Amen. Thank you, Ariel. Whoever married that lady married up. I tell you that. He knew what he was thinking in Bible college when he started going after her and being able to sing. And we're getting ready to welcome her. That's my wife, by the way, for those of you joining us. Sitting there, you're new, you're like, well, that's kind of an awkward thing to say about someone. That's my wife. And we're getting ready to have our fourth child here in about a month and a half. Looking forward to a young girl by the name of Madison joining the family. Excited for that. If you have your Bibles, go to Luke chapter 16. We'll check for 16. I'm hoping tonight to do the same thing the Nuggets have been doing for the Lakers this week. And I don't plan on keeping you here very long. And so we'll do our best to get you in four points and get you out. We call that a sweep in basketball. preaching they call it four points in a poem. But Luke chapter 16 will begin in verse 19. The Bible says, And 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 the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. And hell lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeing Abraham afar off, and ladders in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send ladders that 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 thou in thy lifetime receivest thou good things, and likewise Laddereth evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you 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 wouldst 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. And Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one would come from the dead, they will repent. said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. Tonight I look at a couple of points, things still done in hell. Let's pray. Father God I thank you for tonight. Thank you, Lord, for being so good to us, Lord. Thank you for this church, and thank you for the pillar of truth that's been in this city of Luverne for over 20, 25 years, Lord, being able to be a lighthouse to the community. We thank you, Lord, for the different ministries represented in this church, and the College and Career, and the kids' ministries, and even to be able to offer this basketball program for our city and the cities around, that we could be a lighthouse to them, Lord. I pray, Lord, as we go into the summer with lots of plans, a lot of programs, a lot of things that reach the lost, I pray that every one of us, Lord, to have a burden for souls. The souls that we sometimes can see on a daily basis and that we sometimes can so quickly in one thought and out the other as we don't ponder the destination in which they're going. I pray, Lord, that this message, Lord, you would use me. I need you tonight. I need you to hide me behind the cross. I pray that everything I say would bring honor and glory to you. I pray you'd stop my mouth from saying anything that would not reflect what you would like to be preached from this message. We love you, pray also in Christ's name. Amen. Things still done in heaven. Obviously, I've had the privilege for those of you that don't know I've had the privilege of growing up in this church. I'm so thankful for so many that poured into my life. It's always awesome to be able to come in even just this morning. People come in to me. Hey, I'm praying for you tonight. I'm looking forward to you preaching. And I want you guys to know it's a great benefit and a great blessing to know there's a church family that loves us and cares for us. And that's why it's so important that you come to church, to bring that encouragement, to be that smile. You never know what a difference you can make in someone's life. And tonight, we're gonna start off with some simple principles, but I'm hoping by the end of it, I could be a blessing and a help to you to sometimes just stop and think about the brevity of life. Because the Bible is reminded in verse 22, And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried. Before we dive into this, I want to mention that we know this is not a parable of Jesus. We know this is a true story being told. We have Lazarus' name. When a parable was given, there was never no names mentioned with this. So we are reading a true account that Jesus is talking to the people about. He starts off with a parable in verse one of chapter 16. He talks a little bit about divorce in chapter 18. But now he's gonna, verse 19. And verse 19 is gonna dive into the actual story here. And we see the first point is this. Death does not discriminate. Death does not discriminate. reading one commentary put it like this, For death knocks with equal boldness at the sumptuous mansions of a righteous person, or a rich person, or even at the palace of the prince, or at the cottage of the peasant. In Hebrews 9.27 the Bible puts it this way to help us remember this point. Hebrews 9.27 says this, And at the point that a man wants to die, but after this the judgment. Proverbs 27 verse 1 a verse that many of us are familiar with it says, Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not that what a day may bring forth. And James 4.14 brings it home one more time. He says, whereas you know not what shall be on tomorrow, for what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and vanisheth away. I want to take a moment and stop and just think about for a second the importance of that word life. What it means to have life and what it means to lose life. And in this world, there will be many a people that will go throughout today that will not wake up tomorrow. There will be many a people that will go to sleep tonight and maybe kiss their spouse or kiss their children goodnight, and perhaps this is the time on God's calendar in which they are called to go to the judgment. And for every single one of us, we have no idea when that time is. In fact, I was doing some research here from worldpopulationreview.com. It said this, approximately 332,000 people will die today around the world. 