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Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Should find the hymnal close by, please turn to hymn number 179. Number 179, welcome by singing all four versions of such love. Number 179. Let's lift it up nice and loud all together on this first verse. That God should love a sinner such as I Should yearn to change my sorrow and to bless The rest that He had planned to bring me high How wonderful is love like this Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Redemption for a worthless thing to find Who long and long and grace define Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love That God should love a sinner such as I Should yearn to change my sorrow and to bless The rest that He had planned to bring me high How wonderful is love like this Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Such love, such wonderful love Go to hymn number 277 Number 277, only trust him Number 277 Sing it out on this first verse Come every soul by sin oppressed There's mercy with the Lord And He will surely give you rest By trusting in His Word Only trust Him, only trust Him Only trust Him now He will save you He will save you He will save you now For Jesus shed His precious blood Blessings to be stowed Plunged now into the crimson flood That washes white as snow Only trust Him, only trust Him Only trust Him now He will save you He will save you Only trust Him now Yet Jesus is the truth The way that we do into rest Believe in Him without delay And you are fully blessed Only trust Him, only trust Him Only trust Him now He will save you He will save you He will save you now Come then and join this holy band And all to glory go To dwell in that celestial empire Joins immortal flow Only trust Him, only trust Him Only trust Him now He will save you He will save you Those are our announcements together. If you don't have a bulletin, slip up your hand nice and high. We'll get to you with one. On the inside we have our service time. Sunday mornings at 10.30 is our preaching service. Sunday nights at 6. Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study. This week will be in Psalm 67. We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms. Across the page are the October birthdays that we celebrated this morning with coffee and donuts. Happy anniversary to the couples that are listed there as well. Pendletons, Coopers, and Burbanks. And then below that, this is the final week for the Bible memory, Isaiah chapter 40 verses 21 and 31. So if you've gotten this finished and you quoted it word perfect to a non-relative in the church, then you sign the clipboard over here near the kitchen so we can make sure to get you your prize. On the back we've got the Spanish night coming up this Thursday night at 7 o'clock. There's a field trip on Monday, October 26th and that is at the Wildlife World Zoo Aquarium and Safari Park. This is a really cool field trip. Make sure that you follow the rules, take it seriously, show up on time, etc. Make sure you RSVP and if you end up not going, update your RSVP. Make sure to follow all of that because this is a pretty cool trip and late arrivals will not be admitted with our group. And then below that, the annual chili cook-off is coming up October 31st so you can start experimenting and perfecting those recipes. That way you don't try something wild on the night of and it all goes wrong. You can practice a little bit. But anyway, there's a cut-off for that. If you're not there at 5 o'clock with the chili, then you're DQ'd from the event. And then below that we've got the weekly events, the preaching class every Tuesday night open to participants only and the shuttle you can ride down to Tucson. That leaves at 3.30 sharp every Thursday and that includes Soul Winning Church and brother Corbin Russell will buy you dinner and so that is available every single Thursday night and then this Thursday night is of course the Spanish night, second Thursday of every month. That is about it for announcements. Let's go ahead and sing our next song. Come lead us. Alright, we're going to sing Psalm 67. You should find an insert there. Psalm 67. Let's sing it out on that first. Sing it out nice and loud. Oh praise thee, oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For thou shall judge the people, righteously and of earth, the nations upon earth. The nations upon earth see love. Let the people praise thee, oh God. Let all people praise thee. Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy. For each other will hurry in peace and God in our own God shall bless us. God shall bless us in all the enemies of the earth shall fear him. Let the people praise thee, oh God. Let all people praise thee. Oh let the nations be glad and sing for joy. And your hymnals will sing number 168. All hail the power of Jesus' name, this other version. Number 168. All more verses. Number 168. Sing on that first verse. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels bring forth the royal might of heaven and crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him and crown him Lord of all the chosen see our Israel face. He reigns above, he reigns above the throne. He'll hear who sings in the highest praise and crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, and crown him, Lord of all her every kindred, every tribe. On his threshold, on his terrestrial wall, to him all majesty of strife and crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, and crown him, Lord of all so that him under sacred law we at his people, we at his people will join the everlasting song and crown him, crown him, crown him, crown him, and crown him, Lord of all. Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around. As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter number 16, as we always do, we will read the entire chapter starting in verse number 1. Follow along silently with brother Nick as he reads. Luke chapter 16, starting in verse number 1. Luke 16. Luke chapter 16. And he said also unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account to thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig to beg, I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much oest thou unto my Lord? And he said, And hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another, And how much oest thou? And he said, And hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore. And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said unto them, Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God. The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail. Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, committeth adultery, and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. 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 left up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 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 receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there 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. And 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. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. Father in Heaven, thank you for the opportunity to be in this great church this morning. I pray that you will fill Pastor Innocent with the Holy Spirit, and give him power and boldness to preach, and give us ears to hear. