Peter Brandon addresses the profound question of life after death, emphasizing the biblical evidence provided by Jesus Christ regarding the afterlife. He discusses the contrasting fates of the rich man and Lazarus, illustrating the reality of hell and the hope of heaven. Brandon asserts that true life begins with being born again and that death is not the end but a transition to eternal existence, either in paradise or in torment. He encourages listeners to seek a relationship with Christ to ensure their readiness for eternity, highlighting the urgency of accepting salvation before it's too late.

The subject tonight is life after death. Is there real evidence? And therefore we're going to turn to the scriptures and see what the Bible says about this vast subject. Now shall we turn to the scriptures? We're going to read from Luke 16. Luke 16 and we shall read from verse 18. And these are the words of the Lord Jesus. Whosoever puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery. And whosoever marries her that is put away from her husband commits adultery. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linens and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of saws and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his saw. And it came 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 lifted up his eyes being in torment and seeeth 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'm tormented in this way. But Abraham said son remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And beside all this between us and you there is a great goal fixed. So that they which would pass from hence to you cannot and neither can they pass to us that would come from them. Then 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 them lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them. And he said no father Abraham but if one went unto them from the dead they will repent. And he said unto him if they hear not Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Now would you be kind enough to turn to another portion of scripture. It's 2 Corinthians chapter 5 and we read the first eight verses. 2 Corinthians 5 1-8 For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of God a house not made with hands eternal in the heaven. For in this we groan earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven. If so that we be clothed we shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan being burdened not for that we would be unclothed but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath brought us for the selfsame thing is God who also hath given unto us the earnest or the guarantee of the spirit. Therefore we are always confident knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord for we walk by faith not by sight. We are confident I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Wherefore we labour that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him. Now the Lord will bless to us the reading of his precious word. I think one of the most tantalising questions that the human race tries to answer is this question is there real life after death? If we went back in history and we looked at the various religions it would be quite obvious for literally thousands of years even primitive people believed that there was some kind of life after death. And it's very strange that even those people that have strong atheistic views have some kind of a shudder that there might be something after death. Take for instance Colonel Ingersoll that great renowned infidel who stood at his brother's bedside and said that he would give twenty thousand pounds and that was over 90 years ago to anyone that could prove to him what was on the other side of life. And so we can see that there is an inarticulate quest to know what happens after death. Secondly if we were to go round various death beds of Christians I think most of us would be disappointed. Not every Christian dies victoriously and therefore if we were to take recordings of the last words of scores of Christians we would not be able to assess that there was life after death. For instance many people who die are on sedation and all kinds of very peculiar hallucinations are given. So we can see that the preacher would be very foolish to give you death bed evidence. If we want evidence it must be absolutely reliable. For instance they used to believe that the world was square and if you believed that the world was round in certain countries immediately you were put in prison. But there was two brilliant seamen that did not believe that the world was a cube they believed that it was round. One was called Christopher Columbus and the other was called Vasco de Gama. And one went east and the other went west and Vasco de Gama brought back samples of India and Christopher Columbus brought back reliable samples of America. And when they saw and analysed those samples they knew that they were utterly wrong and the world was not a cube it was round and they had the grace and the courage to take away the cubes and they put balls for the world. But you see it took a breakthrough to convince them that the world was not a cube it was round. Of course if they had read the scripture especially in Isaiah they would have seen that the world was round because God never sits on the cube of the earth he always sits upon the circle of the earth. Again there's further evidence. When I was a boy at school I used to hear Professor Jean speaking to us over the radio and he told us emphatically that there was atmosphere on the moon. They