Luke 16:27 – Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

Luke 16:28 – For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Luke 16:29 – Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

Luke 16:30 – And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

Luke 16:31 – And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Hello readers, hope you’re having a good start to another week. Today I am talking about “Will you only learn this in hell?”. Jesus told the story about a rich man and a beggar named Lazarus in Luke 16. It’s a story, a true story, that we’d do well to learn from and run through our minds many times before we choose a life of sin and rejection of God’s word. Well, the rich man was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously ever day Jesus said… he had it made in this life… all while Lazarus laid at his gate full of sores, just hoping for a crumb off his table. But the rich man died and he went to hell, while Lazarus went to a place called Abraham’s bosom. You may very well have it made your whole Christ rejecting life here, you do well, while the true Christians do poorly. But eternity is a much longer time than a few years here on earth in this life.

Jesus said there was a great gulf fixed between the two places where they went. There is a great gulf between heaven and hell, there’s a great gulf between the eternal destiny of someone who is saved and someone who isn’t. It can’t be crossed after you die. If you are saved, you have the promise of heaven. However if you are unsaved and have rejected the salvation that is offered to you through the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, you’ll go to hell. Simple as that. And as soon as you open your eyes in hell, all that fine clothing and faring sumptuously will be irrelevant.

What a lie that is sold to young people today to live for the here and now, live for experiences and adventures. Live for self and pleasure and enjoyment. Enjoy all the world has to offer, fill and indulge yourself on sin. Don’t think about dying, don’t think about realities of life and accountability and consequences of sin, don’t think about eternity. It’ll be all good! What a lie. All those fine meals and life of pleasure and ease… they didn’t comfort the rich man one stitch in hell. As soon as you die unsaved, you’ll be in hell. Jesus said… and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torments. Hell truly is hell… hell is not the place you want to be, it’s not where the cool kids are, it’s a place of torment and regret and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

But the blog today is on “will you only learn this in hell?”. Well the rich man realized he wasn’t getting out, and he realized he wasn’t getting a drop of water to cool his tongue to ease his torment in the flames. So he desired one thing of Abraham, to send Lazarus to his father’s house to warn his brothers. He had a heap of brothers who were just like him. Often we think there is safety in numbers aye, we live like the rest of the guys we’ve grown up with, the people we’ve hung around with. We think we are safe because “everyone else is doing it”. And we compare ourselves to others, and we’re no worse than any of them! It gives us a sense of security and we think we are ok. But we aren’t. This rich man wanted Abraham to send someone to warn his brothers. Why did it take him going to hell to finally have a heart for evangelizing the lost? Boy he’s sure got his priorities right now.

See, in hell you’ll know some things. You’ll know where you are, you’ll know what the truth is and what isn’t… the delusion, the deception, the dark glass we see through now, the blindness of our pride and lust and sin… it’ll all be gone. He didn’t want his brothers to join him in hell, for they surely were coming to this same place as he. What a place to finally care for someone’s eternal destiny, when you can’t do anything about it. This is a horrific story.

Well the rich man thought, surely if Lazarus is sent to his brothers from the dead… surely they’ll believe! Right? Imagine if someone who had died miraculously came back from the dead to tell you of a place not to go. Well surely you’d believe! But no, you wouldn’t. And in fact, one person has died and risen from the dead to warn us. His name is Jesus Christ, and they didn’t repent, and don’t repent still. Even if  Lazarus was sent to warn the rich man’s brothers… they wouldn’t have believed him. Why is that? And this is a lesson that God has been showing me in recent times… if God’s word doesn’t produce belief… nothing else will. Our faith and trust has to be created by and based upon God’s word, and if you’ve rejected that, there’s nothing that can be done for you.

Abraham said… they have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. What’s Abraham saying? They’ve got the word of God! They’ve got the Bible. If they don’t believe the Bible, they won’t believe Lazarus even if I send him. This is an incredible and profound truth. See, if you don’t believe the word of God, nothing on earth will convince you of truth. Those people that saw the plagues of Egypt, that saw the Red Sea part, that ate the manna from heaven and drunk water from the rock… they still didn’t believe! All those miracles that Jesus did, yet the Jews still didn’t believe. If God’s word doesn’t convince you nothing else will. If God’s word, the gospel of Jesus Christ, if it hasn’t saved you… there’s no other method of helping you and reaching out to you that will avail to anything.