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is The Rich Man and Lazarus. Beginning in verse 19 there, the Bible reads, 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 seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And this story is basically about two beggars, one who begged in this life, and one who begged in the next life. One who lived good in this present life. He fared sumptuously every day. I mean, this guy is living it up. He had fancy clothes, a beautiful home, success in the world's eyes. And the Bible says that men will praise you when you do well to yourself. And that's how many people in this world today measure success. It's a hundred percent financial. They look at your home, your vehicle, your job, your career, and this guy had it all, but he did not have Christ. He wasn't saved. And so he died, and immediately in hell, he lift up his eyes in torment. That's how fast he went. A lot of people think that you're not going to go to hell until judgment day. Wrong. If you die, when you breathe your last breath, you will lift up your eyes and you will be in hell that fast. Now some people have said, well, this is just a parable. Okay. Let's say it's a parable. Can you show me any parable in the Bible that's not about real places and real people and real events? Let's think about all the parables that you want to name. Okay, what about the parable of the sower? Do farmers exist? Do they throw seeds? Do seeds fall into the ground? Do seeds grow? Do birds come and eat seeds? Do seeds fall by the wayside? Those are all real things, aren't they? And then think about the parable of the net cast into the sea. Does that actually happen? Do fishermen throw nets into the sea and gather things in? How about the parable of the measure of meal? Do women actually put leaven into dough and split it into three measures and make three loaves of bread? Yes, they do. I want you to name for me the parable that is based on places that don't exist, events that don't exist, situations that don't exist. No, parables are about real stuff. Now I'm not saying this is a parable. I don't believe this is a parable because if it were a parable, it would be the only parable in the Bible to mention someone's name. Because all the other parables just say a certain man, a woman, whatever. A fisherman, a sower, none of them say Lazarus. This is giving a person's name. But even if it were a parable, and this is what I always ask these Jehovah's Witnesses who say it's a parable, I always say to them, okay, so what does this symbolize then? So the guy dies, he had everything good in this life, so it can't be anything that he suffered in this life or anything that went wrong in this life. After he dies, he's tormented in flames, tell me what could that possibly represent? I've never had them be able to give me an answer for what this parable represents because I can tell you what the parable of the sower represents, I can tell you what the parable of the prodigal son represents, I can tell you what the parable of the Good Samaritan's all about, but can somebody tell me what a parable's about where a guy is burning in hell begging for a drop of water because he's tormented in a flame. And you know what, it's not like this is an isolated passage of scripture, folks. There is a lot of scripture on hell. Jesus talked about hell a lot more than he talked about heaven because he didn't want anybody to go there. He's warning us. It's more important to be warned about hell than to just think about how great heaven's gonna be. You know, when you get to heaven, you're gonna like it, whether you know how cool it is or not. Okay, but hell is a place that you want to understand the horror of it so that you don't go there and so that you can pull people out of the fire and actually care about getting people saved because they're going to this place of torment. Think about all of the clear scriptures in the Bible where Christ taught on hell. He said, fear not them which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. That would make no sense if hell's not a real place. Or what about when Jesus even said it this way, they kill the body and after that, there's nothing more that they can do. Let that sink in. Jesus said, after that, there's nothing else they can do. They kill the body, there's nothing else they can do. Okay, well, if supposedly hell is this place where you just burn up and it's over, then wouldn't the same thing be said about God? Well, fear not God because he just torches you in hell and then there's nothing more that he can do. It's just that fast. Think about that. Because could a person light me on fire on this earth? Have Christians ever been burned at the stake for the cause of Christ? So here you have Christians burning at the stake throughout history and other people, witches and other people that deserve to be burned at the stake. But anyway, you know, there are people that are burned at the stake. That's a human being. Jesus is saying, hey, don't fear man because man can only kill you and after that, there's nothing more he can do. Can man burn you at the stake? Okay, so how is that any different than God supposedly throwing you into hell and you burn up like the Seventh-day Adventists teach? You burn up. You're just gone or it's figurative. Folks, that makes no sense. Jesus said, don't fear the ones who can kill you and they have nothing else that they can do. Hey, fear God who can destroy both soul and body in hell. You know why it's so fearful to be in hell is because of the fact that it goes on forever and ever and ever. It doesn't end. It's not just, well, that was bad and it's over. No, it just keeps going. That's the horrible thing about it. Now Jesus Christ said, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now let me ask you this. When that rich man died, did his body go to hell? No. I mean, look, we've seen some unsaved people die in our lives and their bodies stayed right here. Their body didn't go to hell. Their soul went to hell. So how did Jesus say he'll destroy both soul and body in hell? Because of the fact that at the end of the world, at the great white throne of judgment, the Bible talks about the bodies of the dead being resurrected and them being cast body and soul into the lake of fire. Now that means that they have to still exist when that time comes. And folks, that's at least a thousand years away. So people that are in hell right now, although they're not burning up, they're going to continue in hell at least another thousand some odd years until that great white throne. Then they're going to go to the lake of fire and they're going to be in the lake of fire forever. The Bible says the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night. And you say, I just don't believe that a loving God would create a place like hell. Well, you know what? The loving God did create hell. There's only one. There's no a loving God. There's just the loving God and is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. The Bible says our God is a consuming fire. God is angry with the wicked every day. The nation shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. The wicked shall be turned to hell and all the nations that forget God. Jesus said, if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable of thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. He said, if your right foot offend you, cut it off and cast it from you. He said, look, you'd rather be maimed. You'd rather lose a hand. You'd rather lose a foot. You'd rather rip out your own eye because that's all temporary than to go into hell into the fire which never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Folks, if I just burned up, what do I care whether