332,000 people will die around the world today. Every hour, over 13,000 people die. Every hour, 13 people take their final breath. and are taken to judgment. Same before God. Every minute, according to this review here, every minute, 231 people will die. Every second, three people. will take their final breath and stand before Christ. And none of us are guaranteed tomorrow. We have no idea what God has in plan, what God's plans are for us. But we understand the importance of this, knowing what's gonna happen to us when we die. As Christians, we understand that. We have great comfort in that. But there's a lost world that is dying out there every day by the hundreds, by the thousands, by the millions that take their final resting place and they enter one of two places, heaven or hell. And that's something that I think we need to sometimes take a second and put into our minds and just realize in the city of Laverne there is someone that's going to die tonight. There is someone in our own city that maybe we had a chance to knock on a door and a chance to invite to church that will take their final breath tonight and enter into eternity. And see we see here that death does not discriminate. We see the rich man dies mentioned in verse 22. His money, his wealth, his beautiful home, his fancy living it didn't give him one extra day on earth. There was nothing, there's no promise of long life with the rich. There's no promise of a happier life or of a longer chance to stay on this earth. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 17, charge them that are rich that they be not high minded or trust in certain riches, but in the living God who giveth us richly all things to enjoy. You know, the rich will be so quick to gather up all this wealth, you think of the Jeff Bezos, you think of the Elon Musk, and all the wealth that they've obtained, but the moment they die, that wealth will not follow them anywhere. Everything they've worked for, everything that they've spent countless hours trying to make that extra dollar, to get that extra investment, to build their companies, to get the fame, to be on the top five list of the richest men in the world, a second after they pass away will not matter to them how much money they had. They cannot take it with them. We're reminded of this principle in Luke chapter 12. There's a parable. Jesus speaks a parable in chapter 12 verse 16. It says this, and He speaks a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentiful. And he thought unto himself, saying, What shall I do? Because I have no room where to bestow my fruits. And he said, This is what I will do. I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will bestow all my fruits and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast many goods laid up for many years. Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Look what God says. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee, and whose shall those things be which thou hast provided? So is he that laith up treasure for himself, and is not rich towards God. I heard a pastor tell a story one time of a man, he was on his deathbed, and he said that he went to his family, he told them, I want you to go to a bank account for me, to a deposit box. And he went to his bank deposit box, and they had found a briefcase, an extremely heavy briefcase, and they told him, the man told him to, they told his kids to bring the briefcase to him, and they bring the briefcase, he says, bring a pair of handcuffs, and he handcuffs this briefcase to his wrist. And after finally doing that, they ask the man, they ask their dad, say, Dad, what's in the briefcase? And he says, it's full of bars of gold. I used to be a treasure hunter, and I found these bars of gold. And the story goes, the man dies, and he goes up to heaven. He stands before Peter, and Peter asks him, hey, what's in the briefcase? And he says, oh, you're gonna wanna see this, Peter. And he opens up the briefcase, and sure enough, there's all these bars of gold. And Peter looks at him and asks him, why'd you bring a bunch of asphalt? There you go. Just let it roll in. I know. Tommy's a joke teller. I just try it sometimes. I have to try one or two just to make him look even a little better there at his jokes. But anyway, I even put in here, poor joke. So here we go. But we see here the rich man dies and then of course we see Lazarus dies. It doesn't matter your financial status. It doesn't matter your political status. It doesn't matter who you are. At the end of the day the rich man and Lazarus die. We understand that he is carried into Abraham's bosom. He was prepared to pass away. He knew who to believe in. And we see here that the different destinations mentioned. I want to mention this and then we'll dive into the crux of the message. Letter B is a different, the different destinations mentioned. Look at verse 22 and 23 again. 