So often we try intellectualizing and debating and discussing and arguing people into the kingdom of God. But the only way you get into the kingdom of God is by being born again. You’re born into it, not educated and programmed and eased into it. And you’re born again when you believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which means you repent of your sin and you trust in Jesus Christ for forgiveness and deliverance from your sin. So when we try to help people, the only way we can help people is with God’s word. The Bible says faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. And when God’s word is preached, for God has chosen the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe, that’s what will save you or damn you. If you reject God’s word, there’s nothing else for you.

We have seeker friendly churches, and worldly methods of trying to make people Christians and get them into church. But we ain’t helping anyone at all. In fact all we are doing is self medicating ourselves, we’re not doing any good, but we’re making ourselves feel warm and fuzzy like we’re making a difference in this world. When we aren’t. There’s no point sidestepping around or making an apology for God’s word. Give God’s word to people and if they reject that, then you can’t do anything for them. If they’ve rejected the gospel, there’s nothing more to discuss. They refused the only thing that can help them, indeed the only thing that can save their souls and deliver them from the fire of hell.

In 2 Chronicles 24 there was a king named Joash who the Bible said did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest. But when the priest died, things changed dramatically. He did evil, because he started listening to and following someone else who took him in a different direction. This is the problem with producing converts and disciples and peoples and believers… who’s belief and life and words and deeds are not based on God’s word, but on a person or something or anything else other than God’s word. Joash’s life was based on Jehoiada not on personal faith in God’s word. So once Jehoiada was gone, he found someone else to follow, and he lived and did completely differently, and did reprehensible things. The best thing that can happen to us is to be shown who and what we truly are, when our profession is really put on trial to see if our faith really was in God’s word, or we were just following and copying and doing whatever we do because others are doing it or that’s what we are supposed to do.

So many Christians are like reeds in the wind, they change on a dime, because their faith isn’t in God’s word, but in a person or a movement or a denomination. Their faith is in their church. It was never about God’s word. If you haven’t been begotten by the word of truth, you aren’t begotten, you aren’t God’s child. James 1:18 – Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. See, when we produce converts and Christians and people who aren’t begotten by the word of truth, but through some other means, worldly or religious or whatever… you haven’t produced a true Christian with a true salvation. They’ll be one thing around you, but when you’re gone, they’ll be like something or someone else. So often we disobey God’s word in trying to reach the lost or help others. We think we can be a help without the gospel, without the word of God. But the truth is, the only help we can be to anyone is to hold forth the word of life, to hold forth the word of God. It’s all about God’s word, if that doesn’t get it done, if that isn’t what has produced faith and salvation in your life… then you’ve got nothing.

The rich man learned something in hell, which you may only learn in hell. The utter importance of God’s word. That it’s God’s word that matters. That we should not reject it. Just in hell you’ll realize too late you should have believed rather than not bothering with it, than mocking and scoffing and scorning and belittling it. We have Moses and the prophets today, we have the Bible. If that doesn’t get it done for you, if that doesn’t produce faith in your life… nothing else is going to save you from the flames of hell. The Bible was the difference between the rich man and his brothers going to hell and not. It’s the same for all of us. What did we do with the gospel? Do you believe the word of the Lord or not? Will you only learn how God’s word is all that mattered when it’s too late? That will be the difference between salvation and damnation, between heaven and hell.

The rich man finally learned the value of God’s word in hell, when it was too late for him. You see, it’s a matter of time till you realize the truth, till you’re set straight, it’s just a matter of when not if, and whether it’ll be too late or not. After you die, you won’t dispute the truth of Jesus Christ, you’ll wish you did have an ear to hear Moses and the prophets. That poor beggar lived a desperate life, but one day he heard and believed the gospel… and that’s why he didn’t go to hell. He had nothing in this life, he got a raw deal, but he went to heaven. The rich man finally learned the importance and supremacy and truth of God’s word in hell, when it was too late for him. It’s about God’s word, will you believe the record of God to man or not? Will it be too late for you? Will it only be in hell when you finally realize how serious God’s word is to be taken? Will you only learn this truth as he did… in hell?

1 Peter 1:23 – Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

1 Peter 1:24 – For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

1 Peter 1:25 – But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Blog Bible Christ Faith God Gospel Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Jesus KJV Lord Salvation Saved Sin