the fire's quenched? If I'm gone. Folks, if I'm just gonna burn up or something, what do I care as an unsaved person whether the worm dieth not? Folks, that's meaningless. That's meaningless, friend. Folks, the terror of hell is that the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. It goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. You know what the worst part about hell is? It's the fact that it goes on forever. The second worst part is that it's fire. But I'll tell you something today. You'll talk to some Christians and you say, what's the worst part about hell? And they'll say, you know, it's just being separated from God. You know what? You wish you were separated from God when you're in hell because the Bible says that they will burn in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. A fire of brimstone, a stream of fire and brimstone from the Lord's mouth kindles hell, according to the book of Isaiah. And so hell is not a place where you're separated from God. It's a place where you're tormented in the presence of the lamb. You're tormented in the...you know, that's just a way to try to make hell seem a little bit chillier than it really is. Oh, well, the worst part's being separated from God. Folks, did you know that the reprobate wants to be separated from God? It's going to make it more hellish for him that God's there. The Bible says, if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Whither shall I flee thy presence? Psalm 139. You cannot flee the presence of God. The unsaved, the God-haters, the reprobates, the people who don't even want to retain God in their knowledge, they wish that they could go to hell to be separated from God, but no, they're going to go to hell and there's going to be nothing that they like about it because not only is it going to be fire, not only is it going to be torment, not only is it going to be darkness, but God's there. In your face. For all eternity. In the presence of God. The one that you wanted to forget and get away from. No, you will be aware of his presence. And can you imagine someone burning in hell for hundreds and hundreds of years, yea, maybe even thousands of years, depending on when they died, and then imagine that person being coughed up and spat out of hell on the day of that great white throne judgment and standing before God. I wonder if their attitude is going to be a little different than it was when they were on this earth saying, hey, I'm going to go to hell, that's where all my friends are. I wonder if their attitude is going to be a little different. Folks, that's why the Bible says every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Folks, people will be praising God, begging God, glorifying God, they will be terrified, they will not have any kind of pride or arrogance. No flesh is going to be exalted in that day. No man is going to boast or glory in that day. Oh no. No way. And so hell is a real place. Hell is a horrible place. And it is a biblical place. Folks, if you don't believe in hell, I don't see how you can believe the Bible. It's everywhere. It's not like it's some minor doctrine folks. It is all over the Bible. And even Jesus himself talked about it and talked, I mean he talked about it the most. He talked about it even more than the apostle Paul or other books in the New Testament cover it. I mean they cover it. Don't get me wrong. 1 and 2 Thessalonians covers it for sure. But I'm telling you, Jesus Christ, he preached about this. He preached the fear of God into people with hell. And this is Jesus telling this story right here about the rich man and Lazarus. And the first thing I want to point out about this story is that right at the beginning here you see that the rich man, he was clothed in purple and fine linen and he fared sumptuously every day. But the thing that we see right away is that no matter how good you have it on this earth, if you go to hell, it's all in vain and it doesn't even matter. I mean how long do you have to be in hell before it stops mattering how good you had it? Before it doesn't even matter what you achieved on this life if you're not safe. And you are not profited even if you were to gain the whole world and lose your own soul. What doth it profit? It's meaningless. People today are so focused on carnal things and they're so focused on this world but let me tell you something. This life is a vapor. It appears for a little time and then it vanishes away. And you may feel like life is long and that it goes. But folks life eventually as you get older it starts to fly by. You know when you're a kid the years are long aren't they? But when you get older when you get to be my age it's just like tearing pages off that calendar it's just like whoosh whoosh whoosh. And eventually you're on that bobsled toward the end of your life. It just goes faster and faster and faster and faster. And you know what? Eventually one day you are going to face God and you had better have the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. You better not be given one of these stupid answers that I hear out of soul and it doesn't even include Jesus. Hey are you a Christian? Oh yeah. So what do you think a person has to do to go to heaven? Oh be good. Live right. So what do we need Jesus for then? Sounds like you're doing great. And it's amazing how you call yourself a Christian but yet Jesus doesn't factor into your gospel at all. So how do you know you're going to heaven? Well I've done good things. Don't sin. Love your neighbor. Believe in yourself. Be true to yourself. Help others. Rescue animals. I've heard each of those answers I've heard a hundred times. How many of you have heard some kind of animal rescue answer? All over the building. I've heard it more times than I can count. Well I rescue animals and... You know I just believe that if we treat other people the way we want to be treated. Well you know what? What's all this song and dance of Jesus dying on the cross then? Sounds like you don't even need it. No my friend. Jesus dying on the cross is the focal point of human history. Everything before that is leading up to Christ dying on the cross. Everything after that is looking back on Christ dying on the cross. Even our calendar 2020 what? 2020 what? 2020 in the year of our Lord 2020. 2020 years after the birth of Jesus Christ. The most important significant individual in the universe that has ever existed. The turning point of all civilization. And they say well you know it's the current era. Right? That's what the academics will say. BCE. Before the current era. Well pray tell me what issued in the current, ushered in the current era is what I'd like to know. Did any significant event happen exactly two thousand twenty years ago that we could really point to besides the birth of Christ? No. So even if an atheist wants to say BCE and CE they can say that all they want but they're still referencing the birth of Christ whether they want to or not because they're still counting that number. You'd have to change the number. In the French Revolution they tried to change that number. They called it year two. Right? Yeah. They did. They got rid of and they even got rid of seven day weeks because it was too Christian. It was too biblical. You know God creating the earth and resting on the seventh day. So they got rid of seven day weeks. They went to a ten day week called the cod and they changed the names of the months. They changed everything. People thought it was the end of the world. They thought it's like the anti-Christ is changing times and laws and everything. And people thought it was the end of the world. People were being beheaded every day. You can see how they could have thought that. But let me tell you something. It didn't work and here we are. Two thousand twenty. The Bible being preached in millions of pulpits right now as we speak all over America. Tens of millions of people are attending church today. