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Notes from Sunday and Dr. Chris' sermon at FBC Ruston.

Luke 16: 19-26

19 “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

1. HELL IS REAL
* More than 700 references in the Bible to judgment/hell
* Christ talked more of hell than of heaven
* If you accept the bible as the world of God and Jesus as the son of God, and Jesus as your intellectual superior -- hell is real

2. HELL IS BEYOND HORRIBLE
a) torment (v 23-25) we should feel hell for ourselves and for everyone we love
b) a place of consciousness "Son, remember..." Hell is a place of clearly seeing what we could have been
c) hopeless forever v 26 -- no one can cross over

Matt. 25:46 "...eternal punishment" ... a duration without end. Hell isn't annihilation. It's as Dante said, "abandon all ye hope who enter here..."

Matt. 25:41 -- "depart from me into eternal fire, prepared for the devil..." Hell was never intended for us. And none of us has to go.

* Don't roll the dice on your eternal fate...

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