Hell and Everlasting Punishment
Part 20: Thirsty

The rich man in Hell begged for water. "And 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" (Luke 16:24). He wanted even one drop of water.

Evangelist Fred Barlow tells an interesting story about thirst:

"Oh, terrible thirsting in Hell! Nothing can compare with it. The account of the Battle of Dardanelles, written by an English lieutenant during the first World War, cannot begin to describe the sufferings in Hell. In A Thousand Dollars for A Drop, the author tells how his men, marooned on shore, could not reach their ship in safety. In a short time their canteens were empty. Desperately they tried to slake their thirst with seawater but this made matters worse. Next, they lay down and put their tongues upon the damp sand, but this, too, had too much salt. Parched-tounged, some took off their shoes and ate on them to get a little moisture.

Their one great cry was, "Water! Water! Water! Give me a drop! A thousand dollars for a drop!" Many went mad with thirst and blew out their brains. Others begged for water and fainted, some to die of thirst, their tongues protruding out of their mouths. The correspondent said that the sight and groans were so awful if Hell could be worse, "Good Lord, save me from Hell."

Hell is worse! For lost souls not only crave a drop of water to satisfy their thirst, they crave their sin. For everyone who goes to Hell goes there because he preferred sin to the Saviour...

If this lost soul in our text would have thirsted for Christ, "The Water of Life," when he was alive, he would have been satisfied and saved from Hell, for the Saviour calls sinners, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (John 4:14). But because he thirsted for sin, nineteen hundred years later he is still craving, seeking for gratification of sin, never to be satisified."

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SI Moderator - Greg Gordon