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world are reading the Bible. The Bible is being preached. Our year two thousand twenty is all pointing to Jesus Christ. It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ and if you live your life without regard for Jesus Christ and you're just thinking about the things of this world, you're a fool. You know and the Bible talks about you a couple chapters ago in Luke chapter twelve if you're just all into you know storing up things on this world and building a bigger barn and he said you know if you're not rich toward God you know who are you saving up all that money for? God can just take your life at any time. Now folks when it comes to being saved it's based on one thing. Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? And so it doesn't matter how much good you do. It doesn't matter how many people you help. It doesn't matter what you've achieved. It doesn't matter your success. Without Christ you are going to hell. It's that simple. There's no other way around it. I am the way, the truth, the life. Jesus said no man cometh unto the Father but by me. And you know President Donald Trump right now is he's old and you know what else he's got coronavirus and he's on oxygen a couple days ago and you say well I think he's going to be fine. Okay but you know what when he dies he's going to split hell wide open. I don't care how much you like him. I don't care how much you hate the other guy. The pedophile weirdo that he's running against but let me tell you something when Donald Trump dies he's going to split hell wide open and I don't care if you think he's the greatest president in the history of the United States even if you're right. Let's say you're right. Let's say he is the greatest president in the history of the United States. He will burn in hell because he's not saved. He isn't saved. He's not saved and you know what he ought to be scared to death right now. He ought to be trembling because he's one heartbeat away from burning in hell forever and ever and ever. He's not saved. He does not believe in Jesus Christ as his savior. He does not. Somebody asked have you ever confessed that you're a sinner to God? Nope. He's not even to point A of the gospel. Well he goes so when he isn't that the first thing like alright you gotta admit you're a sinner. You gotta admit you're a sinner. Folks they ask him hey you ever confess to God your sins? He said no. I just try not to do anything wrong. Then I don't have to confess. Then I don't have to ask forgiveness. Hey did you ever ask Jesus Christ for forgiveness? Who knows what I'm talking about? Yeah. Hey did you ever ask Jesus for forgiveness? Well no I just try not to make mistakes. Well good luck with that buddy. Good luck with that. Tell you something both of these dinosaurs that are running for president are gonna split hell wide open and I don't care what they've achieved in their lives. I don't care how popular they are. I don't care the accolades they get. It is all going to be meaningless when they are dead and gone. None of it will matter. They're so worried about their legacy the memory of the wicked shall rot the Bible says and no one without Jesus is righteous in the sight of God. Every unsaved person who dies without Jesus Christ their memory will rot and some day they will be 100% forgotten. And we will be like Donald Trump who? 2,000 years from now? 5,000 years from now? 10,000 years from now? We're not even gonna know who these people are. They're gonna be gone and forgotten but you know what they'll still exist. Not in our presence. We won't know about it but they'll still be burning in hell somewhere my friend. And let me tell you something people today they're caught up in the things of this world hey you know what we're all part of this world we all interact with this world I'm not telling you not to interact with the things of this world but I'm telling you something you better realize that the main thing is Christ and that all this other stuff is just Christ is our life and the rest is just details. Okay that's true. Christ is our life. To live is Christ. And so you know you get so caught some people right now it's like we knocked on somebody's door we want to talk about the gospel and they're like you're voting for Trump right? You know it's like and I'm thinking to myself hey I'm here to talk about something more important than that. I am here to talk about something more important than that but to some people there's nothing more important than that. That's the most important thing right? Most important thing is just getting Trump re-elected or something like that. Well you know what not to me because this world is not my home and I am not going to worship and venerate and lift up and exalt and have as a hero a sleazy wicked person. Not going to do it. Yeah but the other guy what about the other guy? Folks I don't care about the other guy. I am not going to get all excited and promote and rejoice in a wicked sleazy sinful lover of money and you say well we're not you know he's not our pastor. Yeah you're right I'm your pastor. And I'm telling you he's going to split hell wide open. So there's your spiritual guidance for the week beloved. I'm telling you something folks our country let me just go off a little bit. Folks our country is a joke. That debate the other day who watched that debate the other day? I don't usually watch that kind of stuff but everybody was memeing about it and I felt left out. Folks I watched the debate it was an embarrassment it was the stupidest most brainless thing that I've ever seen. You know next time I feel bad when I preach a sermon that's not that good I'm just going to remember it's still better than that debate. This is still a better hour and a half than that debate. I don't care I'll pick the worst sermon that I've ever preached in my life or the worst sermon that any of my friends have ever preached. Okay I'm telling you that debate was the most worthless piece of junk. It was just like you're lying you're lying you're lying no you lied you lied you lied lie lie lie you're a liar liar liar lie they're just calling each other a liar the whole time but nobody is like backing up what they're saying with facts or giving any sources for their information it's just you're lying you're lying you're an idiot you're a clown you're a loser you know you're a doo doo head. Folks that was an embarrassment it was a joke it was insane I couldn't even believe that these are the people that are that are supposed this is the top Republican and the top Democrat? I just I always just marvel like there's like 150 million Democrats or 200 million Democrats like this is who you came up with this is your guy this is your best foot forward it's unbelievable folks but you know there are some people that rather than read their Bible they'll sit and watch that stuff every day every day they're glued to Fox News or CNN or MSNBC or talk radio they're glued to it not Bible preaching not reading the word of God not meditating on the word of God like that's what they're into is just the politics and you know what hey this October I challenge you to