Kerwin Baptist Church Daily Broadcast

Welcome to the Kerwin Baptist Church broadcast today. Our desire is for the word of God to be spread throughout the world so that all may know Christ.

Join us now for a portion of one of our services here at Kerwin Baptist Church located in Kernersville, North Carolina. I'd like to speak on this subject out of Luke chapter 16, a somebody and a nobody. Aren't you glad that God doesn't see people that way? God sees us all as equal. I think the only difference God sees in us is some that want to be closer to Him than others.

That's about the only difference. The Bible says you draw nigh to God, He'll draw nigh to you. And so the only difference He can see is those who have tried harder to get closer to Him. But He sees us as equal. I want you to look, if you would, at Luke chapter 16. And let's look at verse 19. There was a certain rich man.

Notice those three words. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared substantially every day. And there was a certain beggar, notice that, 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, notice that, was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. Now, let me show you not a discrepancy in any way, but something that we ought to take notice of. It never says that that poor man, Lazarus, was buried.

Never says that. It says that the rich man was buried. It says that the poor man was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.

Very interesting there. Could it be that when he died, he was simply carried away? And there was no record of him found there? Now, we believe the soul goes to heaven when you're saved. And it, obviously, that the body is still there. I don't know how this transpired.

But it's interesting to notice that. I want you to notice in verse 23, speaking about the rich man that died and was buried, and in hell. He lifted up his eyes, being in torments, plural, 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 poor man that was eaten up with sores, laying at his gate, homeless, a bum that we would almost say nowadays, but didn't even have as much as a bum would.

He said, would you send him 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. Thou art tormented. That's what we're gonna do for you, doesn't it? Not gonna do anything for you.

We're gonna spend our life trying to get them, and they won't do one thing for us. Notice, if you would, verse 26. And beside all this, between us and you, Abraham tells this rich man, 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. Almost realizing now that what he wanted couldn't be done, he changes his words, and notice, if you would, in verse 27, then he said, I pray thee, therefore, Father, that thou would it 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.

In other words, he says, I don't want you to just send somebody to their house. He said, I want you to bring someone from hell, or someone from heaven, or someone from anywhere that has died. At least they would see that there are two eternities. There's a heaven and a hell. If they knew somebody that came back from the dead, and came to them and told them, they would believe them.

Notice, verse 31, and he said unto them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be prepared. They are persuaded, though one rose from the dead. An extremely interesting story.

It's what we call in fiction, and even in nonfiction, irony. How ironic that this beggar that had nothing laying at the outside of the gate of one of the wealthiest men there, after they both die, now this beggar has everything. And that rich man had nothing, not even a drop of water. And yet that rich man had everything that you could possibly have on this earth, and Lazarus had nothing, but after death Lazarus had everything, and that rich man had nothing. So somebody that looked like they were a somebody here on earth, and somebody that looked like they were a nobody here on earth, all of a sudden in eternity, that changed. But there are some interesting things in this story that honestly I had never seen.

And I want to look at those today. Father, we thank you for this special day. Lord, this is the most important part. Lord, I pray that you would help every person to be able to concentrate for these brief moments on what you have laid on my heart. In your name we pray.

Amen. We do not know who this man was. We do not know who this man was.

Let me show you something very interesting. The Bible says a certain rich man when talking about him, but it gives us a certain beggar named Lazarus. So why would you give us the name of the beggar, but they did not give us the name of the wealthy individual? Why is it that we know who Lazarus is in this story, but we know that this rich man, it's as if he didn't have a name. It's as if we don't even know who he is. It's almost as if he didn't even exist. Are you listening to me?

If you don't listen to anything else, I'm going to ask you to listen to this. We are not given a record of his name for one simple reason. His name was not written in the Lamb's Book of Life. When your name is not in the Lamb's Book of Life, which means when you are not a saved individual in eternity, you will have no identity. It will not matter who you were on earth because you will literally be a nobody. Now you say that's awfully rude for you to say as a preacher.

Look at me, dear friend. If you go through an eternity without Christ, if you die without Christ, and you go to a Christless eternity called hell, you will have no identity. It's as if you might as well not even have a name. It's as if you never even existed because if you don't know Christ, you don't have an identity.

