We are considering tonight from the Baptist Catechism question number 42, which asks, but what shall be done to the wicked at their death? So why spend time on this? Why sing hymns like we've just finished singing? Contemplation on these most serious matters In particular, these matters of what happens to the wicked, the unbelieving at their death, are very helpful to us in reminding us of what the Lord has saved us from. It is appropriate to spend time to think about just how great is the grace of our Lord to us. So let us consider and let us fear and tremble when we spend but a moment this evening thinking about the wrath of God against the wicked. So question 42 asks, but what shall be done to the wicked at their death? Now, do you notice what word is missing from the question? And you will know the answer if you'll keep in mind the series of questions that we've been in recently in the catechism, all right? What word is missing from question 42? Well, to review quickly, question 35 asked about the benefits that are enjoyed in this life. Question 35 asked, What benefits do they that are affectionately called partake of in this life? And you by this point should easily recall the three main benefits that are enjoyed in this life. by those who are effectually called, and that is justification, adoption, and sanctification. So that was question 35. Question 39 then asked about additional benefits that go along with those first three. The additional benefits, those being namely assurance of God's love, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, increase of grace, and perseverance in those benefits even to the very end. All right? Question 40 asked about benefits. It asked, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death? And then last we looked at question 41, which asked, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection? So that's the series of questions that we've been in recently. And so now look again at verse, I mean, not verse, question 42. Do you notice what word is missing? Benefits. There are no benefits. The question isn't asking about any benefits that come to the wicked at their death. So the question does not use that. Notice also how the question begins. See that little word there, but. There has been this theme of blessing. There's been this theme of benefits or gifts which belong to redemption, this theme that the catechism has been on for a little bit. But those things that we have really enjoyed thinking about recently do not belong to the wicked. That is to say, none of those benefits that we've looked at belong to the unbelieving, to those who do not trust in Christ. All of those things that we have been spending time thinking about, listing out, justification, adoption, sanctification, they do not belong to the unbelieving. They do not enjoy those in this life. The benefits of glory, perfection of soul, which believers enjoy at the moment of their death, they are not enjoyed by the wicked or the unbelieving. We've been thinking about consequences, the consequences, if you will, of faith in Christ. They are all the best of benefits, the best of blessing or gift in this life or the next. So is it true or false? Believers are granted the best blessings in this life. True or false statement? Believers are granted the best blessings that can be enjoyed in this life. in this life? Is that a trick question? I think it's a true statement. I think it's a true statement. Now, someone might say, well, what about riches? Well, material riches, are they the best blessings in this life? Which would you rather have? A pile of gold or an account before God that's right? Which would you rather have? pile of gold as big as this room, or the status granted to you of adoption." So that's why I think it's a true statement that believers, even in this life, enjoy the best of blessings that can be enjoyed in this life. What about the praises of men? Is that the best blessing? That's not the best blessing in this life. What are the best possible blessings that can be enjoyed in this life? Justification? Adoption? Sanctification? How about assurance of God's love? That's far better than anything else that this world can offer, any temporary thing. How about joy in the Holy Spirit? How about increase of grace? How about perseverance to the end in those blessings? That's, I think, the best of blessings, even in this life. But for unbelievers, for the wicked, how do we describe the moment of their death? It is all loss. They are not granted and they do not enjoy, even in this life, the benefits of justification, adoption, sanctification. And that loss in this life is only the beginning of their loss. So don't judge these things by sight. You have to judge these things by faith. You have to judge these things by believing that what God has said is true. Their life, even in this life, can be described as the loss of the best of things, and that's only the beginning of their loss. All right, so we're only looking at the question so far. So far the question, you notice, it does not contain the word benefit. It's not asking. And so we note that, and also it begins with the word, but, to show that there's a difference between what we've been looking at and what we're about to see. There's a great difference. We've been thinking question after question after question recently, benefit after benefit, blessing after blessing, gift after gift, grace upon grace, but now question 42 begins