read your Bible every single day why don't you do that in October read your Bible every single day because that's what matters folks so we see that in the story here no matter how good you have it no matter how much success you have no matter you could be even like Donald Trump and fare sumptuously every day and be a multi-millionaire and and have it good and and I mean he's got it all I mean he's got money he's got fame he's got power he's got achievements right but it's all gonna be meaningless when he dies without Christ but here's another point I want to make no matter how bad you have it in this life if you got Jesus Christ it's gonna be okay look at this look at the other side so we see the rich man no matter how good he had it being in hell voids everything negates everything but no matter how bad you have it if you're saved there's hope that someday you will be comforted I mean this guy was covered in sores that's horrible right I mean not only is he living outside now he does not have fame he has people looking down on him disgusted by him he's dirty dogs are coming and licking his sores that's pretty low when not only do you have sores but you're allowing dogs to come lick your sores to give you some relief and you're just desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table folks no matter how bad you have it if you have Jesus Christ in your heart you are gonna be okay isn't that good it says in verse number 24 he cried and said this is the rich man 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'm tormented in this flame some parable huh but Abraham said son remember that thou in thy lifetime receive it's thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and thou art tormented his comforts gonna last forever and the torment of the rich man lasts forever so which would you choose who do you want to be in this story do you want to be the rich man in this story who has it good and is dining and faring sumptuously and then burns in hell or would you rather be the poor man who's diseased and hated and goes to heaven now look I'm not saying and the scripture's not saying that you have to be diseased or go through all that in order to make it into heaven just like not everybody who goes to hell is necessarily even having a great time while they're here on earth but this story is using extreme examples to show us hey no matter how good you have it hell voids everything but folks flip that over no matter how bad you have it going to heaven is going to void all the suffering Jesus will wipe away all tears from our eyes that's all going to be gone it's all going to be forgotten it's all going to be a thing of the past the apostle Paul said I reckon that the sufferings of this life are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us it's not even what you can't even compare them because they're not even on the same order of magnitude you can't even make that comparison folks it's just that good to be in heaven it's just that good to be with Christ and so no it doesn't matter how bad you have it if you're saved you're better off than the person who's living it up unsaved right now no matter what I'd rather be a Christian on my worst day than be an unsaved person on their best day any day of the week do not fall into the trap of envying the wicked and thinking that they have it good folks they are on borrowed time it's all going to be over the time cometh the Bible says when people who own things are they're not going to own anything anymore the people who use this world the fashion of this world is going to pass away it's all going to be over and it's going to matter only whether you had Christ as your savior and then as far as rewards it's only going to matter what you did for Christ as far as rewards but the big thing is just making sure that you go up and not down when you die that's the number one thing so we see that you had your good things but now you're tormented and he's comforted and let me say this you can't really have it all in this life because here's the thing if you're a Christian you cannot just go through life living hedonistically for self because the Lord will chasten you for that and then you're not having as much fun anymore because you're getting scourged by the Lord so the only person who can truly enjoy a debauched sinful life is an unsaved person a saved person yeah a saved person can go out and sin we're all capable of sin that's why we got to be on our guard but only an unsaved person can go out and really enjoy sin prosper in sin succeed sinning and feel good about it folks if we go out and live a sinful life we're going to feel guilty God's going to be punishing us chastising us scourging us and so you really can't live your best life now and go to heaven you can't do both because if you live a life just for self self self God's going to chastise you and scourge you and then it's not going to be so cool the unsaved person can truly live their best life now they can truly enjoy themselves to the max but tell me something is it worth it for that one little hoorah and then you're burning in hell for a hundred years thousand years ten thousand years a million years it's it's ridiculous to even you can't even compare the two and so when you're feeling sorry for yourself because of how bad you have it whether it's health problems relationship problems financial problems you know you could always stop and think about hey at least I'm never going to spend one second in hell at least I'm going to go to heaven for all eternity hey weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning and Lazarus got comforted the rich man was tormented Lazarus was comforted so that's the dichotomy here the guy lives it up goes to hell the other guy suffers goes to heaven who do you want to be but Abraham said verse 25 son remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he's comforted and thou art tormented why does he call him son son now is Abraham just one of these guys that just calls everybody son he just calls he's like the waitress who just calls everybody sugar and honey and darling he just calls everybody son now son you received the good things no you know why he's calling him son is because it's his literal son let me repeat that it is his literal son why because of the fact that Abraham is the father of the children of Israel Abraham begat Isaac Isaac begat Jacob Jacob begat the twelve patriarchs and this is a story taking place in Israel these are Jews in the story and so he's telling his literal descendant obviously it's not his son and the first generation but it's his great great great great great great grandson which the Bible will still call that your son just like Jesus the son of David and so he's saying son you're in hell now this again emphasizes the fact that being a Jew doesn't get you into heaven I knocked on the door of Ben Shapiro who's a congressman for the state of Arizona I don't know if he's in the United States Congress or the I believe it's the US Congress right or was he just in the Arizona legislature or whatever well he's not anymore but what you know he used to be say what what did I say oh that's not what is Ben Shapiro that stinking Jew well he's it he's going to hell too no what's the guy what's the guy I'm thinking of David Shapiro thank you thank you for catching me on that David Shapiro sorry I mixed up with with another person that a bunch of conservatives bowed down oh Ben Shapiro oh Ben Shapiro Ben Shapiro is an Antichrist but anyway that had nothing to do with it David Shapiro I