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 lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. We see here mention the idea of a literal heaven and a literal hell. The reality is when someone dies there's only two places they are going to go. There's a literal heaven and there's a literal hell. It doesn't matter what they've been told growing up as a kid. It doesn't matter what they might think, what their philosophy is. There's an absolute truth in the Bible and the absolute truth is this, there is a heaven and there is a hell. And when you die you're only going to one of those two places. And that's something for us to be in the forefront of our minds as we kind of go into the different programs, different plans we have this summer. I want us to be reminded of every soul that we have in contact, be in contact with every soul we have an opportunity to witness to or hand a track or be a good testimony to, the reality of it is they're only going to one of two places. going to heaven or to hell. And we see examples of heaven, different verses, verses that show us a literal heaven. Revelation 21, Revelation 21 verses 3 through 7, I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and he be their God. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away, and He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I will make all things new. And He said to me, Write for these words, and it is true and faithful. John 14.2 says, For in my Father's house there are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. We are told in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 9, Paul writing here says, But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear hath heard. neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him." Matthew 6, 19-21 tells us the importance of Heaven. "'Lay not up for yourselves treasure upon earth, where moth and wrath doth corrupt, where thieves break through and steal. But lay up for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor wrath doth corrupt, where thieves do not break through nor steal. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also.'" And in John 16, 33 one of the greatest promises we have in God's Word, "'These things have I spoken unto you, that in me you shall have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer, and I have overcome the world. The excitement of knowing there is a Heaven waiting for me. At seven years old I made the decision. I got on my knees and my parents showing me Scripture in my living room. I made the decision to confess Christ, ask forgiveness for my sins. I asked Him to be my Savior. And I know for the rest of my time here on earth, the day I die, I'm on my way to heaven. Not just a fictional place, not a fairytale place. My life will not just be over and just a waste or what is life? No, I know what my life is. My life is an opportunity to live on earth and to die and to go to my Savior and be able to worship Him and be able to say glory to the Lamb that was slain until I for all of time, for the rest of time. To have that purpose in life. How many people walk around with no purpose? They don't believe in a real heaven, they don't believe in a real hell. They have this idea of you live your life, you do what you can, you make the memories you can, then it's over. But we know from God's word, the promise of God's word, there is a literal heaven. And Lazarus finds himself here, this beautiful place. During his life he had troubles. During this time in the world there was hardships. But as the verse says, as the verse reminds us, Jesus overcame the world. And no matter what you're going through tonight, may I remind you, your end destination is far better than where you're at right now. And if we're not careful, kind of as Tommy was talking about this morning, that idea of peace and patience, if we're not careful, we can get so focused on our life now that we forget sometimes there's a great heaven waiting for us. And we can find ourselves in a state of, may I say depression, or a state of sad, or woe is me, if we sometimes can focus so much on ourselves and the problem, you don't know what I'm going through, you don't know how hard it is, my life is so tough, don't forget, there's a great heaven waiting for you. It's only gonna get better. You got nowhere to go but up. And we have this great promise of a literal heaven. And that should get us a little excited tonight. When we lose someone to the grave and someone that we know is a Christian, we know it's not, oh man, it's not goodbye, it's we'll see you later. Until we meet again. And everyone in here has lost perhaps someone that you care about, someone that you love, that you know is a Christian. I have two grandparents in heaven that I look forward to seeing again one day in heaven. Because I have this promise from God's word that they're in heaven tonight. God gave us this assurance. But as heaven is real and the beautiful things that are