with the word, but. But, so there's a great difference between believers and unbelievers, not only in this life, but in that which is to come. It only becomes more obvious at death. But now there's a third thing I want you to notice about the question. Notice further how the question goes on, but what shall be done to the wicked at their death? Notice it doesn't ask what will be granted to them at their death. It doesn't ask what will be gifted to them at their death, but rather what will be done to them? Now I want you to recall when we were in Luke 6, it's in that chapter that Luke describes a Sabbath day when Jesus entered the synagogue and he began to teach, and there was a man there with a withered hand. Remember that Sabbath day, Luke chapter 6? And it almost makes you wonder if it was a setup. So there's the man, he has a withered hand, and the scribes and Pharisees, they are there that day and they are watching to see what Jesus does with the man with the withered hand. So the scribes and the Pharisees watched him closely, Luke tells us, whether he would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against him. That's the first description of their intention, that they might find an accusation against him. Well, the Lord heals the man and the Pharisees, Luke tells us, were filled with rage and they discussed with one another. And there's a change in Luke's vocabulary. They did not discuss at that point what kind of accusation they could bring against him. Luke tells us they discussed what they might do to him. Now, I think that's an intentional shift in the description that Luke gives. And if that sort of sounds ominous to you, then you're hearing it correctly. If that sort of sounds threatening, that they discussed what they might do to Jesus rather than just inventing an accusation, then you're listening to it correctly. Finding a way to falsely accuse Jesus, well, that's one thing. Discussing and planning what they might do to Him sounds more ominous. It sounds more threatening, doesn't it? It sounds more menacing. So that's why I'm pointing out to you why question 42 is phrased the way it is. Question 42 asks, but what shall be done to the wicked at their death? It's asking a menacing question. It's asking a threatening question. It's a foreboding question, isn't it? It's asking about the unbelieving in such a way as to make us think that something really bad is in the answer. And that's exactly the way the question is setting it up. Notice what the answer is. The souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell. and their bodies lie in their graves till the resurrection and judgment of the great day." So it is a foreboding question. There is really something really, really bad in the answer. Well, let's divide the answer up into two parts and consider it that way. Number one, the souls of unbelievers are cast into hell at the moment of their death. Let's remember a story that Jesus tells at Luke chapter 16, and I'm going to read 19 through verse 31, and we'll make some comments and think about it as we go through it. Luke 16 and beginning at verse 19. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen. and he fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores." Well, so there's the setup and you think you know how the story is going to end, don't you? Right? Who's the blessed man? Well, it has to be the rich man. Who's the man who enjoys favor from God? Well, obviously it has to be the rich man. Look how he's dressed. God must like him more. God must be so much more pleased with him than this beggar named Lazarus. If God was pleased with Lazarus, then certainly Lazarus wouldn't be eager for just crumbs. Consider the rich man. He eats sumptuously every day. He doesn't think about crumbs. He doesn't even think about what falls off of his table because of everything left. So we know how the story is going to end. Surely God will be so thankful to have the rich man. in heaven. Certainly God doesn't want to have anything to do with this poor beggar named Lazarus. You don't even want to look at Lazarus. He's full of sores. You don't even want to get near him because he's full of sores. He's simply laying at the gate The rich man probably had all kinds of parties and all kinds of friends who loved to be around him. And we look at his gate and the only other thing that we can find around Lazarus are the dogs. Well, we should conclude, as you know very well, that we cannot judge the benefits of redemption by sight. We cannot judge the benefits of redemption by sight. Justification, adoption, and sanctification, if you judge by sight, who would seem to be the more blessed at the beginning of the story? Well, it would be the rich man and not Lazarus. Who would seem to be better dressed? It would seem to be the rich man. Who would seem to be better provided for? It would seem to be the rich man. Who do you think is better nourished? It would seem to be the rich man. But you can't judge these things by sight, can't you? That's the way the world judges these things. So, how are you evaluating these lessons that we've been going through in the Catechism? How are you judging what has been taught? Do you judge these things by Do you judge these things by how you feel, or have you been judging and evaluating these things by what God declares in His Word? Have you heard about these benefits of redemption, but yet you look at your life and you feel good, you're dressed well, everything