Luke 16:19, “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 saith 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.”
There
is not a more frightening passage of Holy Scripture than Luke 16:19-32. I
plead with you to read and reread these eternal inspired words from the King
James Bible, and ponder them in your soul dear reader. Reading about the
rich man reminded me of Apple founder
Steve Jobs (an
unsaved Buddhist), who had a net worth of
$10,200,000,000 when he died. 1st Timothy 6:7, “For we brought nothing
into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” What a
Scripture! Luke 18:25, “For it is easier for a camel to go through a
needle's eye, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.” Oh
how the love of money and riches hinder men from being saved. You see,
people with money in this world don't think they need God, because they
already have security here on earth, which blinds them from the future. We
all have an appointment with death. Hebrews 9:27-28, “And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
Read our text passage, and you will see that it was TOO
LATE for the rich man after he died. Carefully notice that the man is NO
LONGER rich! I don't care how much money, boats, cars, mansions and
possessions you may acquire during this lifetime, you will enter into
eternity with absolutely nothing! Luke 12:15, “And he said unto them,
Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in
the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” Material possessions
and money blind people from spiritual reality. A rich person may live in
comfort until the day they die, but THEN THE JUDGMENT! Luke 12:5, “But I
will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed
hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.” I thank
God that I am a born-again Christian!!! I thank God! I thank God! I thank
God!!!
Dear friend, if your name is written in Heaven, I dare
say you and I are among 2% of the world's population! Hell is filled with
religious people! Matthew 7:21-23, “Not every one that saith unto me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord,
Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out
devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess
unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”
What is the will of the Father? I am so glad you asked my fine non-feathered
friend. John 6:40, “And this is the will of him that sent me,
that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may
have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.“
Oh, how simple is THE TRUTH! Please look my friend and read the inspired
Word of God for yourself. For what saith the Scripture? Again, John 6:40b—THAT
EVERY ONE WHICH SEETH THE SON, AND BELIEVETH ON HIM,
MAY HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE! John 5:39, “Search the scriptures; for in
them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
Do you believe? Have you been born-again?
Have you received Jesus Christ as your
personal Savior?
The rich man went to sleep, as he had done normally
several thousand times during his earthly life. If a person lives to the
average age of 70 (threescore and ten), that is 25,550 days (365 times 70).
Albeit, there is no guarantee of tomorrow for anyone. Proverbs 27:1,
“Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring
forth.” The rich man had lived a life of plenty, sparing no expense to
pleasure himself, granting his every heart's request with pampered delight.
But this night was different from all the other nights before, because the
foolish rich man's soul was required of him by God, and HE DIED! In Hell “HE
LIFT UP HIS EYES, BEING IN TORMENTS.” Please see the disturbing
contrast—from earthly riches and pleasures to Hell's fire and torments! The
world is filled with rich people today, who have no need for God. I truly
feel sorry for them, because they will spend eternity in the Lake of Fire.
Revelation 20:15, “And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire.” ...
I could show you thousands more quotes from atheist
celebrities. Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no
God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that
doeth good.” Statistically, 85% of all Christians get saved by age 18.
Once you've reached the age of 70, there is only a 4% chance of getting
saved. Mark 10:15, “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive
the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” The
Bible is not saying that only children can be saved; but rather, an adult
must abandon their pride, preconceived ideas, and justification of sin,
humbling them self as a small child, so that they will come to the light
(truth) of the Gospel to be saved. Ironically, Dr. John MacArthur says (and
I quote verbatim): “There
is no such thing as a childhood conversion.” Oh, how wrong Mr. MacArthur
is! The Bible teaches the exact oppossite.
Two of the aforementioned atheists are already burning
in the fires of Hell: Stephen hawking and Katharine
Hepburn. Theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking (1942-2018) said he was
thankful for his one life to appreciate the grand design of the universe.
Yet, he rejected the Holy Bible and the Son of God. 1st Corinthians 3:19,
“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He
taketh the wise in their own craftiness.” The wisdom of man is
foolishness with God. The following Bible verse is amazing! 1st
Corinthians 1:21, “For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom
knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe.”
God is pleased “TO SAVE THEM THAT BELIEVE,” by the preaching of the
glorious 'GOSPEL' ('GOOD NEWS')
that the ungodly world thinks is so foolish! The world is FOOLISH!!! I am so
glad to be God's redeemed child! Oh,
it is wonderful to be a Christian!!! Truly, it takes more faith to be an
atheist than a believer!
ATHEIST QUOTES:
“By simple common sense I don't believe in God, in none.”
—Hollywood actor Charlie Chaplin
“I gradually, decided that just because I didn't have or couldn't find
the ultimate answer didn't mean I was going to buy the religious
fairytale. As an atheist you have to rationalize things.”
—singer Billy Joel
“I have NEVER seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious
theories of Heaven and Hell, of future life for individuals, or of a
personal God.” —inventor Thomas Edison
“My belief system is that when this is over, you don't look down from
Heaven and wait for your loved ones to join you... your molecules
continue and in due time become something else.”
—Hollywood actor William Shatner
Hollywood actor George Clooney (in the preceding photo
and quote above) says he won't allow his one life to be wasted, because he
is agnostic and doesn't know if God really exists, so why risk wasting his
life living for God? What a foolish and wicked attitude! Psalm 36:1, “The
transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of
God before his eyes.” George Clooney is purported to have a massive
financial net worth of $500,000,000! What saith the Scripture? Matthew
16:26, “For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” I
wouldn't want to be in George Clooney's shoes when he stands before God in
eternity for anything! Hebrews 10:31, “It is a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.” I don't know about you, but I very much
want to be on good terms with my Creator and eternal Judge!