had proof that there was atmosphere on the moon. And then although he was a brilliant astronomer one of the greatest astronomers that the world has ever known he believed that there was beautiful vegetation on the mars. But when there was a breakthrough and they landed some men on the moon and they came back with samples of the dust of the moon they proved convincingly that there was no atmosphere whatever on the moon. And they also know now that there's no vegetation on mars and this shows to us how the intellectual canons can be wrong, totally wrong. But you see it took a breakthrough to do it. Now we come to the very sensitive point. Has there been a reliable breakthrough into death? Has someone that's reliable and authoritative who lived and died come back again with real evidence, real evidence of life after death? Now the greatest person that ever lived was Jesus Christ. Your date system is not based on Alexander the Great. Your date system is not based on the great Caesars. Your date system is based on Jesus Christ. So you can see he is absolutely central in human history. And the Lord Jesus claimed to be the son of man and he claimed to be the son of God and quite frankly there's real evidence that he was a perfect man and there's real evidence of his divinity in the scriptures. Now he told us more about the afterlife than any other philosopher or prophet in literature. In fact he told us more about hell than heaven. And we know it was a fact that he was crucified on a Roman gibbet. We know that he was buried in a rich man's tomb and we know the tomb, it was a tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. And we know that he was raised from the dead. And that is why last night I gave you detailed evidence of the resurrection. And those who were here heard me give number one, textual evidence, historical evidence, critical evidence. Unfortunately I couldn't give you legal evidence. I wish I had time to do that. And then experimental evidence. And you will agree with me there's real evidence in the resurrection of Christ. Quite frankly there's more evidence in the resurrection of Jesus Christ than the evidence for the existence of the Caesars. More evidence. And therefore dear friends because someone has been into death and come out of death with reliable evidence we can be sure that there is an afterlife. And when John saw him on the isle of Patmos it was recorded to John that Jesus said I am he that lives and became dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Now note this and have the keys the authority of death and Hades. In other words real living evidence of the afterlife. Now my dear friends with that piece of evidence I do trust that you will believe what the scripture says that there is a life because someone reliable has come from the dead and more than that. On Saturday night I'm not only going to show from the scriptures that he was raised from the dead and this is a tremendous historical fact and he's alive but he's going to come back and he's coming back very shortly and he's the only one that can put our world right. Don't you believe it for one moment when the gulf war is over that human beings will able to deal with the problem in the Middle East. They will never settle it. The only person that will settle it is Jesus Christ. Now with that in mind I want to go through the teaching of our Lord and I'm only going to quote our Lord and I want to give you real evidence of this life after death. First of all I want to speak on the test. Then I want to speak on the time of death. Then I want to show you something that's lovely the real triumph in death and then very carefully I want to show you the tragedy of death. First of all the test. I was having a series of meetings in the shipyard in Belfast in Highlander Wharf and as I was preaching one man interrupted me and there must have been about 500 shipyard workers listening and he said this. Mr. Brandon Christianity is a deathbed religion. You're all dead scared to die. That's why you're Christian. My dear friends I want to totally deny that fact. If you don't have life before death you won't get it after death and that is why the Lord Jesus says except a man be born from above he cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter the kingdom of God. The Lord Jesus made it quite clear when he said I am come that she might have life and that she might have it more abundantly. Now can I say this to you as before God that Christianity isn't a miserable existence. When you become a Christian you do not look like an undertaker with a white waxen face and you look a picture of misery all the days of your life. If you're that kind of person I don't think you're saved. When you become a Christian he forgives your sins he makes you right with God and he wants to fill you with joy and peace and happiness. Christ in you the hope of glory. Now I know sometimes when you look at some of my brothers and sisters if I may use my macogny expression now they do look like dying ducks in a thunderstorm but we shouldn't really look like that. Christians should beam out the loveliness of the Lord Jesus and when you become a Christian he forgives your sins he puts the Holy Spirit within your life and you have life now. So that you live in two realms you live in the material world and you enjoy creation and then you live in the kingdom of God the spiritual world and you enjoy God. And so can you see if you're going to have eternal life you've got to have the essence of it now. The apostle said the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. In