seems to be going fine, and so you judge what God's Word has said to be of little importance or of little value to you? You see, Jesus is setting it up to help us see that we can't judge these things. We cannot judge what is really the best of blessings in this life by sight. We can't judge these things by how we feel. Well, who do you suppose, from the beginning of this story, will have lasting happiness? And who will have what little happiness he had taken from him? R.C. Sproul, in his Table Talk magazine, this is from the October 1, 2010 edition. This is the place, I think, where people are very fond of quoting Sproul as he talked about justification by death. Here's what he said, quote, would think, after so many centuries of dissemination of the doctrine of justification by faith alone, particularly in Protestant countries, that the doctrine would be firmly entrenched in the minds of Christian people. But such is not the case. Those who hold to justification by faith alone are clearly in a minority. More popular views are the doctrines of justification by works and justification by a combination of faith and works. These really reflect not so much Christian views of the matter as a Muslim one. In the Muslim view, a person's eternal destiny is determined by the scales of justice. If one's good works outweigh the bad deeds, then the person goes to heaven. If the bad deeds outweigh the good deeds, the person goes to hell. And it's not even that good, really, in the Muslim view, because your good deeds can outweigh your bad, and Allah can still send you to hell, just whatever mood he's in. Well Sproul goes on, this view that is justification by works or justification by some mix of faith and works. Sproul goes on to say, this view is held by many professing Christians who still entertain the idea that they can gain entrance into heaven and into the kingdom of God by living a good life. And that's how the story starts out in Luke 16. Sproul says, as long as they refrain from egregious sins such as murder, grand theft, or adultery, they think they have kept their moral slates clean enough to get them past the gates of judgment. And then Sproul goes on to say this, I was informed of how pervasive this doctrine is when I asked my son, when he was a child, the second diagnostic question made popular by evangelism explosion. I asked him, If you were to die tonight and God were to say to you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you say?" His eyes lit up and he looked at me with a shocked expression as if the question I had just proffered was the most stupid he had ever heard. With a simple shrug, he said, well, I would say he should let me in because I'm dead. In other words, Sproul says, doesn't everyone who dies enter into God's redeeming presence? Here was a son of a father who was by profession a theologian, a Reformed theologian, who not only had failed to grasp the doctrine of justification by faith alone, but wasn't even sidelined by a doctrine of justification by works. He was content to rest on his assumption of justification by death. And that's probably really the most popular view. He lived a good life. She lived a good life. Why do we have hope of anything better for them? Well, because they're dead. So we ask this question, what will happen when these two men die? The rich man and poor Lazarus. Will the rich man go to heaven because he lived such a great life? Will the poor man go to heaven because God feels sorry for him? Well, they both go to heaven because they died. Well, notice verse 22. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Notice from our text that the beggar, at the moment of his death, immediately passes into glory and is described as being embraced by Abraham. This is a most remarkable portion of Scripture. It doesn't really fit the normal formulas of parable. And it's a moment where it seems as if Jesus pulls the veil back a little bit. onto things that are impossible for us to see for just a moment and in a small way, but in a very important way, the Lord pulls the curtain back and He allows us a glimpse into the beyond. And we see past this curtain that normally, ordinarily, is always pulled across our vision and we see that these two men have died and we see where they are. And we see poor Lazarus, and at the moment of his death, he has immediately passed into paradise, and he is described as being embraced by Abraham. Now, that's important because it indicates to us that in this life, it would seem if we judged it by sight that Lazarus had no blessing at all in this life, but now we understand that at some point Lazarus must have believed like believing Abraham believed. And it was accounted to him for righteousness. And we see that the rich man at the moment of his death is not embraced by Abraham, but he is, at the moment of his death, placed into torment. So the wicked, at the moment of their death, they are placed immediately into torment. Notice verse 24, then, this is the rich man, he cried out 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 in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus' evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented. Let us note from the text that these men died and went immediately, one to comfort and the other into some kind of horrible, torturous flame. He's crying out for relief. and he can only call Abraham father or his relation in the sense that they share the same blood. And that's