Fives Minutes After Death

not prepared to die, you're not prepared to live. No man has ever ready for life until he is no longer afraid of death. Now we human beings are a kind of hubris. We're interested in the origin of a species, well friend we ought to be more interested in the destiny of the species. From whence we've come, that's settled, but where we're going that is not yet settled. There was a time when you were not, there never will be a time when you will not be. And so you need to consider today with me your eternal destiny. Did you take your Bibles and find Luke chapter 16, and we're going to talk about an unpleasant subject today, at least unpleasant for some, and that is the subject of death. Death is a very real subject, and man is the only creature who knows that he's going to die, and he's trying desperately to forget it. You mention death in some circumstances, they will change the subject like people change the channels with their remote control. They don't want to talk about death, they don't want to face death, but reason tells us we're going to die, experience tells us we're going to die, and if you're not prepared to die, you're not prepared to live. No man is ever ready for life until he is no longer afraid of death. Now we human beings are kind of humorous. We're interested in the origin of a species, well friend, we ought to be more interested in the destiny of the species. I mean, from whence we've come, that's settled, but where we're going that is not yet settled. There was a time when you were not, there never will be a time when you will not be. And so you need to consider today with me your eternal destiny. The title of our message today is Five Minutes After Death. I direct your attention now to verse 19, this story that Jesus told that deals with these three great issues. Jesus says, "There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from

the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments, and seeing 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 receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. Beside all of this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence." Then he said, "I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house. For I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they come into this place of torment." Abraham said unto him, "They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them." And he said, "Nay he, Father Abraham. But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent." He said unto them, "If they hear not Moses in the prophets, neither will they be persuaded the one rose from the dead." Now what we have here is a story by the master teacher, the Lord Jesus Christ. Some people say that this story is a parable. I doubt that it is a parable. Jesus does not call it a parable. Luke does not call it a parable. If this is a parable, it's the only parable that Jesus ever gave when he mentioned someone's But whether it is a parable or not, the truth is there in parabolic form or in historical form.

It is a truth that fell from the lips of the greatest teacher that ever lived his name is Jesus. And when we look at this story, it's a story of contrasts. He's contrasting to men. He's contrasting their life. He's contrasting their death. And he's contrasting the destiny. I want you to see, first of all, the contrast in life. Beginning in verse 9, you're going to find out that these men are very different. One was a rich man. One was a poor man. One had more materially than hard could wish. The other had not even enough to subsist. So we see, a contrast in life. There are these inequities in life. The rich man and the poor man. But now Jesus goes on, and not only does he speak about a contrast in life, but he speaks about a contrast in death. Now when the beggar died, the Bible doesn't even say he was buried, it says the rich man was buried. You know what they did with beggars and people that day? It's horrible, but they would haul them off and throw them in the garbage heap to burn. And just to be consumed, they wouldn't even have many times a burial. Nobody wanted to bury them. Sometimes the dogs would eat them. But the rich man was buried. If it had been today, it had been a silk-lined casket. It would have been today, there would have been a number of fine-priced automobiles out in front of the synagogue or the church or wherever it was. There would have been a profusion of flowers from one side to the other, a jungle, a riot

of color. The air would be filled with perfume. Doubtless, one of the greatest speakers would be there to eulogize the man. And one by one, the people would, as they would dab their eyes, would say, "He was a good man. He was a good man. Our community will miss him." Not understanding the Bible says, "There is none good, no, not one." All of their words would not change his destiny. All of the finery would not change his destiny for his soul was in hell before the undertaker knew he was dead. Now there was a contrast, a contrast in life and a contrast in death. But I want to get to the major thing, there's a contrast in eternity. Look if you will, again in verse 23 of this chapter, verse 22 says, "The rich man died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments, and see if Abraham a far off and Lazarus in his bosom," a contrast in eternity. Now Jesus does what no one else can do. What Jesus does here is to pull back the curtain and let us look to the other side. First of all you see what we call the glories of heaven. The beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. When he died there was an angel convoy that came and took him away to a place called Abraham's bosom. What does that mean? Abraham's bosom. That's strange. Well Abraham was the father of the faithful, the most revered of the Jewish leaders, the brightest star in the heavenly kingdom for these Jews. To be with Abraham would be a place of incredible honor. Now what does it mean to be in Abraham's bosom? Well when people had a banquet of that day they would not sit around the table as we sit around the table, they would recline.