Lazarus' name was given because his name was in the Lamb's Book of Life. That means he would have an identity for the rest of eternity, but this rich man was a nobody. It doesn't matter who he is because if you go to hell without Christ, it's not going to matter who you were.

It's not even going to matter what your name is. Look at me because God will not even know who you are. You say, preacher, that's awfully strong. Let me read you a verse. Matthew chapter 7, verse 22 and 23.

Listen closely. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? This is what Jesus says. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you. That means this, dear friend, if you don't ever get saved, he'll never even know who you are. There's no identity without Christ. There's going to be a lot of horrible things about hell.

We're going to talk about this in a second. But may I tell you, dear friend, one of the most strange things that you will experience if you die without Christ is to realize it doesn't even matter who you are. It's as if you never existed. You will spend an eternity burning in hell and nobody will even know your name. They won't know your history.

They won't even care because it's as if you didn't exist. Dear friend, you and I have nothing without Christ, not even an identity. We don't know who this man was. I want you to notice, secondly, we do know where this man went. He might not have given us his name, but for sake of warning to you and me, it told us where he went to.

You say, well, tell me a little bit about that. Look if you would at verse 23. And in hell, any questions? In hell.

This is a proof right here, by the way. You say, well, I don't know. I think the soul sleeps. The Bible says as soon as this man was buried, he lifted open his eyes in hell.

It was immediate. And you'll notice that he can see Lazarus in heaven and that's proof right there that you don't just die and then your soul sleeps for an eternity right there and there's nothing happens. Let me tell you something. Absent from the body, the Bible says, present with the Lord, but absent of Christ, present in hell. Notice this verse 23, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, plural. You say, well, preacher, how was this described? I want you to notice this in verse 23.

It says in hell, he lifted up his eyes. First this morning, I want you to know that hell is a place of conscious torment. You're awake for it. There's no going to sleep. There's no numbing the pain.

There's no taking some kind of pill that's gonna dull it or take the pain away. It will keep happening and keep happening and keep happening and keep happening and keep happening and the burning and the heat. The Bible says it's such a hot flame that it's dark.

You can't see. I've heard individuals even on the media say, well, if I go to hell, I'm just gonna go to hell and have a party. No, you won't have a party. You're gonna go to hell in complete darkness and you're gonna burn alive for an eternity. You say, preacher, are you just trying to scare me? Let me tell you something.

If you're not scared, you've got problems. Because I'm telling you the honest truth from God's word. This man was conscious and he was in torment, conscious torment. Second, I noticed that this was a place of constant torment. Look if you would at verse 23. And in hell, lift up his eyes, being in torment, seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me.

It just never stopped. There wasn't, we're gonna put you in hell for 50 days and take you out for 30 minutes. There's no you're gonna burn in hell for a year. And then after a year, we're gonna take you out for 10 seconds. And then we'll put you back in for another year. There's no you're gonna burn in hell for 100 years.

And then we're gonna take you out and give you an hour off and maybe a little drink and then we'll send you right back. It never stops. It's constant. Conscious torment, constant torment. Notice thirdly, it's a place of comfortless torment. Notice verse 24.

This is what he asked. Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. Just a drop of water. I would literally give all the riches, all my house, my gate, my money, all the things that this earth gave him. Now he would give that and everything just for a drop of water. You know what drives a pastor crazy sometimes? To see people that give their life to what this earth has to offer. They can't take an hour or two out of a week to come to church because they're so busy making money and they have no idea how worthless that money will be in eternity.

They just don't get it. Comfortless. Look at verse 25. But Abraham said, he said, listen, what would bring me comfort is if you would just give me a drop of water. Verse 25. 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. Comfortless torment.

There's just no way for it to ever change. You know what causes depression in individuals nowadays? And I've experienced a little bit of it, I think I have to say. I experienced it for a brief period of time when we brought Kayden home from the hospital. I think only God and myself will know the hell it felt like to me the first few weeks we got Kayden home.

I think only God and my wife will know how it impacted her. It was literally the fact it was overwhelming. It was just we couldn't get any sleep.

The care was constant trying to figure it out. And we just had to face the reality. This is what it's going to be the rest of our life. Now, it wasn't that bad for the rest of our life. We had to adjust.

We had to change. But that feeling of thinking this is too much. And there's nothing we can do to change it. It brings depression.