the sense only in that sense that Abraham calls him son. Abraham goes on, verse 26, and besides all this, Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us." We note from our text that for the rich man, even in torment, there is no confession of his sin. There is only the request to have his torment ended. What enjoyment he had of good things has come to a permanent end. He cannot pass from where he is to any other place and those that are in any other place cannot pass to him and give him any relief. What little good, what brief moment of enjoyment he had in this life has come immediately at the moment of his death to a permanent end. When he died, he was placed into immediate torment forever. But we note also from our text that Lazarus, when he died, what suffering he had in this life was brought to a permanent end. What suffering he had in this life was brought to a permanent end. And he was placed immediately into comfort forever. Is all of this because the rich man's bad deeds outweighed his good? And because Lazarus' good deeds outweighed his bad? No, already we've seen the reference to believing Abraham, who believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's our first clue to indicate justification by faith alone. But notice where Jesus goes on, verse 27 here. Here's the rich man speaking. Then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him, that is, send Lazarus, since Lazarus can't come to where I am to grant me relief, send him to my father's house. Send Lazarus back from the dead. Send him. For I have five brothers that he may testify to them lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, no father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. Now, do you realize what Abraham has just said? What is it that the five brothers need? They need to listen, not to some apparition, not to some scary ghost from the grave. Do you realize what Abraham has said that the five brothers need? Does it sound like something you've heard somewhere else before? When Abraham says they need to listen to Moses and the prophets, does that sound like something somewhere in the back of your mind that you've heard elsewhere. Well, I think I know one of the reasons why Luke was careful to include this story about the condemned not listening to Moses and the prophets, because this same phrase about listening to Moses and the prophets will come up again later in Luke chapter 24. You probably remember the story, there's a road that goes to Emmaus, And there are some disciples who are walking along the road and they are dismayed over the death of Christ. They don't yet grasp everything the way they should. And Jesus began to teach them things when He appeared to them. Do you remember what He did? Do you remember what He explained? He explained Moses and the prophets to them about all that Moses and the prophets said about who? About Him. So you see what Abraham is telling the rich man who is in torment, that the five brothers have everything they need. They don't need somebody to come back from the dead. They need to put their faith in Messiah, just like Abraham did. They need to put their faith in the promised one, for he has come. He's the one that Moses and the prophets were foretelling of. So it has nothing to do with good deeds outweighing bad deeds, does it? It has to do with justification by faith, and that faith is in the promised Son. Well, we note from our text that there is an immediate placement into torment and an immediate placement into comfort. 1 Peter chapter 3 is helpful to us. I'll just make a brief mention of it here. You need not bother or be puzzled really by this interesting statement that Peter makes about Jesus preaching to the spirits that are imprisoned. I think it really should be viewed as a rather straightforward statement. From 1 Peter 3 and verse 17, Peter says, for it is better if it is the will of God to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. He's encouraging these Christians to endurance. And then he gives an example, "...for Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but made alive by the Spirit." Referencing the resurrection. Now Peter's going to make a point about the Holy Spirit. By whom, that is, by this Holy Spirit, He, Jesus, went. and preached to the spirits in prison." Now that sends people into all kinds of speculation, but I don't think we need to speculate because Peter, I think, goes on to explain who these spirits are. Who, referring to these spirits, who formerly were disobedient. who formerly were disobedient, when once the divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah. So these spirits who are imprisoned were disobedient in the days of Noah. These spirits were disobedient when God was very, very patient. And He gave them a long, long time while the ark was being built, 120 years. He gave them 120 years to repent. The Lord was very, very patient, but they were disobedient in those days of the divine longsuffering. Waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared in which a few, that is eight souls, were saved through water. So here's what I think Peter is referencing, that these souls that are now imprisoned were people that Jesus went and preached to by His Holy Spirit. Now, how did Jesus preach to the people in the days of Noah? He preached to them through Noah. Noah was a preacher and a prophet. You know who else was a preacher and a prophet? Enoch. The book of Jude tells us that. That