did not knock Ben Shapiro's door that's how this how rumors get started okay all right let's let's back up let's let's back the truck up here okay all right I knocked on David Shapiro's door who is the United States representative representing Tempe a few years ago he's a Democrat Congressman for Tempe sent all the way to Washington DC I believe unless he was a state legislature guy but I'm pretty sure he's the US House of Representatives somebody should have googled this by now no stay off your phones listen to me but anyway I knocked on his door and I and I immediately recognized him because I'd seen his ads and everything and he had a lot of yard signs for himself you know of course and so I knocked on his door and I asked him I said if you were to die today do you know for sure you're going to heaven and he said well yeah and I said well you know how do you know and he said well because I'm Jewish and we believe that all of the chosen people are gonna go to Abraham's bosom that's exactly what he said verbatim we're all gonna go to Abraham's bosom now in this story I see Abraham's bosom and I see David Shapiro's not there because son David Shapiro son you're tormented son okay because David Shapiro rejects the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and by the way then a few years after I knocked on his door he did a press conference in our parking lot with our church behind him saying we gotta please like this guy every six months this guy's in the news saying stuff and we gotta stop this guy and he says like Faith Forward Baptist Church right behind him he's in our parking lot doing a little press conference okay about how bad we are and we're gonna put a stop to it and we're not gonna let him continue but as far as I know he's out of office and I'm still in office I'm still here right they're always gonna stop us right they're gonna stop us folks you can't stop us nothing can stop us because of God before us who can be against us you're nobody you're nobody you're a vapor you're nothing you won't even no one will even remember you well yeah well yeah I'm the United States representative of Tempe folks I'm gonna be representing Tempe up there not you David Shapiro and other people in this room are gonna be representing Tempe where this is like gonna be the Congress in heaven for Tempe people that are actually loving Christ winning souls preaching the gospel you think David Shapiro's gonna represent anything in the millennial reign of Christ he's not gonna represent anything he's gonna have a little section carved out in hell for him he's gonna have a place in hell that's gonna be his district right that's gonna be his congressional district he can rule and reign in hell over nothing folks let me tell you something being a son of Abraham doesn't get you to heaven unless you're a son of Abraham via adoption through Jesus Christ that's the way you get in son you're tormented and beside all this verse 26 between us and you there's 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 that would have sent 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 folks what does this parable represent can somebody explain that to me it's a parable representing what after you die you're on fire saying we gotta go back and warn people that haven't died yet we gotta go back and warn them and get them to understand that there's a God shaped hole in their heart and they just have a burning thirst for God and that we can tell them how to satisfy it no he's saying I don't want him to come here I don't want him to come to this place of torment I'm tormented in this flame Abraham saith unto him they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said nay father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent and folks don't be bothered by the baby crying let me tell you something you wanna know a place where there's real weeping ah it's annoying a baby cry hey babies crying don't annoy me at all amen I'm glad we gotta have the babies in here get the children in here let them hear the word of God and know the scriptures from a child amen but let me tell you something there's gonna be a lot more crying where David Shapiro's going and Ben Shapiro and probably most people with the name Shapiro the vast majority of people who have that last name are going to a place where there's gonna be a lot more crying than that weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and he said nay father Abraham again calling him father son father son if one went unto them from the dead they will repent because Abraham just said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them you know what this shows you your only chance to win souls is now in this life because he said look people who are in hell who want to get to heaven they can't get there there's a great gulf between the two you can't get there that makes sense right I mean isn't that obvious like yeah don't you think everybody in hell wants to get to the other place all day long but he also said you know people who want to go from heaven to hell they can't get there either now why would anyone want to go the other direction it doesn't make any sense does it because you'd think people would want to go from hell to heaven but why would anyone want to go well here's why they'd want to go to go put some water on the tip of somebody's tongue because he said hey send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue for I'm tormented in this flame you know there could be people up in heaven that would be feeling compassion for lost loved ones or just wanting to talk to them or wanting to reach out to them folks now is the time to reach out to them now's our chance now's the chance to win souls and you know what you're going to have all eternity to do a lot of other things but there's one thing that you're not going to be able to do once you get to heaven you're not going to be able to do any soul winning because when you get to heaven you're going to look for that that that great neighborhood you know where it's receptive you're looking for that that good soul winning spot where you know that this is a hot neighborhood and it's going to be great and you're going where's the where's the slum where's the ghetto man I want to get some souls saved it isn't there everybody's already saved you're going to be trying to win people to Christ and they're going to be like dude we're all saved now is the time that you can win souls now's the opportunity because one day it's going to be too late for the lost and one day it's going to be too late for you as a Christian to win the lost and you're going to be up in heaven and all the action is going to be happening down here and you're going to think to yourself man why didn't I do soul winning when I had the chance now I just have to sit here and watch and get frustrated I mean you know the Bible says we're compass about with such a great cloud of witnesses of the the saved that have gone on before us can you imagine being up in heaven just looking at a bunch of churches scaling back soul winning soul winnings once a month soul winnings become a door hanger so when he's just leaving a tract and you're just like oh man you're gonna you're gonna be like you're gonna be like these people at the restaurant yelling at the TV sports well what are you doing pass the ball oh how could you miss that oh man right we're gonna be up in heaven like dude that's not soul winning oh man you had the guy I mean you think I was ready to listen you gave him a tract and walked away oh man you're