WHAT THE LOST MAN DISCOVERS SIXTY SECONDS AFTER DEATH
by Dr. Harold B. Sightler
"There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and
fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: And there was a certain
beggar 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 cam to
pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell
he lift up his eyes, being in torments, 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 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 receivedst thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now hie is
comforted, and thou are tormented. And beside all this, between us and
your 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 he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest
send him to my father,s house: For I have five brethren; that he may
testify unto the, lest they also come into his place of torment.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear
them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham; bit if one went unto them
from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hard
not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one
rose from the dead." --Luke 16:19-31.
Have you ever stood beside deathbeds of dying persons and wondered
what was going on in their minds? As they breathed their last breath,
have you thought what they must have experienced?
I want you to consider with me seven things the unsaved man
discovers sixty seconds after death. According to my text, the very
second the rich man died, he lifted his eyes to Hell. There was no
period of soul-sleep, no second chance to get right with God. He goes
immediately to torment.
The unsaved man discovers sixty seconds after death that
DEATH DOES NOT IT ALL
Contrary to the theories advanced by such men as Clarence Darrow
and other infidels, they find that death does not end all. Our text
says, "The rich man also died and...in hell he life up his eyes..."
The rich sinner discovers he is going to live on and on.8:44:
Sometimes when the sinner gets into trouble, the Devil comes and
tempts him to commit suicide. "This is the way out," says the Devil.
Many have been the poor souls who have believed the lie of Satan. They
have committed suicide only to find that death did not end it all.
They discover that troubles only begin at death for the sinner.
Job has asked an immortal questions in his book. "If a man die,
shall he live again?" (Job 14:14) is the question the sinner finds an
answer for the moment he dies. Yes, man shall live on.
Look at the sinners mentioned in the Bible who died without God
and discovered that death did not end all. The rich man. Agrippa,
Felix, Festus, Judas are a few who live on today in the torments of
Hell.
The unsaved man discovers sixty second after death
THAT GOD HAS A RECORD OF HIS SIN
Revelation 20:12:
"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the
books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of
life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written
in the books, according to their works."8:44:
Could it be possible that some of you who read these lines think
your sins are hid from the eyes of God? The Bible is very clear that
in Heaven God is keeping a record of all sin.
That sin you think is successfully hidden from your wife, God
knows about. That sin you think is successfully hidden from the
pastor, God know about and has a record of it in the books in Heaven.
Great will be the humiliation of the sinner when he hears God begin
tread the record of his sin from the books.
The unsaved man discovers sixty sends after death
THAT SATAN HAS LIED TO HIM
John 8:44:
"When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar
and the father of it."
It is the business of the Devil to deceive you and to lie to you.
Multitudes have believed that lies of the Devil to their own doom.
Satan lies, about your getting by with sin. He says you can get
by. He tells sinners to indulge to the very limit because there is no
judgment to come. Yet the Scriptures say,
"Be not deceive; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also read. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the
flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the
Spirit reap live everlasting."
Here is an eternal truth. No man is able to "get by" this law of
sowing and reaping.
Satan has lied about your being judged for sin. He is busy
telling people there is no judgement. Yet the Scriptures say, "And as
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgement."
Revelation 20:12, the verse I have given above, clearly states the
certainty of the coming judgement.
Too, Satan lies about waiting for a better opportunity. "A more
convenient time will come, " says he.
Now is the time. Never will you have a better opportunity to be
saved than right now. When once you lift your eyes and fruitless cries
from an eternal Hell, then forever it is too late to be saved. Then
you will discover sixty seconds after death that Satan has lied to you.
The unsaved man discovers sixty seconds after death
THAT THERE IS LITERAL FIRE IN HELL
Luke 16:23:
"...for I am tormented in this flame." Many religionist today
have tried to remove the fire from Hell. This is no new device of
Satan. Down through many years he has tried to get people to believe
this lie. Some have believed it to their own doom.
Every Bible writer certifies the fact of fire in Hell. Then,
Jesus for time in Mark 9 states clearly, "...where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched." The unsaved person dying in his
sins finds out the truth of this sixty seconds after death.
In many pulpits today the message of Hell is a forsaken note.
Preachers are trying to make people feel good in their sin instead of
warning them of the fires of judgement in Hell. One Baptist preacher
remarked in his message that though he had preached for twenty-five
years in Baptist churches, never had he brought a message on Hell. Is
it any small wonder that the masses do not fear God nor regard His
commands?
Oh, for preacher today like Jonathan Edwards who preached the
famous, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." While this sermon was
being delivered men and women screamed out for mercy, lest they fall
immediately into an eternal Hell.
Modernist and false religions have perverted the Word as to remove
the fact of Hell. Many sinner scoff at the preaching of Hell. They
turn aside any warning of judgment. They think the idea of Hell has
passed away with the last generation. Sixty seconds after death they
shall find out the truth of the Word; there is fire in Hell.