other words that gift is given to you right now. Now my dear friends may I ask a question. Would you face up to this. I'm not going to ask you are you religious. I'm not going to ask you have you been christened. I'm not going to ask you have you been confirmed. I'm not going to even ask have you been baptized by a merchant. I'm not going to ask you break bread and take the communion or the sacrament. I'm not going to ask are you a Sunday school teacher or an elder or a minister. I'm going to ask one thing have you been genuinely born again of the Holy Spirit. If you have you're ready for heaven. If you haven't you're not ready. You see we must have life now before we can get it when we die. And I trust you'll get that life tonight. Now what about the time of death. Now the scripture says in Hebrews chapter 9 and this is confirmed by the Lord Jesus in Luke 12. It's appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. The fact of death is indisputable. The latest insurance figures tell us every time the clock ticks two sometimes three people are dying. And if you're good at simple mathematics that means a town of the size of 250,000 people go out of time into eternity every day. And that means while I'm preaching and while the words are tumbling out of my mouth scores of people are dying. It's a fact. Some people die in their infancy. Some people die in their early youth. Some people die in their early married life. Some people die in their middle life. Some people die in the autumn of our life. But irrespective when we die or how we die we all die. Now I have been assessing this congregation and here's the living fact of death and I believe I'm right. I would say 50 percent of this congregation in 20 years time will be Skellingtons. 50 percent. 20 years time if the law doesn't come will be Skellingtons. That's the reality of death. Now do people face up to death? Of course they do. That's why 25 percent of the people of Australia have a life insurance. Why do they take out a life insurance? Because they want to face up to death. But have you taken out an insurance for your soul? You see there's the point and that's the preacher's job tonight. Now what is the cause of death? Now quite frankly whether you're a Christian or you're not a Christian, death is a terrible blast. I have met people who have never been able to get over bereavement and it's an awful shock when death comes. Now can this be of God? Well my dear friend if it's of God there's something wrong with God. Therefore the scripture makes it quite clear that the power of death is not God but the devil. Now why? It was Satan that engineered the break between man and God. Just like you take a flower from your garden and you cut it from the stem and immediately you sever it from the stem it begins to die. So he severed the stem as it were from God. And when Satan engineered the fall of man by his deliberate disobedience he became the engineer of death. But there's one thing that Satan cannot do. He is not the one that engineers the time of death. That's God. And therefore God says it's appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment. Now what does that mean? A man has an appointment with the doctor and he keeps it if it is wise. A lady has an appointment with a hairdresser and she will go at the time appointed. Sometimes we have an appointment with the dentist and we sit in the chair waiting for him to operate upon our teeth. All these matters that I have raised are done through an appointment. Now God is going to have an appointment with us in death and we shall never dodge it. You see we do not determine the moment of our death. God determines that moment. And therefore we want to see it like this. God holds every individual in the palm of his hand and he can snap the silver thread when he desires. And it's appointed unto man once to die. That's why it's a foolish thing to argue with God. In the last analysis he will always win the battle. We shall never escape him because he is our creator. Now what about then the great fact of death? What happens after death? Now we cannot understand this until we understand the spiritual makeup of our body. Now isn't it sad? Sometimes a person can go into an antique shop and say that's a bargain. Oh yes. Sometimes a lady will go into a dress shop and say my there's a bargain. I'm having that. But when it comes to a human being valuing himself we seem to be almost imbeciles. We just can't value the worth of the human body. Now God tells us that we are made in three tripartite and that means that man is body his soul and spirit. Now I think I can prove that to you immediately. When you sit down and have a meal at night you are feeding the body. Now you cannot deny that. That does not need an explanation. When you sit and listen to a lovely piece of music. When you watch a beautiful scene. As you engage with friendship with your wife and loved ones you're not feeding your body. You're feeding your soul. Therefore if you put a man within four balls and just fed his body for 20 years that man could go start raving mad. You see you need something more than food. You need something for your soul. I mean we're strange people. Your favorite color may be black. My favorite color may be blue. You might like fat things. I might like lean things. You see we're all different because man is a unique creature with a soul. Wherever you go in the world you will find that man always has this propensity to worship. The Russians were very foolish in their atheistic ideas and