you criticise things that you cannot do well? Think about all these.
The rich man prayed too late. He prayed to father Abraham: “Let someone go unto them from the dead and they will repent.” Abraham refused to ask God to send back people from the dead. We are very fortunate in this country. God has been generous to us. He has been sending back people from the dead to talk to people here. It is not even enough to say, “I believe God,” or “My heart is clean.” The Bible says, “Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well, for the devil also believeth and he trembles.” Evil spirits have a strong malice against the children of men. They know that they are going to hell fire, and they don’t like the idea that sons of men are going to heaven. They don’t like the fact that hell fire was not created for man, but for the devil and his angels.
I remember the story of that man who wanted to steal a goat. He took his four children and said to them: “You hide there, you hide by my left, you hide at my back, you hide by my right. If you see anybody coming, give me a sign that I will quickly stop whatever I ‘m doing.”But as he moved to catch the goat, one of the children exclaimed, “Papa, wait, wait.” The man said, “What is the matter? Is somebody coming?” The child said, “No, who is watching this way?” He pointed to the sky. In other words the father had taken care of the north, east, south and west but the small child pointed to and asked about heaven? How about God? Does He not see you? The man left the goat. Those of us who think we can hide anything from God deceive ourselves.
It is not a sign of spiritual maturity when you are living above your experience, and you refuse to call the LORD to deliver you when you need deliverance. Do you say no to Jesus? It is time for you to repent. The invisible hand of death can come at any time. That somebody is healthy at night does not mean that he will wake up the next morning. The thought that there is no visible danger does not mean there is security. The arrows of death are flying morning, noon and night. The sharpest eyes cannot see them. Unbelievers and sinners are walking over the pit of hell fire. The pit may collapse at any time. The Bible says we brought nothing to this world, and it is certain that nobody will go with anything. One woman died in America at a time she had 10, 000 dresses in her wardrobe. When her relatives auctioned the dresses, they made 40, 000 dollars. But do you know how many of the dresses they used for her burial? Three! Out of the 10, 000. Think about this. Psalm 49:16 says, “Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; for when he dieth, he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.”
PRAYER POINTS
1. Father Lord, deliver me from carnality so that the flesh will not destroy me, in Jesus’ name.
2. Father Lord, cut away from me all the chains and stings of iniquity, in Jesus’ name.
3. Spirit of the living God, fall afresh upon me, in the name of Jesus.
4. Father Lord, restore to me all my blessings that I have lost through sin, in the name of Jesus.