The unsaved man discovers sixty seconds after death
THAT HE HAS MISSED THE GREATEST THING THIS LIFE HAS TO OFFER
There can be no mistake that the greatest thing this life offers
is the salvation from sin in the precious blood of Jesus. To live a
lifetime and miss the way is to make shipwreck out of life itself.
Matthew 16:26, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole
world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for
his soul?"
Men labor and toil for what they think are things worthwhile. In
the thinking of the masses, these things are those of the world. I
submit, though you were able to gain the whole world and then lose your
soul, you have profited nothing. Life's greatest achievement is to
know Jesus as Lord and Savior. To miss this is to miss the best.
The unsaved man discovers sixty seconds after death
THAT HE STILL RETAIN HIS MEMORY
Luke 16:25, "...Son, remember..." To be sure, the memory will add
to the sufferings of Hell. The unsaved will remember the Gospel of
Jesus in its tender appeal in Hell. The greatest story ever told or
ever heard by mortal ear will not be forgotten by the masses in Hell.
Souls in Hell who heard such men as Sunday, Moody, Spurgeon, Torey and
other preach the Gospel will remember the pure Gospel from the lips of
the anointed men. What torment in the minds of these to remember such
sermons!
The lost in Hell will remember the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
As surely as the Spirit convicts, those who reject this conviction and
who die in their sins will remember the tender voice which called them
to repentance.
Often the Spirit may deal with some of you, only to be ignored by
your cold irresponsive heart. I mark you, in Hell you shall remember
those times when you turned Him away. Look at Felix who trembled under
the convicting power of the Spirit, yet who turned this call away.
Felix in Hell, this moment, remembers the time of this great
conviction.
Too, the unsaved will remember the prayer of a godly mother and
father. Many nights they prayed for you. Those prayers have followed
you all the way down life' journey. They shall continue to follow you;
yea, even in Hell you will never be able to drown the sound of those
earnest prayers from you tormented soul.
The unsaved man discovers sixty seconds after death
THAT ALL OPPORTUNITIES TO GET SAVED ARE FOREVER GONE
Jesus has said, "If ye die in your sins, whither I go ye cannot
come." God deals with the unsaved only as of this moment. There is
no tomorrow in God's plan or redemption. It is always NOW. Isaiah
1:18, "Come NOW, and let us reason together,saith the Lord: though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they
be red like crimson, they shall be as wool."
Note that the rich man in Hell did not ask for another chance to
be saved. He well knew that forever those opportunities were gone.
Yes, we hear him crying for mercy and for one drop of water to touch
his tongue, but never does he ask for another opportunity. There are
no additional chances. Some religions offer man hope after death if
they die in their sins. However, the bible not one time ever offers
any such hope. After death your chance to be saved it forever over.
There will be no second chance. There are no priests, however priestly
they may appear to be, who can lift one sinner from the fires.
With death sure and eternity long, why not seek the Lord today
"while he may be found"? Why not "call ye upon him while hi is near?"
The monster of Death is after you. Sooner or later Death will overtake
you. With his cold fingers he will choke the very life from your body.
Your eyes will close in death. Your spirit will depart from the body
to be either with the Lord in Paradise or to lift its eyes from the
regions of the damned.
Remember, the Word has promised, "...him that cometh unto me, I
will in no wise cast out." Will you come right now? The Lord is near.
He is ready to save you. Will you call upon Him?
SYSOP URGES YOU TO TRUST CHRIST TODAY
You have read the sermon by Dr. Harold B. Sightler, "What the Lost
Man Discover Sixty Seconds After Death." The person who dies without
Jesus Christ realized immediately after death that he is going to live
on forever and ever. He also discovers that he still has his memory,
as well as other things; but the saddest of all is the fact that he
discover that all opportunities to get saved are forever gone.
Dr. Tom Malone once said, "There is no back door in Hell. The
only way to get out is to stay out."
Over and over the Bible emphasizes the importance of being saved
today. Second Corinthians 6:2 says, "...now is the accepted time;
behold, NOW is the day of salvation." The only time you have is now.
Yesterday is gone forever, and tomorrow may never come. Why run the
risk of dying without the Saviour and spending an eternity in Hell.
We urge you to trust Christ today, for three big reasons: first,
you do not know when you are going to die and after death there is no
second chance for salvation; second, you do not know when the Lord will
come, and after the coming of Christ those who have had an opportunity
to be saved will not have an opportunity to trust Christ during the
Tribulation period: third, the Scripture says "to day."
If you will trust Him and write, call and leave a comment to tell
us, we have a book especially written for believers that I want to you
to have. It discusses the most important things we have ever learned
about the Christian life.
All you need do to receive this free literature is call:
Southern Maryland Christian Information Service BBS (SMCIS)
301/862-3160 N,8,1 300 to 9600 HST Baud Rates
and leave a comment for the SYSOP. "Buggs" Bugnon
or write:
SMCIS BBS
P. O. Box 463
California, MD 20619
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