That is why God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus
Christ, into the world to pay for our sins. God wanted to redeem mankind
back to Himself. Jesus paid a debt He did not owe, because we owed a debt we
could not pay. It is a matter of faith. John 1:12-13, “But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of
the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” God is so good to
humanity! Let rich people sinfully put God on trial if they want to, but I
am going to humble myself as a little child and trust God, for He is worthy!
Psalm 18:3, “I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised: so
shall I be saved from mine enemies.”
The Story of The Rich Man and Lazarus in
Luke 16 is Not Fiction
I
once had a Mormon boss 30 years ago, who said that the story of the rich man
and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 was just a fictitious parable. He handed me a
piece of paper at work one day. On the paper he had written down the Old
Testament Hebrew word Sheol. He said that if I looked up the word, I
would find that it merely means “the grave.” You see, Mormons don't believe
in a burning Hell where all Christ-rejecters will spend eternity suffering
in torments. So like other religious cults, they wrestle the Holy Scriptures
to tell us what man says about God, instead of what God says about man!
Yes, the word Sheol does refer to “the grave” (or the realm of
the dead); however, it doesn't limit the meaning to just dying. Sheol is
simply a term that means when someone dies they go to where the dead go.
This in no way implies that there is no afterlife. We know that the
righteous and the wicked do NOT go to the same place in the afterlife, from
reading Psalms 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God.” Now, if the righteous and the wicked both go
to the same place, as my former Mormon boss was deceitfully trying to
convince me, then Psalm 9:17 makes no sense at all! What point would there
be in God saying that THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL, if hell (Sheol)
only meant the grave? Do not the righteous also go to that same grave?
Clearly, Psalm 9:17 is teaching that the wicked go to a place of suffering
and punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal. This helpful passage of
Scripture plainly suggests that the wicked and the righteous do NOT go to
the same place in the afterlife.
When I happily attended Harvest Baptist Church for a
year in 2014, a young man named “Christian” taught a Wednesday night Bible
study. Harvest did something interesting for a short time, that I have never
seen before. They divided the congregation into several different groups on
Wednesday night, and you could pick what classes you wanted to attend, in
different buildings. So I chose to remain in the main auditorium with
Christian. I was saddened when he told everyone that he thinks the story of
the rich man and Lazarus is only a parable. Really? What saith the
Scripture? ...
We can conclude that Luke 16:19-31 is a real, literal,
actual, event that happened, because of a few reasons:
First, Jesus used proper names: Lazarus
and Abraham.
Second, the Lord never called this “a
parable” (as he often did elsewhere).
Third, whenever the Lord told a parable,
He afterward explained its meaning, but He didn't do that here.
Fourth, if Hell were not a literal place
of punishment in flames and torments, then the Lord is a deceiver and a
liar. We know from other passages of Scripture that Jesus suffered no
fools, and told THE TRUTH. Jesus said what He meant, and He meant what
He said! John 14:2, “In my Father's house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you. I go
to prepare a place for you.” So if Jesus tells a story, but does not
call it a parable, we have no right to call it a parable!
Life is short, Hell is hot, and eternity is a long time! I beg you dear
reader not to take a chance with your eternal body and soul. God will not
send you to Hell, He will simply honor your decision to go there yourself.
If you don't go to Heaven (by faith alone in Jesus Christ), then the only
other place you can go is Hell! Please notice that the rich man in Luke
16:19-31 was desperately trying to find comfort in his torment. He wanted to
escape the fires of Hell, but it was TOO LATE for him! He had made his
decision in life while on earth. Like the foolish rich man, billions of
people in the world today aren't listening to Moses and the
prophets (i.e., the inspired Words of God almighty). They are full of sinful
pride, love for sin, and are enemies of the cross of Christ. ...
Ephesians 4:17-19, “This I say therefore, and
testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk,
in the vanity of their mind, Having the understanding darkened, being
alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: Who
being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to
work all uncleanness with greediness.”
Is your heart also blinded? As I read the quotes by
celebrity atheists, who all have arrogant looks on their faces, my heart
breaks for them. They have no idea what is going to happen to them, blinded
in their heart by worldly fame and fortune. Everywhere that celebrities go
here on earth, they are praised and idolized by the public, but the second
they die they will plunge downward into the depths of Hell.
There are hundreds of millions of people burning in
Hell today, if not billions, who are begging for God to send a supernatural
message to their loved ones, to warn them about Hell. It is a call from
beneath! What saith the Scripture? ...
Luke 16:27-31, “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 saith 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.”
God says that if a person won't listen to the Holy
Scriptures, then NOTHING will convince them! That is why I very often quote
Romans 4:3a, “FOR WHAT SAITH THE SCRIPTURE?” My opinion doesn't
matter, God's opinion matters! I choose to be as narrow-minded as the
Scriptures. The more that I hear the Holy Bible read, the more it is
solidified in my soul and I believe it! Romans 10:17, “So then faith
cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Please don't wait
dear friend until your death bed to get saved, because you may not get that
chance. Please don't end up in the torments of Hell, before you wise up and
come to your senses. Now is the time to be saved! The choice is yours alone
to make.
Please get saved before it is TOO LATE!
