Man In Hell Pleads For His Family To Not Go There

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’"

This man did not escape the eternal flames
Photo credit: Arabs for Christ/FreeBibleimages.org

This event was told by Jesus around 2,000 years ago. 

There is a lot we can learn from what happened here. So many things we can learn. 

One is that it is not necessarily wrong to have riches or to be wealthy. But almost always, wealthy people have a hard time understanding their need for God. If they do get the message of the Gospel, they have a hard time responding to it because they will not be willing to part with their riches.

On the other side of the coin, poor people are not automatically added to heaven. But being poor does have a good advantage, for, the poor person does not struggle with having to let go of his riches. He won't be worshiping his money, for he doesn't have much money to worship. That idol struggle will not be there.

Hell lasts forever. Once a person is there, he or she will always be there. It is a terrible place to be and no one should ever take the subject and reality of hell lightly.

People who are in hell cannot cross over to the other side. There is a big gap that is uncrossable between heaven and hell. Those in heaven also will not be able to cross into hell. 

Those in hell are wishing they weren't there, but, they are also wishing that their family members would not be there as well. They would do whatever they can to warn their family members about hell and how to avoid it.

There is one thing we will not have the opportunity to do when we are in heaven. There will be no need to preach the Gospel message and do evangelism, for everyone who is in heaven already knows the Lord. 

We should love people enough to tell them the good news of the Gospel. If we ourselves are saved, it would seem like our hearts would want everyone to come into a relationship with God through the Cross of Jesus Christ. If that desire is not there, something important is missing in our lives. 

Many professing Christians think that anyone who believes the facts about Jesus is a true Christian. But there is more to it than that. Some seem to think that God is all loving and wouldn't send anyone to hell. While God is love, according to what the Bible teaches, God is also just. He does love. He loves us so much that He gave His only Son to live a perfect life, and die a horrible death to pay for our sins. We must repent of wrongdoing and selfishness, and trust in what Jesus did for us on the cross, 2,000 years ago. He not only died to take our punishment, but He also rose from the dead on the third day after he was killed.

If we could obey the commandments perfectly, we could go to heaven. But even with one sin that had been committed during our lifetime, that sin would send us to hell. We can look at the commandments and see how we have failed. Looking at the commandments reveals the condition of our hearts. 

No good work that we could do can take away any of our sins. Even if we lived a life where we continually serve people, we would still have to pay for our sins, even if we only commit sin occasionally. 

But we commit sin on a regular basis. That's why we need a Savior. We need someone who can cleanse our hearts from sin. But we also need a new heart that will produce good fruit. If we repent, and trust in Jesus as our Savior from sin, God gives us a new heart, and also the power to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Life has many choices. Eternity has only 2! 

http://thegospelconversation.blogspot.com

http://test4gp.wordpress.com