spoken about heaven is real and Jesus is in heaven and the great saints are in heaven, may it remind all of us that there is a literal hell tonight. It'd be great to be preaching this message and heaven is real, it's gonna be awesome, we're excited, let's just keep going on and amen, close the book, get out of here, it's 5.30, new record, no. But the reality of it is if heaven's real, then hell also has to be real. And if hell's real, there are millions of people in hell tonight. Millions. They're not in this place of fun and happiness, this place that maybe they thought they were going. They're gonna be partying it up with the demons in hell and Satan would be their best friend. No, the Bible describes a hell a lot more serious than that. The Bible describes a hell a lot more painful. The Bible says in Luke 12, four and five, it says, and I say unto you my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do, but I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear, fear him which hath killed the, sorry, after he hath, oh my goodness, time again. I wanna say that, oh, nevermind. Let's try that again. I was trying to get fired up before I even finished reading, so I got to slow down. Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 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. Revelation 21.8 describes those who you will find in hell, but the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and the murderers, and the whoremongers, and the sorcerers, and the idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Revelation 20.15, and whosoever is not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Matthew 25.46, and these things shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So we see words, lake of fire, everlasting punishment, lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Matthew 28, excuse me, Matthew 13, 50. And shall cast him into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. In fact, Mark describes it as better to cut off our hands or our foot than for us to enter into hell hole, better to be made to enter into hell hole. And obviously in the end of Mark, Mark chapter, sorry, Mark, Mark 9, Mark 9 verse 45, And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell. Into the fire we shall be quenched. Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye unfend thee, pluck it out. For it is better to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Where worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And so we understand the importance of knowing there is a real heaven and there is a real hell. All of that was introduction to what I want to focus on tonight. I want to focus on the letter C, the dues in hell. According to this passage we're given an illustration of some of the things that the rich man finds himself doing in hell. And I want us to stop for a second and look at these things. look at it both as those who are saved and those who are unsaved and what the implications are for us. Look at verse 23, the first thing we see here, The first thing we see here that in hell the rich man was able to see. The rich man was able to see. He was able to look out and he was able to recognize someone that he maybe had walked by many a times on his way to and forth to work. When he was backing out his yacht to go on vacation, backing out his boat or heading to the lake, a man that was sitting by the gates that he would oftentimes see. And he was, here he is in hell and all this torment, he looks up and he sees someone that looks, he's like, I know that guy. Hey, that's Lazarus. And in studying this passage and just asking the Lord what he wanted to bring out to me, this thought came across my mind. Is there someone in hell tonight that would recognize you? What do I mean by that? Are there people that we maybe work across? Are there people that we see on a daily basis that we've never shared the gospel with? Are there people that perhaps if we're not careful, we see them, but we don't really see them as a soul that's on their way to hell, we just see them. Here the rich man's in hell and he looks up and he recognizes Lazarus a man that used to sit at his gate and the thought hit me Is there anyone in hell tonight or let's say in 50 years from now I take my final breath and God takes me home and I'm there in heaven and I'm enjoying the beauty of heaven the excitement of heaven and praise God I'm saved and all the excitements of glorifying the King of Kings and Lord of Lords Would there be anyone in hell that would sit be able to look up and say hey, that was my neighbor Wait, this guy's a Christian? Wait, he knew the answer how to get there and he never told me. It was a sobering thought just sitting there and I was studying it and it was just like, oh man. Who might be in hell tonight because I didn't do the job I was supposed to do? Who in hell tonight would look out and say, oh, he's the one that, he never told me about this, Lord. Hey, hey, Father Abraham, hey, Lord Jesus Christ, he never mentioned he was a Christian. He never told me how to go to that great place. Lord, is there anyone like that tonight? What about you? Is there family members that find themselves in hell tonight that one day when you enter into heaven, they point at you and say, wait, That guy