Enoch was a prophet and preached and warned of the wrath to come. So we see and we note from our text where the spirits are. Where are they now? Those who disobeyed and those who drowned in that great and terrible day. They are imprisoned. And we note from Jude, I've mentioned Jude here, Jude 5 through 7 says this, "'But I want to remind you, though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward, destroyed those who did not believe.'" Now this is a warning to those listening to Jude. And Jude is giving an example of what happens to those who will not believe. God destroyed those who were brought out of Egypt who did not believe. Now here's another example. This is Jude 6, and the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode. Another way I think that you might read that, they left their original purpose. They abandoned that. He, God, has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day. And example number three, as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. The wicked do not pass into comfort when they die. The unbelieving do not pass into comfort when they die. Exhibit A, those whose bodies fell in the wilderness. They fell to destruction. The angels who left their original purpose God has reserved in chains under darkness. Those in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them are suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude tells us. So the wicked at the moment of their death pass into torment. That's the first part of our answer. Let's look at the second part of the answer. Secondly, we must affirm that the bodies of unbelievers lie in the grave until the day of judgment. The bodies of unbelievers lie in the grave until the day of judgment. Now you might say, well, isn't that sort of true for all bodies? Don't all bodies just lay there and eventually return to dust? Well, yes, but this is not making a statement about what literally happens to the body. It's speaking figuratively in order to make a point. Now, follow this. Remember question 40. I want you to listen carefully to the question and the answer, and you'll pick up on what the answer to 42 is saying. Alright, question 40, what benefits do believers receive from Christ at their death? Here's the answer. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory, and their bodies, being still united to Christ, do rest in their graves till the resurrection. But the answer for number 42 says, the souls of the wicked shall at their death be cast into the torments of hell and their bodies lie in their graves. Do you hear the difference? Can anybody tell me what the difference is in those two answers? What do the bodies of believers do in their graves? They rest. What do the believers of the wicked do in their graves? They lie. They simply lay there. Again, this is not trying to make some kind of literal point that there's something physically different in the processes of the grave of the believing or the grave of the unbelieving. It's speaking figuratively at this point. Why Is it appropriate to describe the dead bodies of believers as resting, even though their dead bodies are just as lifeless and go through the same processes of returning to dust as the dead bodies of unbelievers? Why is it appropriate to use the word rest? Because the word rest points forward to renewal, does it not? Is that not why you rest? Why do you lay down and take a nap? Because you hope to wake up feeling even worse after the nap? No, you don't do that. Why do you take a nap? Why do you lay down at night? Do you lay down at night with hope? Do you lay down at night to rest with anticipation of renewal? Do you anticipate refreshment? The bodies of believers rest. The word rest points forward to renewal. Resting is an activity with hope. The grave of a believer and the dead body of a believer is not an image of hopelessness. It's an image of anticipation. The grave of the believer is not the end of happiness, is it? It's a place of rest. It's not the end of blessing. It's not the end of benefit. It's just resting until the day of complete refreshment. It's like those times when you wake up in the morning and you have such a feeling of newness. Or maybe it's not until after that first cup of coffee, but there's newness. There's refreshment. Do you enjoy that? Do you like that feeling? of refreshment and renewal after the nap, after a good night's rest. Do you like how that feels? Well, what about the day when the bodies of Christians are awakened from their rest and joined to perfected souls? It's right to wonder how refreshed you will feel. But what do we read in Answer 42? Notice again, the bodies of unbelievers simply lie. They cannot be figuratively described as resting. Do you know why? Because there's no anticipation of renewal. The word lie does not point forward to any renewal or refreshment, does it? Rest does, but lie does not. It's because to lie is not an activity with hope. It's because unbelievers do not die with any real hope. The grave of an unbeliever is a picture of hopelessness. It's an image of dread. The grave of an unbeliever is the end of whatever temporary happiness that unbeliever may have found in this life. For an unbeliever, their death is not gain, but is the loss of whatever general and temporary benefits they had in this life. What will the great day be for them? It will not be a day of refreshment. It will not be a day of renewal. It'll be a day of judgment. It'll be a day of