they tried to eradicate the idea that man has a spiritual content. But this is what they discovered. When their people were passing through the embalmed bodies of Lenin and Marx and Stalin they could see that there was more worship there than probably some of the western people who worship God. And therefore they could see that in man there was this spiritual content that must worship. That's why the whole of communism and atheism is beginning to be exploded today and thank God for it. And you can see all over the world whether it's primitive people that worship an idol there is something in man that has this spiritual content that must worship. Now once we can agree on the fact that man is body soul and spirit then we must estimate it. And this is what the Lord Jesus said. What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? That personality within your body is the very holy thing that makes you in the image and in the likeness of God. And that holy personality that you have is eternal and it cannot be annihilated. You might burn the body but you will never burn the soul. Now I know someone recently said a very foolish thing. A brilliant surgeon in my own country said this that he had been operating on the human body and he had never discovered the soul. Now how foolish can an intelligent man be? Where do you find love in a body? Where do you find peace in a body? Where do you find joy in a body? Where do you find meekness in the body? Where do you find temper in the body? You see it's not there and therefore it's ridiculous to imagine that you can look inside the body and say oh that's a piece of love but it's absolutely essential to life and it makes up your personality. And therefore we want to say clearly as the bible teaches that man is body, his soul and he is spirit. Now the body part of man is temperate. You are now, I am now actually dying on my feet. The soul of man is eternal and the spirit of man belongs to God. In a person that's not a christian the spirit part of him is there but dead. In a christian the spirit's been made alive by the operation of the new birth and that links him with God. So then what happens when death comes? Now according to the scripture and please bear with me as I try to explain it, death is not annihilation but it's an act of separation and it simply means the soul and the spirit leave the body and when the soul and the spirit leave the body it goes into two spheres. If you're a christian it goes direct into paradise and to be with Christ which is far better. If you're not a christian you go straight into hell and that's the teaching of the bible. I heard a beautiful story. A little girl was very close to her grandpa and he was a very old man and he died and she was allowed to go to the funeral and she came back with lots of questions and she said to her mother where's granddad gone? Gone to heaven. Oh no those four men in black put him in the ground in the coffin. Ah says the mother that's the body of your granddad but not the person who lived inside the body. The little girl couldn't understand and then she said we're going to move house next week aren't we? Yes. Are you looking forward to it? I am. Will we move the house? Oh no. Who will move? Us in the house. That's right and all the Now she said your granddad's body is like the house and that's gone into the ground and the person who lived in the house has gone to be with the lord jesus in heaven. Oh so he's moved that's it. She says but what happens to the house? She said oh dear she said well god made us from dust and when she gets older perhaps mother may call it the atom made us from dust and we return to dust. She found that hard to explain. Well she said if you could see your granddad's body in 200 years it could be just dust. Oh oh she said we came from dust and we go to dust. Well the body. Well you know what happens when you're moving don't you? The carpets are all taken up. Well this little girl was playing under mother's bed and it wasn't too clean obviously and she came tearing down and she says mommy come upstairs quickly there's a man coming or going I don't know which. There was so much stuff there. But can you see the point dear friends? You see the person inside the house went to heaven. The body went into waiting for the second coming of christ and when christ comes the second time he's going to take the original atoms and he's going to make a completely new body so that that body with its soul and spirit can dwell forever in that sphere called heaven. Whilst those who die without christ will have a body of damnation that will be suitable for hell forever. And that's a tragedy. Now what about the triumph of death? Now when I was thinking about this I thought we'll go and see the apostle Paul. And what I want you to do just for a few moments is to try and recapture Paul's last moments. He was obviously one of the greatest christians that ever lived. He evangelized a good part of the roman world, saw thousands and thousands of people saved and churches formed all over the roman world. And in the last few years of his life he spent in prison. And the last nine months of his life he was in that awful prison in Rome. He was one of Nero's prisoners. And that was a little bit of hell upon earth for the apostle. Now we're going into this prison to see him and I'm going to tell you a little about him. You will see a man who is about nearly 65 and he will look like a man 85. You will see the whole of his body mutilated for the cause of Christ. And when you first see him you will have a