was, he knew the answer the whole time. He sat by me at the family parties. She talked to me at the family reunions, and she never said a word about it. It's a sobering thought. Or would those in hell perhaps be able to look at you and say, oh, that was the guy that kept bugging me about going to church. That was that neighbor that kept inviting me to all the big events. That was that mom that loved me and prayed for me and cared for me. What would people be able to say when they see you from hell? And as I sat there, I began to weep and think about the different people that I've had interactions with. Some of them are very small, and some of them are prolonged, where, when we think about it, we can go through times of seeing people, just ordinarily seeing people, whether it be family, or just friends, or even neighbors, or, not in my case, coworkers, but we see people, and we see them, and we just kind of, hey, how's it going? Oh, cool, did you see the game? Oh, that was wild, I can't believe it. And sometimes we can go through five, 10, 15, 20 years, and never mention Hey, do you know where you would go if you died today? Because we're not promised how long our coworkers have, because we're not promised how long that family member has, because we're not promised how long our neighbors have on this earth, I challenge every one of us to think, when was the last time you spoke to them? If your neighbor were to die tonight, right now, we're at church. You come home, there's paramedics there at your complex or by your driveway there, and you go in, hey, what happened? Oh, your neighbor just had a heart attack, passed away. Would your neighbor be able to sit in hell tonight or in torment and pain and agony, in the literal hell, and be able to at least point and say, hey, he tried to warn me. She told me this was real. I should have listened. I saw them leave every day, but I didn't know where they were going, they never told me. What would that response be? Would they be able to recognize you? Would they recognize you as someone that tried to tell them, or they recognize you as someone that they're surprised you're there? Number second thing we see, so first we see the sight, second thing we see they can speak. Verse 24, he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tick of his finger and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in his flame." We see they have the ability to speak. He's crying out. He's crying out to Abraham, Abraham, please send Lazarus. Abraham, please. And again, the thought crossed my mind. But they know my name. Have I made an impact on their life where they would say, hey, Lord Jesus, Father Abraham, Ryan, that's the guy that kept talking to me. That was the guy that witnessed to me, Ryan. Or would they say, I sat across from that guy for 10 years. He never came and said hi to me. I never talked to him. He knew the answer to go to this amazing place. He knew the way. He knew the one who created the way to go to this place of heaven. And he never told me. She never told me. Would they recognize you? Would they know your name? Or perhaps are we the neighbor that kind of sits in their house, keeps to themselves. I take care of me and my own. I'm focused on my life. When I go to work, I'm just there to get the paycheck, get out of there. When I go to do sports, it's about me and my kid. Or when I go to the grocery store, I never hand out a track. I never try to meet the cashier if it's the same person. What kind of testimony do we have? And the reality of it is, there are people that we go across our lives and we speak to every day, and sometimes we never take the time to stop, get to know them, show ourselves to be friendly, and be able to use that as an opportunity to witness to them. We just know them as boss, yep. We just know them as the person that signs our checks, the person we walk by, the secretary we walk by every day to go collect our paycheck. But no, we gotta remember they are a literal soul that's on their way to one of two places, a literal heaven or a literal hell. And the question that came to my mind was, would people be able to know my name? If I made an impact in their life, or I went out of my way, and it's not just, oh yeah, that's the guy from the church, but no, that's a Ryan Starman, that's a Dan Randolph, he took time to help my, coach my kid, and he told us so many times, he invited us to church, and he would invite our family to come to the events, and man, she cared about us, and she came to our house, and she prayed with us when our daughter was sick, and she did all these things. Or it'd be, I don't even know who that was, but I saw them all the time. What kind of testimony do we have when it comes to reaching out to people? Will they be able to call you out by name and say he never tried? Father Abraham, that guy never even tried to reach me. Father Abraham, he never told me anything. Could he use his mouth to accuse you of never trying? Verse 24 also gives us the next thing. We see they can feel. They obviously can feel pain. They can feel torment. But again, as I was studying this, and I was thinking about this idea of those perhaps in hell, because I didn't do my job, and those in hell that I didn't reach, even though I should have, and the opportunities I had, the