condemning judgment. So the language is very carefully placed into this catechism. I'm very thankful for it. The bodies of believers and unbelievers both return to dust. These are not statements of any kind of physical process. It's describing them figuratively so that the bodies of believers rest. There is this anticipation of renewal in the death of a believer. There's this hope. There's this anticipation of refreshment. But for those who die without Christ, there is no hope for that. It is the end of whatever happiness they may have grabbed onto temporarily in this life. Whatever good that was given to them, whatever general benefit that was given to them in this life, it all comes to an end at the moment of their death. and their bodies lying in their graves are best described as that. There's no anticipation of renewal. Well, Thomas Watson, in his Body of Divinity, there's a collection of sermons in that work, sermons upon the assembly's catechism, and they're very helpful in studying through the catechism. He says this, he says, the godly are great gainers, but the wicked are great losers at death, and they lose four things. Number one, they lose the world. And that's a great loss to the wicked. You might think, you can have it. This world, you can have it. But that's not the perspective of unbelievers, is it? What's the perspective of the unbelieving and the wicked? This is what fills their vision. The wealth of this world, the riches of this world, the praises of this world, the happiness of this world, all of these temporary things. That's what's filled their vision. And at the moment of their death, they lose the world and to them, that's a great loss. They, Watson says, they laid up their treasure upon earth and to be turned out of it all at once is a great loss. Secondly, they lose their souls, Matthew 16, 26 and 27. Watson says, the soul was at first a noble piece of coin upon which God stamped His own image. This celestial spark is more precious than the whole globe of the world, but the sinner's soul is lost. Not that the souls of the wicked are annihilated at death, but they're tormented. What's the most valuable thing that you have? It's more valuable than anything else you have. It's the soul that God has given you that will never die. It's the most valuable thing you have. What if you, on one side of the scale, you had everything in this world, and on the other side you placed your own soul? Which way would the scales tip in terms of value? It's your soul. What's the point of having the whole world if in the end, Jesus says, you lose your own soul? What's the point? They lose the world at the moment of their death, and at the moment of their death, they lose their souls to torment. Number three, Watson says, they lose heaven. Heaven is satis baitorum, that is, the royal seat of the blessed. It is the region of happiness. The map of perfection. There is the manna, which is angels food. There is the garden of spices, the bed of perfumes, the river of pleasure. Sinners at death lose all of these. Maybe some of those unbelievers even heard sermons about heaven. Maybe some of them even heard about the tree of life and they'll never see it. They'll never know what it means to be refreshed in that way. They'll never know what it means to taste of the tree of life. It's all lost. It's all lost forever. In Number 4, notice Watson says, they lose all hope. Though they lived wickedly, they hoped God would be merciful. They hoped they should go to heaven. Their hope was not an anchor but a spider's web. He's referencing Hebrews 4. You know why believer's hope is an anchor? Because it's attached to the throne of grace. The Lord Himself carries our hope and He places it into the Holy of Holies. Our hope is an anchor. Our hope is true. It's immovable. Anchored there by the work of Christ Himself. But Watson says, for the unbeliever, their hope was not an anchor, but a spider's web. At death, they lose their hopes and see they did it, but flatter themselves into hell, whose hope shall be cut off. Job 8, 14. It is sad to have life and hope cut off together. What a moment. That moment of death for the unbeliever. How sad it is, Watson says, to have life and hope cut off together. So Watson, he goes on to say something that's very helpful. He says a word to believers. He says, rejoice. Oh, rejoice to think of their happiness who die in the Lord. To them, to die is gain. They are as rich as heaven can make them. And have you ever thought about it that way? That to die is gain and they are as rich as heaven can make them. How rich can heaven make someone? How rich can heaven make somebody? You can't even put a number on it, can you? You can't put a figure to it. How rich? Well, as we have thought about these things tonight, rejoice in your salvation that the Lord has brought to you. How rich can heaven make you? If you've not put your faith in the Lord, then let's conclude with this thought. How poor can God make you? If God can bring riches that are indescribable to those believers in heaven, What was that rich man experiencing and what will he experience forever? How poor can God make him? That's the destiny of all who will not put their faith in Christ. They will be made poor to a degree that we cannot put a number on, that we cannot even begin to imagine. I hope that you'll consider that if you've not professed faith in the Lord. And if you have, Rejoice in the riches that God has given to you in Him.