And the best place would be where you would recline where your head would be near the chest, the bosom of the host. What he was saying is here this man who's been feeding on crumbs is now the banquet. And not only is he at a banquet, he is in a banquet at the very highest place of honor. What Jesus is showing is this is a great radical change that took place. man as he's carried by the angels to help them. you into something grotesque, evil, vile, or bad. I'm not inviting you to a funeral, I'm inviting you to a feast. That's what our Lord is talking about. He's talking here about the epitome of glory when He says this man is carried by the angels and Abraham's bosom. Now, I would like to spend a lot of time today talking about heaven, but I'm afraid we speak too much about heaven and not enough about hell, so I'm going to spend just a little time here talking about the beggar in Abraham's bosom. What is heaven? Let me just put it in several sentences. Heaven is all that the all-beneficent loving heart of God would desire for you. Heaven is all that the omniscient mind of God could design for you. Heaven is all that the omnipotent hand of God could prepare for you. Heaven will be just right. When I was a little boy, I used to think, well, you know, maybe I don't want to go to heaven, at least not right now, because I'm worried would they have any swimming in heaven? Would you be able to fish in heaven? Could you play baseball in heaven? Have you ever thought about that when your child is special and think, well, you know, heaven is sort of the next best place, but it'd be a little better to stay here. Don't be so foolish. Billy Graham was on Johnny Carson's show one time, and Johnny Carson said to him, "Billy, if I go to heaven, will there be golf in heaven?" Billy said, "Johnny, if you get to heaven, and golf is necessary for your joy, there will be golf in heaven." That was a great answer. That was a great answer. Now, don't anybody go around saying, "I said it's going to be golf in heaven." I'm not saying that. "I am saying, dear friend, that you will not have a longing, a desire that heaven will not fulfill more than you can imagine." And I wish I had more time to talk about the glories of heaven, but I want to talk to you a little bit about the agonies of hell as we talk about five minutes after death. And my task when I talk to you about hell is not an easy one. Hell is the butt of jokes, the idea of ridicule. About the only time you see anything about hell today is in the comic pages today. A preacher who preaches

on hell is looked upon as either ignorant or cruel or both. You say, "Well, Adrienne, you're not going to preach on hell today, are you? I thought you were educated. Haven't you been to school? I've been accused of that. Yeah, I've been to school. But I believe in hell. Let me tell you why I believe in hell. Number one, because Jesus teaches him. Now, if you ever ridicule a preacher for being a hellfire preacher, you are ridiculing the Lord Jesus Christ. There are at least 162 texts in the New Testament that speak of hell and the judgment of the lost. Over 70 of these were issued by Jesus Christ himself. I believe in hell because I believe in Jesus. But not only do the words of Jesus teach that there's a hell, the death of Jesus demonstrates that there is a hell. Now, be reasonable. If there's no hell from which men need to be saved, why did Jesus die? If there's no hell, then Calvary is the blunder of the ages. May I tell you that by the spit that they placed into the face of Jesus, by every lash that was laid upon his back, by every thorn that pierced his brow by the agony in the utter midnight of Calvary, there is a hell. Why did Jesus die if there is no hell? I believe in hell because the justice of God demands it. Do you believe that a man can be a rapist, a murderer, or whatever, commit suicide and it's all over? No. There is a judgment to face. There must be a time when things are made right, when the equity does come. Somebody says, "I hate the idea of hell. I do too." But it's a fact. snakes, but they're facts. The fact that you hate something, disbelief and hell does not change it. Now Jesus tells us what hell will be like and I want you to listen. Hell is a place of misery. It's a place of sensual misery. You will feel in hell. In these verses that I read in verse 23, 24 and 25, three times Jesus mentions the word torment. Hell is a place of torment. You're going to be tormented if you go to hell. From time immemorial, people have been asking, do you believe in literal fire in hell? Let me put it this way.

I believe in real fire in hell, real fire, whatever it is, whether Jesus is speaking here in a metaphor of something that is even worse than the literal thing makes no difference. Jesus used the word fire. Listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 25 verse 41, "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from the ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels." Now if you don't like the idea of fire in hell, take it up with Jesus, don't take it up with Adrienne because I'm just reading the word of God today. Jesus spoke of fire. I had much rather Jesus say to me, "Adrienne, you took my word too literally than to say Adrienne, you explained it away." Now whatever it is, whatever Jesus intends to convey by using the word fire, may I tell you friend, you do not want to go there. And not only is there going to be that sensual misery, there will be that emotional misery. Verse 25, Abraham says to this rich man, "Son, remember, did you know that if you go to hell you'll take your memory with you?" Psychologists tell us that we never, ever really, truly forget anything. Memory will sting like a hornet in hell. You will remember this service. You will remember this sermon. You will remember the prayers of your mother. You will remember every opportunity you had to be saved and every time you said, stubbornly said, "No" to the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a man who said to a wise man, "I will, for $100, I will teach you how to remember things." The wise man said, "I'll give you $1,000 if you teach me how to forget some things. But in hell you will remember." And then not only is there that sensual misery, not only is there that emotional misery, there is an eternal misery. In verse 26, Abraham said, "Look, you can't come over here.