thought came across my mind, would it be those who feel shocked to see me in heaven? Wait, Father Abraham, that guy made it? That guy's in heaven? Oh, when I saw him at the, man, he was, he was cussing up a storm. When I saw him on the ball field, man, he was yelling and he was screaming. When I saw him, when things didn't go his way at his house, I saw him yelling and screaming at his family. That guy made it to heaven? Would there be those in hell tonight that perhaps would feel, they would feel shocked to see you in heaven? Wait a second, that guy was a Christian? Wait, that lady right there, she was a Christian? Yeah, she would leave somewhere for one hour on a Sunday, but that was the only time I ever saw her leave and do anything like that. For the rest of the time, I never would have saw a difference in her life. This principle is brought up in Colossians 1, verse 10. We see this challenge given by Paul to the Church in Colossae there. It says, that ye may walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God, strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsufferings, with joy giving thanks unto the Father which has made us meet, to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints and light of who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. If you're saved tonight, that is you, and that is I. We have the ability to walk worthy unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work. Is that how our co-workers would describe us? Is that how our family, our extended family at the family reunions, would they identify as, man, yeah, that lady, she's a Christian. At the family reunions, you wanna do things, and she's always the one saying, no, no, if you do that, we're leaving, we're not gonna stay for that. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, everyone, all the co-workers know that if we start telling these jokes, and so-and-so walks in, you better stop, he's gonna get up, we can't talk, he doesn't like it, and we talk to these kind of jokes. It's not the kind of reputation that we have. Or would there be those perhaps that would know us, again, family or friends or coworkers or whoever it is in your mind that maybe the Lord's putting in your heart. Are there those that would be in hell and look up and go, they live just like me. Oh, they may have gotten saved at age seven or eight or nine or 10, and they may have accepted Christ as their Savior, but they never changed the way they lived. And we know that Christ saves us, and once we're saved, we're always saved. We understand that. Tom mentioned that this morning in his message, that we're saved forever. But do we live it out? With those on their way to hell, would they be able to point and say, yeah, he lived the real thing. He practiced what he preached. Man, she meant it. I saw her leave her house every Sunday at 9, 9.30 for Sunday school. She wouldn't get back till 12.30. She would leave early. I asked her, where are you going? I'm going to choir now. You're going to choir? You do the choir too. I go to choir. I go Sunday night. Oh, I go Thursday night. Oh yeah, I go to visitation on Saturdays. Oh yeah, I help out on the bus route. Is that the kind of testimony that you have? Maybe with your neighbors or family? Do you live out that Christian life the way we ought to? 1 Thessalonians 2, 12 are told this, they may walk worthy of God who has called you unto his kingdom and glory. Will they feel shocked to see you in heaven? I also put down this question, will they feel deceived to see you in heaven? Hey, you tricked me. I didn't know you were a Christian. I didn't know you believe that. I wish you would have told me. Remember, this is a time when they're burning in a literal hell and they feel the pain, the torture, and Rich Man looks up and he sees Lazarus and he's like, oh, Abraham, please, just let him dip his finger in some water and give me a little bit of, just a little drop of water for this torment, for this pain that I am in. And I had to ask myself the question, who is in hell tonight? Because I didn't, I wasn't the example I should have been. Who's in hell tonight because maybe I was playing on the ball team, I didn't do the right things. I didn't invite them to church. I didn't live out my Christian life. Who's in hell tonight because maybe in different settings where I was ashamed or I was nervous or I was frightened, I didn't speak up when they would talk about the Lord. They'd make comments about the Lord Jesus Christ, make comments about church. I had to ask myself the question, who might be in hell tonight because I didn't live it out. Because I have no idea how long some of them lived. I can think of co-workers, when I used to work at Big Five, and I used to think, I think of co-workers, I can think of people when I played sports, growing up playing Little League, people I had a chance to have an influence in their lives, even at a young age. It doesn't matter how old you are. Teenagers can make a difference in someone's life, can be an example for what God wants for them, an example of salvation. But are we being that example? So we see that he could see, he could speak, he could feel. The fourth thing we see is he could hear. Verse 25, but Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. We