It brings discouragement. It's like there's no light at the end of the tunnel. It's like there's no hope to make you more excited or to change you. This is bad but at least I have this to look forward to. It's as if there wasn't anything to look forward to.

Look at me, dear friend. Let me tell you how hell's going to be. You're going to get there and realize that this guy up here screaming and yelling that I criticized and had no time for and I always talked about, well, he shouldn't be so loud and he shouldn't be this. You're going to get to hell and you're going to realize that man was right and he loved me and he was trying to warn me and you're going to be in a crisis eternity of hell and you're going to burn forever and there's nothing you can do to change it. There will literally be no hope and nobody will even care what your name is.

Because you will have no identity. A comfortless torment. I want you to notice, fourthly, it's a place of constraining torment. So what does that mean, preacher? Look at verse 26. And beside all this, Abraham tells to this certain rich man, beside all this, between us and you, us, what's he talking about? Abraham's in heaven with Lazarus and he's talking to this rich man who's in hell. And he says between us and you there is a great golf fix, the Bible says.

The Bible teaches this principle. You and I can't get across that golf to God. We have no way. We're sinners by nature. The best we can do is filthy rags.

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There's a great golf fix that we can't get across. We can't swim across. We can't jump across. We can't fly across. It's fixed.

It's there. And there's no way to get there but through the blood of Jesus Christ. But you say no to that. There's a great golf that you will never cross. This is what he says.

Notice verse 26. Between us and you there is a great golf fix so that they which would pass from hence here to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Once you're there, you can't get out. You're constrained. There's no leaving. There's no getting out. There's no figuring out a way. There's no, hey, I'm going to break out of here somehow some way. Look at me, dear friend, you could break out for an eternity if you want to.

Try to come up and plan for an eternity if you want to. This is not some movie about a German concentration camp. This is not some movie about Alcatraz.

This is not some movie about jail. And somehow we're going to get in a tunnel and climb out and make a raft. This is hell. There's a great golf fix that nobody can pass with the blood of Christ. You're constrained there forever.

There's no way out. Once you notice, lastly, it's a place and I think this is the worst of contemplating torment. Look at verse twenty five. But Abraham's son, remember that thou in thy lifetime.

And he goes on and makes these statements. Let me tell you something about hell. You're going to spend an eternity remembering everything that happened. You're going to remember sitting in this pew. You're going to remember that the Holy Spirit convicted you and said, you know what, you better get your salvation settled. All this stuff is saying, well, I go to church is why I'm going to heaven. Well, I've been to an altar is why I'm going to heaven. Hey, I got baptized one time, which doesn't save you, by the way.

All that stuff, the Holy Spirit is convicting and saying, get this settled, get this right. You're going to remember it over and over and over again. Every time you heard the gospel, every time someone told you about salvation. You're going to remember it every time somebody says, hey, you know what? Come to church. Hey, come here. Well, we got this and we got this and we're doing this and we're doing that. Oh, really? Boy, that's going to be really important in eternity. Dear friend, it's going to be a place. Listen to me.

Conscious torment, constant torment, comfortless torment, constraining torment and contemplating torment. He will have to spend an eternity with the memory that you had a chance to change it. But you didn't. We know where he went.

Once you notice, thirdly, we do know that he had a choice. About reading again in verse twenty five and twenty six. Abraham reminds him that you had all these good things and Lazarus had nothing. What he's saying here is you are so busy with all your good things and all your riches and all all this money driven passion that you had.

You're so busy with all that. And now you're tormented. And Lazarus, listen, look at me, has all the things that all the money in the world could not buy. What amazes me is people that are materialistic. If they were really materialistic, they would live for the Lord because that's where you're going to get the greatest material. Because you're not just going to enjoy it for 30 or 40 years, you're going to enjoy it for an eternity.

Doesn't make sense, does it? If you really think about it, everything we do for God, we're going to enjoy for eternity. Everything we do without God and we're just interested in our stuff and all that we're going to do, you're only going to enjoy for this 20 or 30 years because it's going to be done. It's not going to matter after eternity. We do know that he had a choice. Look at me, dear friend.

And so do you. Here's the thing about having a choice. I can't make it for you. I can get up here and beg and plead and even come close to offending you thinking, well, he's just being too hard. Hey, if being too hard is what it's going to take to wake up some people and realize that they're wasting their life, then I'll holler and scream all I can if that would do it.

