People have different views on death.
I was talking to a psychiatrist and I
asked him if he believed in an afterlife,
if he believed in a heaven or hell.
He told me matter of factly that when
a person dies there is nothing.
It's the termination of existence like when an
animal dies.
He said it's just like a black void.
I was talking to a church member and
this woman told me she believed that when
you die Jesus comes to you and gives
everyone a second chance to go to heaven.
That even if you die a lost person
Jesus will meet you and ask you if
you want to go with him to heaven.
You can get saved after you're dead.
That's what she believed.
Don't laugh friend.
A lot of Catholics believe you can be
saved after you die.
They teach about purgatory and how you can
be prayed out or bought out of that
purgatory.
You can pray for the dead.
There's still hope for them and a lot
of Hollywood celebrities think hell is just a
big party place like a nightclub where they
can still booze up and do drugs and
fornicate and do whatever they want to.
That hell is a fun place they tell
us.
I was watching an interview on TV with
the lead singer of the rock group Queen
Freddie Mercury.
The interviewer asked Freddie Mercury if he believed
he'd go to heaven when he died.
This rock star sneered and said I don't
want to go to heaven when I die.
I'd much rather go to hell.
Hell will be a much more fun place.
Well, I bet he's changed his opinion now.
What does the Bible say about death and
the hereafter?
One of the most vivid descriptions of eternity
is given by Jesus in Luke's gospel in
chapter 16.
Let's turn in our Bibles there now friends
in Luke's gospel in chapter 16 and beginning
in verse 19.
Here now is the Word of God and
may the Spirit of the Lord attend the
reading of his holy word.
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 the
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.
Well let me pause here friends to say
the rich man dressed in purple that was
the color for princes or statesmen.
This man was not only rich he was
important an important person in his city.
A day didn't go by that this rich
old boy didn't chomp on some lobster and
steak.
He had it all and he was enjoying
it all.
His money and his belly were his gods
and he is quite unconcerned and even indifferent
to beggars like Lazarus who sit at his
gate and beg who who were so sore
and lame that he had to be carried
to the rich man's gate hoping for some
bread crumbs just to survive.
He was not only a poor unfortunate beggar
who was lame in his legs he was
covered in sores that bled oozed and stank
and the only relief he got from his
discomfort came from the rich man's dogs that
licked his sores.
These dogs were better fed than this poor
beggar Lazarus.
I don't know if you know what it's
like to be poor friend.
I sure do.
I know what it's like to be so
poor that you don't have a dollar to
your name.
You don't know where your next meal is
coming from.
Well this man Lazarus was like that.
In the eyes of the world he was
a nobody but in the eyes of God
he was a somebody.
Well let's get back to our text in
verse 22.
And it came to pass that the beggar
died and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom.
Let me pause here to say I believe
that.
I believe that when a Christian dies angels
carry their soul to God in heaven.
There's a story about the British preacher Charles
Spurgeon that was related by his close friend
and secretary Joseph Harold who told this story
to his dying day.
He said he was with the great Spurgeon
as he lay dying in a hotel room
in Menton France.
And Joseph Harold said that while he looked
out the window of the hotel to his
amazement he saw a bevy of angels hovering
under a clear blue sky as if they
were waiting on someone.
Well they didn't have long to wait for
Spurgeon died shortly thereafter.
I believe that story friends and I believe
my Bible when it says Lazarus was carried
up by angels to Abraham's bosom.
I believe that when a believer dies that
their soul is taken up by angels to
heaven.
I also believe that when a non-believer
dies that demons drag that soul down to
hell.
We read in our text the rich man
also died and was buried and in hell.
He lift up his eyes being in torments.
I will stop there.
Beyond death's door is an eternity where one
is separated from their body which is put
in the ground in a grave.
But their soul lives on and on with
all its senses.
With all its reasoning.
With all its memory.
And that soul upon death immediately either goes
to heaven or it goes to hell.
We hear the rich man's cry in hell's
torments in verse 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.
We see from his remarks he is conscious
of his surroundings that there's no such thing
as soul sleep in death.
He is not only aware of his surroundings.
He can experience suffering in them.
I am tormented in this flame he cries.
But this rich old boy is far past
any day of mercy.
He's gone out beyond the help of God.
He cannot only get any help from God.
He can't even get a drip of water
from him.
If you continue to read the text friend
you learn that he wants to warn his
five brothers not to come to this region
of misery and suffering.
But to no avail.
A soul is separated from the body of
death and it retains its memory.
The memory is the haunting thing in hell
that gnaws at a lost soul.
If you recall in the gospels Jesus describes
the lost in hell as those who are
wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Wailing speaks of great loss and grief.
Gnashing of teeth signifies great anger and regret.
You'll be as mad as hell in hell
friend for rejecting Christ Jesus.
And hell is not only hot it's pitch
black darkness.
Jesus referred to it as outer darkness like
the deep darkness of outer space.
Have you ever been in a room with
no light and it's so dark in there
you couldn't even see your hand in front
of your face?
That's how dark hell is.
In fact we read about the fate of
the wicked in the book of Job.
He shall be driven from light into darkness
and chased out of the world.
Imagine one minute you're standing in sunshine then
the next you're chased out of that light
into a region of darkness.
Mordecai Ham the great evangelist in his famous
sermon sudden death would tell the story of
Lulu.
Let me read it to you friend from
Mordecai Ham's biography.
Here are his words.
My lord caused me to witness the horrible
death of one eternally lost.
Two sisters were living in a log hut
near the church.
Both were just young girls and were dying
with tuberculosis.
I was to visit them on a certain
day.
The mother of those two girls met me
at the door of the little log cabin
and begged me to hasten in and to
do something.
Lulu is dying.
The mother sobbed.
I hurried to the girl's bedside and tried
to talk to her about her need of
salvation.
I plead with her for a long time
but to no avail.
She refused to hearken but then she closed
her eyes in death.
I called to her.
Lulu how is it?
A voice came back.
Not the voice of one living but that
of one who was in another world.
It was a voice that came up from
the depths without any sign of movement of
the dead girl's lips or throat muscles.
A voice that I have heard only once
in my life and that I have never
been able to forget.
Lost.
Oh.
So dark.
That story always sends chills down my spine
friends.
Beyond death's door is an eternity that goes
on forever where one soul will exist forever
either in a place of peace and joy
called heaven where you will enjoy Jesus forever
or you will exist in torments and misery
in a dark burning region called hell which
was prepared for the devil and his angels.
Death is described in the bible as the
king of terrors.
Listen friend if you aren't born from above
and washed in the blood then when you
die in your sins you'll surely bust hell
wide open even if you're the chairman of
the deacons.
Repent and believe on Jesus before it's too
late.