see this idea that Abraham speaks back. Abraham takes the time and decides to speak back to this rich man. And the thought, again, as I'm sitting there thinking of this idea, kind of flipping it in my mind of how it would work, you know, obviously I'll be in heaven. I'll be able to be with the Savior. I get that, I'm thankful for that, and there's nothing that'll change that. And that's the great victory that we have as Christians, that death in this life, this life is but a vapor. We have something glorious to look forward to, but I can't help sometimes to stop and think about the people that won't be in heaven with me. And when I came across this idea of thinking about hearing, will they be able to say, will they be able to hear other people saying, oh yeah, he tried to warn me too. Oh yeah, she told me about church. Maybe as one person's there, y'all, oh hey, that guy never, that guy's the one that told me, that guy, that's the one that warned me. Man, someone else can go, oh yeah, he tried to warn me too. Oh man, she would knock on my door and invite me over and over to come to the things and she would say she was praying for me and she would help out in different areas and she would help me. do this, maybe as a high schooler, they'd help me carry my groceries, and they would help out the neighborhood, pick up trash from my yard, and do all these different things. Man, they so many times wanted to tell me about God, so many times invited me to church, but I never listened. Would that be the testimony that could be spoken about us in hell, in a sense? The testimony we'd have in hell is, yes, he tried to warn me too, and she tried to help me. Or would it be, perhaps, not that? Perhaps it would be no one, no one else. One person might see you and everyone else is like, oh, you know him? Yeah, he, what's the testimony like? And the last thing for this point is we can, yes, he could see, he could speak, he could feel, he could hear, he could remember. We see verse 27 through 29, he asks Abraham if he could please send to the five brothers. He remembered that he had brothers back home and he remembered that his brothers were on their way to hell. And he says, can you please send Lazarus? And we see Abraham's answer in verse 31. He said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. He could remember. He could remember his brothers. He could remember his family, that they're on their way to hell. He knew they were unsaved. He knew they didn't believe in God. And so again, the thought crossed my mind. I wrote this question down in my notes. Will they remember the time you left them a track? Will they remember the time, the difference that you made, or perhaps a difference you didn't make? Will they remember that you cared? You know, the second that someone dies and they stand before God and they're thrown into hell, I kind of believe in my mind that there's all these members gonna come back of the times where they could have received the gospel. of just like, oh, that's right. Oh man, I did remember someone knocking on my door. Man, I do remember that someone invited me to church. Man, I do. And these thoughts would maybe come to their mind, at least that's how I kind of imagine in my head, and obviously they're gonna be in pain and torment and all that thing, all that stuff going on. But would they associate you with the person that tried to get them to heaven? Would they associate your face with someone that gave them the gospel track? But maybe, would there be a time where they came to a gas station, and they found a gospel track there in the door handle, and they sat there and looked at it, one that you had left, because you had just pumped your gas, and you had left it there, not knowing what could happen because of it. And they grab it, and they go, oh, and they threw it away. But I remember, I found that track on the gas station. I wonder who had left that. And sure enough, you're in heaven. Ah, I did. And there was a time when you had actually done this. Will they remember the times that you, at the family reunion, sat by them and asked them the question of where they would go when they would die? Will they remember the times of the family reunion where you said, hey, I'd like to pray before we eat, and you were stood to be a testimony for the Lord? Or will they have no memories of that? They may have been your neighbor for 20, 30 years, and they don't remember you ever once sharing the gospel with them. They don't remember ever once you inviting them to a church or to a special service, asking them where they would go when you died. For those of us in the room tonight that are saved, again, we know our final destination. For those of you in the room that are unsaved, this place of hell is a literal place and it waits for you. None of us are promised tomorrow. Well, I'm young, I'm healthy, I'm fit. No, that matters nothing. The rich man was rich and it didn't get him one extra day on earth. When God says it's your time to go, it's your time to go. You're not changing that. So if you're in here tonight and you're unsaved, I dare say that this hell that we're talking about, it awaits you. You can change that tonight. Your decision can change your destination. And down at this altar later tonight we're going to have an