gonna be like the biggest Monday morning quarterback ever in heaven you're gonna be screaming at the TV up in heaven folks just like that burned out athlete yelling at the TV he had his day he had his chance well you know what we had our chance now is our time and we need to be out there and look I know schedules are busy I know it's not always easy to get out I know it can be hot you can be tired you can get busy but you know what drag your butt out there once a week and get somebody saved amen get out there and at least try at least preach the gospel knock some doors and you know what even if you can just get out a little bit little bit you know what that adds up after a while when you're just going out every week you know the people who consistently go out every week they get people saved and over the years they get a lot of people saved get out there and if you can do more do more but let me tell you something you're gonna one day not have that opportunity to win people to Christ now's the time that you can pull people out of the fire you know Abraham just says hey they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no no look Abraham's right but the rich man thinks he's wrong tells him no no no no no no no no no no no no father Abraham if one went under them from the dead they will repent cause that's what it is they just need more evidence that's the problem right they just need more evidence that God's real they're just a little bit too scientific you know you know what if science is the big reason why everybody's not getting saved supposedly right cause science well then pray tell me how come I talk to so few people who know anything about science you know whenever I go soul wedding and somebody brings up science to me and then I jump on them like oh you like science let's geek out a little bit and then they're just like oh well they don't even know Jack they don't know folks people like to talk about like oh yeah I believe in science as an alternative to God that's just a way to just kind of push off the issue of the Lord and push off the issue of salvation it's just kind of a cop out of just like well you know I had a biology class in high school and so you know science very few people know much about science science is kind of a specialized subject let's face it and most people don't really know much about it but isn't it funny how they're putting their faith in something that they know so little about I mean they are putting their faith I mean they're staking their eternity on the fact that God doesn't exist just because some slick salesman like Bill Nye or whatever who's the other guy? Richard Dawkins or uh Neil deGrasse Tyson or Carl Sagan or whoever what? Michio Kaku you know some guy gave a convincing talk or something and made them think that the Bible is not real but folks very few people even know anything about science to really even but look if you're going to stake your eternity on something you better know about it I mean folks look my faith is in this book right here and I know something about this book I mean look if I'm going to put all my faith and trust in stuff if I'm going to put all my faith and trust in a person folks I'm going to know who that person is I'm going to know what they have to say I'm going to stay and look even though I got saved as a little six year old boy you know I spent many many years after that reading the Bible over and over again just to make sure I had it right right? just making sure I didn't screw this up you know what I mean because you're like okay I was six years old I prayed that prayer I believed that Christ died for me I believed he rose again I had all my faith and trust in him and look I got saved when I was six I have total confidence in that but still I spent years after just making sure that I didn't miss something just making sure I'm understanding the word of God correctly because if I'm going to base my whole eternity on something hey I better know what I'm talking about isn't it amazing the millions and millions and millions of people in America all their faith is in science because scientists have proven it and they don't even know about it and then you got a bunch of other people who all of their faith is in the Catholic Church and they don't even know what Catholicism teaches how many times have you knocked the door of a Catholic they don't even know what Catholics believe you have to be like okay here's what you guys believe now let me explain to you why it's wrong but first let me you know I run into Catholics they're telling me about like reincarnation I'm like excuse me that's not a Catholic doctrine you know what I mean I mean you know that Catholics just come out with just some wild beliefs and it's not even Catholic and I would say about one in a hundred Catholics that I've knocked the door of really were knowledgeable Catholics where you could tell they had studied they'd done their homework they knew what the Catholic Church taught they knew what they believed they knew their doctrine and you know what they're going to the same hell as the guy who doesn't know anything about it because it's a false religion it's a false doctrine but the point is you have people today that are basing all of their faith supposedly in science but let me say something about that okay do people really need more evidence is that why they're going to hell and is that the issue is that the problem well according to Abraham that's not the problem because Abraham said even if somebody came back from the dead that's not going to get them saved if Moses and the prophets don't do it someone coming back from the dead is not going to do it either isn't that what Abraham just said he said I lost my place here but he said if they hear not Moses and the prophets verse 31 neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead because again this whole science thing is a cop out in many ways to just kind of say like oh well you know science they haven't really looked into it they don't really know the teachings that's just a way to sound smart about why they're doing the most foolish thing anyone could ever do because what's the most foolish thing you could do die without Christ so then they have a way to sound smart while they do it well I'm going to ruin my soul for eternity and damn myself to hell because science oh well in that case I mean at least you have a smart reason folks it's not that people need more evidence because I hate to break it to you folks there's never going to be concrete evidence that Jesus died on the cross for you outside the Bible you're never going to find some concrete piece of evidence and say look here's the proof here's hard evidence that the earth is only this many years old and it was created from nothing and Jesus died on the cross and rose again there's never because the Bible says without faith it's impossible to please him for he that cometh to God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him and you hear the atheist complain well you know if God expects us to believe in him then why didn't he give us evidence but here's the thing about that though God gave you as much evidence as he's going to give you I mean you've got the complexity of the natural world you've got the marvelous creation declaring God's glory and any intelligent person would look at you know whether it's microbiology or astronomy you know from the least to the greatest and say wow this is amazing this is designed by God but well but that doesn't prove anything you're right this does and at the