Contrast between Heaven and Hell  

A popcorn sermon by Keith D. Wallace

Luke 16:19-25

 19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,  21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 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; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.  24 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. 25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.  26 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. 

 The first thing we must understand here is that this is not a parable but an actual account of the lives and deaths of two men that Jesus told.  One man died, went to Abraham's bosom and was comforted.  The other man died, went to Hell and was tormented.  We can plainly tell that the Bible (God’s words) gives us two options when we die.  We have the option of Hell and we have the option of Abraham's bosom (which for the purposes of this study we will refer to as Heaven, although Abraham's bosom and Heaven are two different places that will be explained in a different study).

 Just like any decision we make in life, you must compare your options and make your the best decision based upon the information you have.  Fortunately for this decision we have the greatest information a person can have.  We have the knowledge of the future.  We can see from the Bible exactly what our future will hold based upon the decision we make.  Let’s see what the Bible tells us our future will be like if we choose Hell.

 In the passage from Luke that is printed above we can see that Hell is a place of torment.  It is a place of constant pain and sorrow.  Take a look at these key phrases from the verses above.

v23 – being in torments

            *Note that torments is plural, not just one type of torment but many.

v24 – and he cried

*It is true that some people cry when they are happy.  However, in reading the context of these verses,  it is suffice to say that this man is not crying because he is happy.

v24 – have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue

*Have you every been burned by a lighter or a candle or maybe a stove?  How about a sunburn?  Just imagine that your entire body is covered inside and out with 3^rd degree burns from a sunburn.  Now imagine that you are totally engulfed in flames.  That is the picture that Jesus is trying to get across in this passage; that Hell is a place of extreme torment through fire, among other things.  Just imagine being so hot, that someone dipping their finger in water and then touching your tongue would feel good.

v24 – I am tormented

v25 – thou art tormented 

Again in Matthew 13:42 and 50 the Bible tells us that in Hell …there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.

 Have you ever been in so much pain that you just could not sit still?  You had to keep moving, but even moving hurt.  Maybe you even had to bite down on a washcloth or something to keep from crying out because of the pain.  Let me tell you that any pain you have experienced in your life here on Earth will be nothing compared to the infinite pain of Hell.

 Not only will you be in constant pain and torment, but in verse 26 we see that you will be separated from God.  It is hard to imagine how awful it would be to be separated from God and all things good, and surrounded by evil for all of eternity.

 Well we know now what our first option is, Hell.  We know what our lives will be like if we choose option one.  How exactly do we choose that option?  That’s the easy part, you don’t have to do anything.  You have already chosen that option.

 John 3:18  He that believeth on him (Jesus) is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God

 The Bible tells us that we are condemned to Hell already without even doing anything.  It does not have to be a conscious decision to choose Hell.  Anyone who has not trusted Jesus Christ as their own personal savior, has already chosen to spend forever in Hell.

 We know what Hell is like and we know how to make the choice to get there.  Let’s examine our other option.  Heaven.  

Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

  From this passage we learn that in Heaven there will be no more…

-tears

-death

-sorrow

-crying

-PAIN

 So in Hell we have constant pain and torment eternally separated from God, and in Heaven we have no more pain and we will live with God for all eternity.  Imagine if you will for just a moment that you were the son or daughter of the President of the United States.  What an honor it would be to live with the President.  You could talk to him, eat with him, go to Camp David for vacations with him.  Now just imagine that you could live ETERNALLY with the Creator of all existence!  How much better would that be, to live with the most powerful being in all existence?

 Not only will Christians be free from tears, death, sorrow, crying and pain, but

1 Cor 3:11 For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

12 Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble;

13 Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

14 If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.

 This passage tells us that saved people shall receive rewards based on their work after becoming Christians.  (please understand that these verses are talking to saved people, unsaved people will NOT be rewarded for works because  Isa 64:6 But we [lost sinners] are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags…)  So we can see that Christians who work for the Lord will be rewarded and will enjoy Heaven all the much more!

 So our choices are Hell where you will be in eternal torment and pain separated from God forever; or Heaven where you will spend eternity with God, with NO PAIN!!

 Sounds like a pretty easy choice to me!  How does a person get to Heaven??

 Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

 Eternal life in Heaven is a gift from God.  A gift is not yours until you accept it from the person giving it to you.  How do you accept this gift?

Romans 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

 It is so simple.  Nothing on this planet is as simple as this.  God has offered you a free gift, please accept it today and give up your one-way ticket to Hell.