We can't go over there. There is a great gulf fixed. There is a chasm between the righteous and the unrighteous." Now, in this life, that chasm can be spanned. Thank God for the cross, where if you're on one side, you can come to the other side. And I love that song called Calvary, "Oh, the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary." But do you know what this verse teaches us in verse 26, "There is no second chance." So point it under man wants to die, and after this, the judgment, there's the eternal misery. There's the spiritual misery. In verses 27 through 29, this man in hell says, "Look, I've got five brothers. Send somebody that he might witness to my brothers. Send Lazarus. Why, if somebody rose from the dead, they'd believe." Of course, Jesus was prophesying the fact that though he would suffer, bleed, die, and rise from the dead, people still will not believe, and he said, "No, they have Moses in the prophets." They have the Old Testament. If they won't believe that, they would not believe the one rose from the dead. Now, the sad thing is this, that this man in hell is now beginning to be concerned about his loved ones. It's too late. Do you know what's wrong with many of us in this building today? We're going to wait until it's too late to be concerned about our loved ones. A woman called me on the phone. She was hysterical. I said, "Hold it, get hold of yourself." She said, "Pastor." I said, "What is wrong?" She said, "My daddy is in hell. My daddy is in hell.

My daddy is in hell." I said, "What makes you think your daddy is in hell?" She said, "My daddy died this morning. My daddy was not saved. My daddy is in hell." I said, "Your daddy is not in hell." She said, "Yes." My daddy wasn't saved. I said, "No, your daddy was saved." I said, "I went by last week and talked to your daddy." Her daddy was a medical doctor. I asked your daddy if he knew Jesus, and he said, "No." I asked him if he wanted to be saved, he said, "Yes." And I said, "I prayed with your daddy. Your daddy gave his heart to Jesus Christ. Put his hand in mind and told me that he trusted Christ as his personal savior." I said, "Your daddy is not in hell. Your daddy's in heaven, but I won't ask you a question. Did you witness to you, Dan?" She said, "I was going to. I was going to." I said, "Had it been up to you, your daddy would have been in hell." Do you have a loved one? Somebody that you're going to speak to about this? Here's a man too late saying, "Send somebody to speak to my brothers about this thing. Oh, the spiritual misery of hell." Now, I must close this message. But I want to tell you something, friend, listen to me.

There is a hell. Five minutes after you die, you will be in hell, and you will never come out. To get to hell, you're going to have to struggle to get there. If you go to hell, you'll have to work to go to hell. You take more difficulty to go to hell than you would go to heaven. You say, "Why do you say that?" You'll have to climb over some mountains to get to hell. You'll have to climb over this service, the music that we've sung, the prayers that we've prayed. You'll have to climb over God's word that I've held in my hand today and preached to you. You're going to have to put this under your feet and climb over it in order to get to hell. You're going to have to climb over your own conscience that is telling you right now, "Maybe I ought to get my heart to Jesus Christ and be saved." You're going to have to climb over that to get to hell. You're going to have to climb over the conviction of the Holy Spirit that's in this building today because I have prayed and that's God to speak. And I know God's Holy Spirit is working today. You're going to have to climb over that in order to get to hell. If you go to hell, you're going to have to climb over the blood-stained cross of Jesus Christ. You're going to have to climb over Mount Calvary in order to get to hell. You're going to have to climb over the prayers of these people who have prayed for you that you might go to heaven. You're going to have to climb over those prayers in order to get to hell. You're going to have to climb over your better judgment to get to hell. But once you get there, you will not come out. But where will my spirit be? Five minutes after I die.

This may be the last worship service you'll ever be in. This may be the last gospel message you'll ever hear. So I want to put it to you big and plain and straight. You don't have to go to hell. You can be saved. God loves you. Jesus died for you. Jesus invites you and whosoever will may come. And I promise you on the authority of this book that I preach from. If today in repentance and faith you will give your heart to Jesus Christ. Sir, He will save you. Lady, He will save you and He will keep you saved for all eternity. Don't gamble with your destiny. Would you bow your heads in prayer? Heads abound. Nies are closed. Would you begin to pray for those round about you who may not know the Lord Jesus? When I said no one stirring, no one moving unless it is an emergency, Father God, I pray today that many will come to Jesus. The Lord that they'll not wonder about other people, that they will lay any pride in the dust. The Lord that they might humbly, and joyfully acknowledge Christ as Lord and Savior. (gentle music) [MUSIC PLAYING]