There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.  At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.  Even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The time came with the beggar died and the angles carried him to Abraham’s side.  The rich man also died and was buried.  In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.  Luke 18:19-23  NIV

This is a parable that Jesus used to show us that there will be a time when it is too late to save ourselves or those that we love.  In this story, this rich man goes to hell.  He can see the poor beggar that he probably ignored while they were on earth.  Now he is begging Abraham to allow Lazarus to just dip his finger in water and come and drip it on his tongue to provide some small amount of relief as he is in torment in hell.  When Abraham denies that request, he then begs Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers for he realizes that they too are headed to hell.  He wants Lazarus to warn them.  Abraham tells him that they Moses and the prophets to listen to, but the rich man says they will not listen to them but would listen if someone returned from the dead.  Abraham replies to him that if they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not listen to someone from the dead.  For the rich man, it is too late  If his brothers won’t listen to those prophets on earth then it is too late for them as well.

In the midst of this parable when the rich man is begging Abraham to send Lazarus over with a drip of water, Abraham reminds him that heaven and hell are separated so that no one can go from one to the other.  You see right now, we have a choice.  We can choose where we want to go. But once we die, the time for decision making is over.  Also, in Romans 1:24, we are told that if we continue to ignore God’s pleas for us to repent and return to Him that He will give us over to our own evil desires.  Sadly, I know people that I truly believe have experienced this.  There is a point of no return, we must understand this before it is too late.

You see, the rich man was living it up here on earth.  He was living the good life.  I am sure he was the envy of all those around him. He had it all, but He didn’t have Jesus in his heart.  He didn’t put God first in his life.  He got all his riches here on earth, which is temporary, very temporary.

But Lazarus, the poor beggar, obviously suffered a great deal here on earth.  However, he must have loved the Lord in spite of the agony he suffered here on earth.  He was rewarded with eternity in heaven, while the rich man went to hell.  Jesus uses this parable to show us that there is definitely a heaven and a hell.

Today, we are all faced with a decision.  Will we trade eternity in heaven with God our Father for the good life down here on earth?  Or will we serve the Lord and put Him first here on earth so that we can join him in paradise forever and ever?  Now Lazarus had a miserable life, but I want you to understand something.  Jesus uses this parable to illustrate the fact that those that we consider to be the lowest of lows can still get to heaven and perhaps even easier than those of us who consider ourselves to be a lot higher up on the social scale.  This doesn’t mean that we have to be miserable here on earth.  On the contrary, I have never been happier since I turned my life over to Jesus.  I have never had more peace and joy than when I realized that it was time to let Him take control.  Understand that you don’t have to be miserable and suffer here on earth, you just have to put God first.  But also understand that when we put God first, we may be like that beggar.  We may become invisible to some of those that consider themselves to be all that and a bag of chips.  But we wont’ be invisible to God.  God will see our love for Him and we will be richly rewarded in eternity.

There was a time in my life when I had to have a car that cost a lot of money and I had to wear expensive clothes and jewelry, but I’ve outgrown that.  Yes, I said I have outgrown that.  Why should I worry about jewels here on earth when I am headed to my heavenly home.  In my heavenly home, I will walk on streets of gold (Revelation 21:21).  The city walls will be made of precious stones(Revelation 21:22), and the gates will be made of pearl (Revelation 21:21).

Now one other thing I want you to take from this story.  You see, in heaven there will be no more tears, Revelation 21:4 tells us that He will wipe every tear away.  There will be no more mourning or crying or pain.  We will not be sad for those that we love that go to hell.  We will have no sadness in heaven.  However, the rich man was sad for his relatives that he knew were headed to join him in hell.  There is no promise that we will not be sad for eternity.  We are told that we will spend eternity in agony if we go to hell.

I beg of you, be sure that you have secured your place in heaven before it is too late.  Because, trust me my friend, there is a time coming when it will be too late.  So don’t wait.

Have a great day!