But normally it doesn't. It's a choice you have to make. I want you to notice, fourthly, and I'll be done. We do know what he wanted. What was it that he wanted? Notice verse 24.

There's two things I see here. Now that he's in hell burning, there's two things he wanted. You say, well, preacher, he wanted water.

Yes, he did. But notice if you would, verse 24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham. Isn't it interesting, burning in hell, the first thing he wanted to do was pray. Could you imagine the prayers you're going to hear in hell? Can you imagine all the folks that didn't have time to pray on earth? Can you imagine how they're going to say, God, God, Lord, help me, help me. Now all of a sudden they want to pray when they didn't have time to before.

First thing he wanted, somebody listen to me. Here's what's going to be so horrible about hell, folks. You're going to pray and nobody's going to be there. It's too late. God's not going to hear one prayer.

You have to pray when you're in hell. You've said no to him. You rejected. You declined. You had your way.

So be it. You rejected him on earth. He will reject you in eternity.

That's the way it works. Secondly, he wanted to preach. Notice if you would, verse 27.

Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would 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. I realize there's nothing I can do to change it for me. I'm stuck here for an eternity. I can't even get a drop of water and I can't pray now.

But if I could just preach, if I could just tell my brothers, if I could just let my family know what it's like here, they wouldn't come. Let me tell you something, dear friend. You die and go to hell because you just had no time for God on earth.

Let me tell you something. What's going to be the worst feeling is for you to sit in hell and realize, my son, my daughter, who I bought all those things for, and they watched mom and dad go after all the goods this world has, what if they end up here? Somebody go tell them. Somebody go see them. Can you imagine the emergency, the passion?

Can you imagine what you're going to feel to know I was wrong? Hell is real. I want my family to come, but it's too late to tell them now. Somebody and a nobody. You can work all you want to to be a somebody here on earth. I don't know about you, I'd rather be a nobody here. And a somebody when I die. Preacher, this is homecoming Sunday. This isn't a very uplifting, encouraging message. Dear friend, look at me. What I'm preaching to you is the truth.

I can make you feel good. You walk out of this building. That's not going to get you one inch closer to heaven.

It's just going to put you a whole bunch closer to hell. But I'm going to tell you what this Bible has to say. Somebody and a nobody. A rich man said, somebody go tell my family. I was wrong.

I know it now, but somebody go tell them. He was told they're not going to listen. They're not going to listen.

They're not going to believe, even if somebody comes back from the dead. Father, I believe, as unfun as it might be, I believe I've done exactly what you told me to do. Lord, my intent is not to scare anybody, although it ought to scare them. My intent is not to tell all kinds of horrible stories that make people just get all emotional.

I haven't done that. I have simply explained exactly what you have said in your word. Lord, I have two goals for this service. Number one, if there's somebody here that doesn't know that they're saved, Lord, help them to come to know you. Number two, Lord, if there are some here that know that they're saved, help them, Lord, to be convicted how they're living their life.

Convict me how I'm living mine. Help us to realize there are people that are going to go to this place that we're talking about, our own children, if we don't live right in front of them and teach them and show them that God is the most important thing in our life. They could die and go to hell. God forgive us for our lack of vision and our selfishness and being caught up with vain things while our families are dying and going to hell.

God forgive us and God convict us. Our heads are bowed and our eyes are closed. I don't normally do this on a Sunday morning.

I rarely do this on occasion at all. But if you're here this morning and you would say, preacher, I don't think that I know that I'm saved. I really don't. Dear friend, the Bible makes it clear. I believe you and I have to admit that we're sinners. We have to admit and realize that we can't get to heaven on our own.

That great gulf has been fixed. We're sinners. We've done wrong. We can't save ourselves. Second, I believe that we have to believe what the Bible says, that Jesus came and died on the cross for our sins.

We have to believe that. And third, we've got to put our faith and trust in him. It's a calling on the Lord. It's an asking him to save you.

It's putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. Thank you for listening today. We hope you received a blessing from our broadcast. The Kerwin Baptist Church is located at 4520 Old Hollow Road in Kernersville, North Carolina. You may also contact us by phone at 336-993-5192 or via the web at kerwinbaptistchurch.com. Enjoy our services live and all our media on our website and church app. Thank you for listening to the Kerwin broadcast today. God bless you.