end of the day it's not a brain issue it's a heart issue it's a heart issue and that's why even if somebody comes back from the dead if someone doesn't want to believe in Christ they're not going to Jesus said you will not come to me that you might have life you don't want to whosoever will may come but you have to want to believe in Christ someone who doesn't want to believe is just going to refuse to believe look Lazarus was in the grave for four days Jesus calls Lazarus out of the tomb and everybody's blown away and everybody who met Lazarus after that people are just believing in Christ left and right saying like what in the world look at this this guy came back from the dead but yet on the day that Lazarus rose from the dead there were people that were there they didn't hear about second hand people that were there watching it happen they went their way and told it to the Pharisees and they conspired how they could kill him we got to put Jesus to death because he did this amazing miracle so they can watch Lazarus come out of the tomb and still they don't believe it and of course the one that came back from the dead of course the big one is Jesus okay Jesus Christ came back from the dead but here's the thing you know when Jesus Christ came back from the dead he didn't go on tour to all the unsaved he was seen of over 500 people at once nope he was seen of over 500 brethren he showed himself to people that were saved showed himself to the apostles Mary he showed himself to the disciples on the road to Emmaus but you know what he didn't go show himself to Pontius Pilate and King Herod and go on tour to all the Pharisees and the Sadducees and say hey what now huh what now no why because people get saved through the word of God and you say well man I just wish it weren't that way well let me tell you something the word of God is more powerful than even being an eye witness because the Bible says if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead take a logical look at that sentence and you know what that tells me that Moses and the prophets is a more effective tool because if that if that tool doesn't get the job done nothing will if Moses and the prophets can't do it one coming back from the dead won't do it either does everybody see that so the word of God is the ultimate tool for soul winning and that's why Peter called the word of God a more sure word of prophecy more sure than what more sure than when he was on the mount of transfiguration and saw Jesus transfigured and heard a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased this is my beloved son hear ye him how could that be more sure because he could have maybe doubted himself 20 years later and said yeah I hallucinated I was hypnotized right isn't it possible someone could be hypnotized or hallucinate or dream something and it becomes real to them you know but the word of God it's the rock you can always go back to it that vision is going to get hazy you can always go back to this it's still here still powerful still a rock all the time and so folks as we close with this story understand that once it's too late it's too late and you can either live it up now or you can live it up there okay and you can't do both you say well I'm already saved then you've already made your choice if you're saved you're going to live it up up there and so you know what it's time to do it's time to do some work for God down here and not just live for pleasure because if you try to live for pleasure as a saved person God is going to keep putting roadblocks ahead of you and stopping you from getting what you want because you're not here for your own pleasure you're here for his own pleasure you're here to serve him and so don't ever forget about the terrors of hell don't ever start to think to yourself well maybe hell's not real or maybe the SDA's are right and it's just you're just going to burn up or something folks that does not jive with any of what Christ taught and as unsavory as a thought it is hell is a real place it's burning it's fire it's torment forever okay and the unsaved are going there and so we've got to get them saved before it's eternally too late and remember no matter how bad your life is hey it's all uphill from here because you know what this is you know some people say well I think hell's here on this earth well you know what for the Christian that's true this is the closest thing to hell the closest thing to hell I'm ever going to experience is like Phoenix in July or August that's the highest temperature I'm ever going to experience right I think hell's right here yeah for the saved person hell is crawling an attic in the summertime for the saved that is our hell but you know for the unsaved oh this isn't your hell this is your heaven for unsaved people this is your heaven it's 120 degrees and this is your heaven alright this is the best they're ever going to have it and it's going to be hell for all eternity folks this story really puts things in perspective and you know what if you want to call it a parable then I'm fine with that call it a parable I don't believe it's a parable because it'd be the only parable that uses someone's name okay but you know what let's say it's a parable okay it's a parable about people burning in hell you know what it represents dying and going to hell just like the parable of the sower you know there's actually a guy sowing seeds well this is actual guy burning in hell in the story hell is real heaven is real don't ever forget about eternity and get just too caught up in the nasty here and now think about eternity what's borrowed is never a word of prayer Father we thank you so much Lord for saving us from hell thank you so much for giving us a home in heaven thank you for the comfort Lord where you know weeping may endure for the night but joy cometh in the morning and Lord thank you that someday we will be like Lazarus comforted in Abraham's bosom Lord we will uh be hugged against his breast and we will meet our Savior Jesus Christ and it's gonna be great Lord help us to hang in there through hard times down here on this earth Lord and help us to do the one thing that we can't do up there which is to win souls unto you and in Jesus name we pray Amen Amen please grab your hymnals and turn to hymn number three hundred and seventy seven three hundred and seventy seven rescue the perishing we'll sing along three hundred and seventy seven let's lift it up on this first verse nice and loud all together now sing it out first keep the perishing there for the dying smash the living one sin and the grave wait for the air and one slip of the fallen tell them of Jesus Almighty to save rescue the perishing there for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will save though in our sight he is still he is waiting waiting the brethren and the child to receive leave with them earnestly leave with them gently leave but forgive if they only believe rescue the perishing there for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will save though in our human heart crushed by the tender feelings by Mary that grace can restore touched by a loving heart waken by kindness boards that are broken woken by brave looks for rescue the perishing there for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will save rescue the perishing beauty demands him strength for thy labor the Lord will provide back to the narrow way patiently bring them tell them for wonder our Savior has died rescue the perishing there for the dying Jesus is merciful Jesus will save . . . . . .