FBCD_FaithEssentials_June_FlipBook

Faith Essentials

man do but reflect upon how foolish he had been, becoming so enamored with his wealth yet failing to acknowledge the One who had blessed him with it. Forever he would replay in his mind the times he had walked by Lazarus without so much as glancing his way. He even remembered his five brothers that were headed for his dreadful, deadly destination (Luke 16:28). I believe with all my heart that at this very moment occupants of hell are remembering the multiple opportunities they had to repent of their sins and submit to Christ. Millions upon millions are recalling the times they felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit but would not humble themselves before God. Hard-hearted husbands regretfully reflect upon the times they turned a deaf ear to their wives’ pleas to attend church with her and the children. Those who encountered death unexpectedly, some perhaps in their younger years, replay repeatedly every single opportunity they had to get saved. The person who said, “I’m not ready now but maybe someday” will be constantly reminded that someday never came. Likewise, the rich man has eternity to remember his spiritual failures. Next, note that hell is a place of perpetual agony. In a pitiful appeal to Abraham, the rich man said, “Have mercy on me . . . I am in agony in this flame” (Luke 16:24). Is Jesus referring to literal flames? We can’t say for sure. Certainly, He described hell as such on multiple occasions. He warned of “the fiery hell, the furnace of fire,” and “hell . . . the unquenchable the fire” (Matthew 5:22, 13:42, Mark 9:44). John writes of death and Hades being thrown into “the lake of fire” after the millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 20:14). A scoffer might say, “It couldn’t be actual fire because those present would be burned up in a matter of minutes.” Remember the burning bush that Moses saw in the desert. The Bible says that, “the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed” (Exodus 3:2). If God performed such a phenomenon with a plant on this earth, He could certainly do it with people in hell.

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