invitation. You have a chance to come down and talk to a man. If you're a man, if you're a woman, talk to a woman. They'll take you to a room and they'll show you from the Bible, not from just made up stories, but they'll show you from the Bible how you can know you're on your way to heaven. And you can change the destination from hell to heaven. But for those of us in here that are saved, which I dare say is the majority of us, I want us to think and just kind of, in our mind, understand the decision that we make to share or not to share with people will have eternal consequences. And you never know the difference you can make in someone's life by simply giving them a gospel track. You don't know the difference you can make in someone's life by inviting them to church. You don't know the difference you can make about caring for someone and going out of your way to be a help to your neighbor and to be a blessing to your neighbor with the idea that I'm gonna sow a seed in their heart. I'm gonna begin being the example and the testimony that I want to be for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And we get to this passage again, one last time, verse 31, and He said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead. As I read verse 31, I kind of want to read it to you the way the Lord, as I was studying for this, kind of made it to me, made it plain to me. He said unto them, if they hear not Ryan and the church, neither will they be persuaded. And my thought came like this, not that I'm putting myself in Moses' shoes by any means, no. But I'm here now. God put me here. God put me here for a time as this. God put me, allowed me to be in the different ministries, different situations. We're going into a summer where we're gonna have a lot of people that are not saved on our property. Whether it be through basketball on Saturdays, whether it be through VBSs and summer camps and a lot of different activities that we do at our church, there's gonna be a lot of things going on. There's gonna be a lot of unsafe people that are dying and on their way to hell are gonna be showing up to our property. And what kind of example, what kind of testimony are we gonna be? Are we gonna go out through this whole summer and yeah, man, they're really cool, they're really friendly people, but we never stopped to maybe invite them to actual church service. We never took the time to actually stop and to encourage them about perhaps reading their Bible or reading a tract or handing a tract to them, praying for them, getting to know their cares, getting to know their needs, using that as an opportunity to plant seeds in their life, but we get so focused sometimes on ourselves. And I know this message is a little different, But I hope to challenge every one of us to understand there's a literal hell. I have four neighbors that live right around me. And as Pastor said, I believe it was just last week, in his message, I might be the only Jesus they ever see. I might be the only Bible they ever read. how I live, what I do, how I talk to them, how I talk to my wife when my windows are open, how I handle my kids, how I treat them on driving by, and what I say to them. And you have neighbors. You have co-workers. You have someone right now in your mind that you know if they were to die today, they'd go to hell. What have you done to reach them? Oh, I'm getting to that. I promise tomorrow. Oh, I know I need to do it. I will. We're not promised tomorrow. And you don't want to go to that next family reunion and find out so-and-so passed away. And you think to yourself, oh, I wish I would have talked to them. At PBC, I had the privilege of working and helping out the college. And I like to tell the students all the time, I want to be able to look back at my life and say, I'm glad I did instead of I wish I would have. And I know there's people in hell probably tonight that I didn't do that. People I went through my life playing sports that I never invited to church. I never talked to. I got too distracted and focused on myself and what I cared about. But I hope and my prayer, my aim for this whole message is to challenge every one of us. What are you doing to reach that lost person that God's put on your heart? Could they one day, if it so happens that they pass off into this life and so next, and they find themselves in hell, could they point and say, he tried, he did, and she tried to warn me? Or they would look up and go, oh man, he's a Christian? She was a Christian? I never would have guessed it. things people can still do in hell. Let's pray. Father, thank You again for being so good to us, Lord. Thank You for the fact that You could preach Your Word, Lord. I know this was a hard message. I pray You would help every one of us, Lord, that we would think of those in our lives that we know, Lord, are on their way to hell, and that we would be encouraged, that we would be burdened, Lord, to reach them, that we would find ourselves making ways, Lord, to reach the inroads in, Lord, to plant seeds. that we know, Lord, you will one day water, Lord, and perhaps we'd see even come to fruition. I pray that you'd help us now, because it's invitation time that we make whatever decisions you'd have us to make. We love you, pray also in Christ's name. Amen.