Beloved radio friends, we welcome you to our closing meditation on the subject of life and death and eternity, which we have taken from the divinely inspired words spoken by the Son of God and recorded in the Gospel of Luke chapter sixteen, verse nineteen through thirty-one. Today we shall close our study considering the rich man's eternal destiny from verses twenty three through thirty one we emphasize once again the solemn fact that the divine son of god the creator of heaven and the earth has for your sake your sake and for mine lifted aside the veil of the eternal world that is beyond death to show before our eyes the destiny of all souls, either to be in heaven or to be in hell. The Word of God never teaches that there is any intermediate existence between heaven and hell, but definitely declares we either go to heaven or we go to hell, to eternal joy or to eternal sadness. Now let us consider seriously, prayerfully, and personally, the rich man in our story, and the discoveries that he found following his death and his burial. First, consider his location. Where did his soul go to, as it is written in verse twenty-three, plainly spoken, plainly given, in hell? Do not think lightly of this, my friend, but very solemnly. for the reality of it should be believed. The Old Testament on one occasion, and many others, but on one occasion in Psalm nine, verse seventeen plainly states, to this rich man during his life, the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. We have emphasized that the rich man, by his life and through his life, showed that God was forgotten, that God was not even in his thoughts at all. But here you have the Lord saying, all the nations that forget God, as well as the wicked amongst them, shall be turned into hell. Consider it. Please let me say, those words are true, and they'll be fulfilled. But second, from the Savior's words we also learn his portion. teaching us that the doctrine of soul sleep is not in the Bible. This fellow was very conscious, quite conscious, of his surroundings, even though his body was in the tomb and in the grave upon the earth. Now there are some who believe, and they teach it, that physical death is the end of everything for the human body and the human life. Nothing can be more untrue. Don't believe it. It is appointed unto men once to die, wrote the Scripture. But after this, there's an afterward, the judgment. Hebrews nine, twenty-seven. Third, how did the rich man feel? Was he comforted as Lazarus? Absolutely not. Verse twenty-three tells us he lifted up his eyes, being in torments. Also Abraham said to him, Thou art tormented, in verse twenty-five. If there were others with him in that place, and doubtless there were, yet he was alone in his own torment. Others in that place could give him no comfort, nor consolation. They had their own torment to bear. But fourth, consider an amazing fact. Physically, his dead body... was laying in the tomb, but he still possessed his faculties. All of his mental faculties were with him. My beloved, may I say, please, think it over. You and I, when we reach eternity, we are going to have our faculties with us. And if it were not that you have a spirit and soul in your present body upon the earth, you would have no faculties. Take it in. The real personality that you are and that I am is not the body, but it's the spirit of the soul that dwells in the body. That immaterial, unseen part of us, but not unnoticed, though no surgeon, no radiologist, nor anyone can find or any medical and scientific explanation, can find the real personality of the spirit and the soul that is in everybody's body. But at death when that leaves the body, it still exists. This record told by the Savior proves it. Note it carefully. This rich man in hell, he had his eyesight. He lifted up his eyes he could see. and he saw Abraham and Lazarus so far off. Please, my friend, listen carefully. After you're dead, you're going to be able to see, but not with the eyes you've got in your head at the present time. You'll have other eyes that are much better. I wonder indeed if the lost souls in hell can indeed can realize they have their sight. He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham and Lazarus so far off. Yes, The lost souls in hell will indeed have such a vision. I wonder will it not be true? They can see a long way. They can even see the glory and the happiness of the saints will be in heaven, though they are in the darkness of hell, which will only add to their torment, in my humble opinion. Second, he had feelings. Please know verse twenty-three. He could feel. I'm tormented, he said, in this flame. What a contrast to heaven, where we know there is no pain. And also, please note, he had a tongue. Yes, it was burning and poached. It was longing for Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his poached tongue, as you can read in verse twenty-four. But it had to be denied him. It was impossible for Lazarus to do that. He had a tongue. And know carefully, he could and did talk with that tongue. Yes, he made a prayer. He addressed this prayer to Father Abraham. He said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. A prayer for mercy. But unfortunately, too late. There was mercy for him when he was living on the earth. But he didn't seek it. He didn't take it. but there's no mercy in eternity where he was. Solem thought, for there are many today who seek to believe that God would never send a sinner to hell. Don't you believe that, my friend? The word of God is too plain. Don't risk that. It is a big mistake. The Word of God says, Today while you're living is the day of salvation. Today while you're alive is the accepted time to be saved. Second Corinthians six, two. Then he had a memory. Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus is evil things. The memory of all his sins and all that had taken place during his life, and the sins committed against God, they were in eternal remembrance. And may I say, my sinner friend, you're going to remember forever your life upon the earth. If you die unsaved and be there where the rich man is, if you know not the Savior, you'll remember all your sins. How grateful I am To know that through Christ, God says to me and to all who will come to the Savior, in repentance and faith, listen to what God says. Their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Hebrews ten, seventeen. My beloved, please may I say, what a joy it is. When you trust Christ, God says your sins are forgiven, and I, God says, will remember them. No more. But all the unsaved will have a perfect memory, a clear memory of all their sins throughout eternity. And that proves he had a conscience. Yes, he had his conscience, and it was working perfectly. Read verses twenty-seven and twenty-eight. He tells that he had five brothers upon the earth. They were headed to the same place. And he begs, send Lazarus. Let him go from the dead. Tell my brothers not to come here. Let him go and testify unto them, lest they also come unto this place of torment. Now he thinks of others, his own blood brothers, but it's too late. One fact is true. Now he was in hell. He didn't want anybody else to go there. He now longed to save his five brothers from making the same mistake. Though he had been thoughtless about God in eternity, but the prayer God could never answer. Abraham tells him, if one went unto them from the dead, they will not repent. In verse thirty, there was only one way for their repentance. And will you please note that Abraham tells The rich man in hell? They have the word of God. They have Moses and they have the prophets. Let them hear them. Listen to the Bible. My beloved friend, if you refuse to listen to the gospel and believe it, you have no other way to get saved. And finally and sorrowfully he learned that his punishment was eternal. Yes, it was eternal. He was going to be in hell forever. For old Abraham says there's a great gulf fixed between you and between us, which cannot be bridged. We cannot come down to you, neither can you come up to us. There was an impassable space, and there is between heaven and hell. The gulf can never be spanned. Never can be, and never will be. But when a sinner repentant in confessing his or her sins, puts his and her faith in the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus upon the cross, then he or she can say, There is no condemnation, there is no hell for me, the fire and the torment mine I shall never see. Oh, my beloved radio friends, at the end of your life, At the time of your death, may you enter eternity to be with Christ in heaven, is my earnest prayer. Beloved and blessed Father, by the power and the conviction of the Holy Spirit, bring many a dear friend who is still on faith to the Savior now, that they'll spend eternity with Christ forever. Amen.