shock. Probably you will see some of the bones almost standing out of his body. And you're going to see an awful shock. And you will see him chained to two soldiers. And we're going in the prison. The door is opened and we walk in and there he is. And we say are you Paul the apostle? I am. Are you aware in a few days time you're going to be executed? I know. I'm aware. Are you ready for death? Yes I am. Now why are you ready? I suppose you think you're ready because you have preached the gospel all over Europe. No I'm not depending on that. Well I suppose you're depending on the fact that you've been a remarkable man. Oh I'm not depending on that. Oh I suppose you're depending upon the fact that you've led many people to become Christians. My I'm not depending on that. Are you depending on the fact that you were baptized by that brilliant man Ananias? Certainly not. Well why are you sure? Shall I tell you? I am depending on two facts. Number one I have allowed God to forgive me through the precious blood of Christ. We have redemption through his blood. The forgiveness of sins. You're very emphatic. Of course I am. And I am depending upon the fact that I have been born again of the Holy Spirit by the grace of God and it's Christ in me the hope of glory. And we look and we see the radiance of heaven in that scarred face. Christ in you. The hope of glory. And he would say with a chuckle you see already in this prison I've got a good bit of heaven but here yes Externally I'm in prison but in my heart I'm with the Lord in heaven. And he would say with holy joy Christ in me the hope of glory. And you would say to the soldiers gentlemen is this so? Is it so? He's the happiest man on earth through his witness we've all been converted. And we love him deeply. Two-thirds of the imperial guard were converted. You see they were chained to dynamite to the apostle Paul and they couldn't get away. So really your readiness then Paul doesn't depend on your good life. It doesn't depend on your religion. It doesn't depend on preaching. It depends on what Christ has done for you. Exactly. Are you depending on the precious blood? Are you depending on the new birth? If you are you can say I'm ready. Then that we would say this to him. Now Paul be honest when the moment of your execution comes and just five seconds before you're beheaded what will be your thoughts? Wonderful. And he would say something like this and now I'm going to use the Greek imagery. Have you ever been to the Mediterranean ports? And have you ever seen those great sailing boats with their sails full of wind? Yes. And they're being held to the jetty by these giant horses. Yes. And have you ever seen the captain giving the order for the horses to be released from the captain or the captains? Yes. And when they're released the boat hits the sea free liberated to enjoy the breadth of the Mediterranean ocean. Yes. When old Nero severs my neck the horses will be all released. I shall be out of the body and I shall be at home with the Lord released. The time of my departure the time of my sailing away has come. Oh we are staggered we've never heard anything like it. But then Paul what will heaven be like? Well we're going to be rewarded he would say and I'll tell you what heaven will be like. It's going to be a place of absolute perfection. I've written about it. When that which is perfect has come. What a state of absolute perfection. Absolute infinite perfection. You see in heaven we shall have perfect knowledge. I only have partial knowledge now. But I shall know God then like he knows me now. Knowing God like you he knows you. Yes. Really? Yes. I shan't be a child any longer. I shall be absolutely matured. Anything else you can tell us? Oh yes. Yes. It will be a perfect environment. There will be not one tinge of sin there. A perfect environment. Yes. There will not be an evil spirit. There will not be a bad word. There will not be the smallest sin. Nothing that defiles shall ever enter in. It will be a perfect environment. My that's marvellous. Anything else? Oh yes. We shall have perfect companionship. You see in that day I shall be among the spirits of men shan't be perfect. And all my brothers there'll be no sisters because there'll be one sex there. One sex. We shall be like the angels but we shall have perfect companionship. My that's mind-boggling. Ah but more than that. More than that. The environment will be pervaded with perfect love. And wherever we go it will be love, love, love. And then he would chuckle and say this. I shan't take this old body to heaven. It will be a good thing when this body I know it's become the temple of the Holy Ghost is put in the ground. And I'm anticipating the moment when he will give me a new body so that I will be like the Lord Jesus Christ. A new body. Yes. He would argue. I've worked this out in 1 Corinthians 15 but I'll tell you. There's a body that's fit for the water. That's called a fish. There's a body that's suitable for the earth. That's called the human body. An animal. There's a body that's for the air. That's the bird life. But we haven't got yet a body for heaven. You couldn't take this body and I wouldn't want to take it there. But he will give me a body of glory to dwell in a sphere of glory forever. My. Heaven must be wonderful. More wonderful than you ever realize. But something more. What's that? And the tears would fill his eyes. He wouldn't be able to speak and he would say this. I'm going to see my Lord. And I see the marks in his hands and side. And I see my perfect saviour. And in that day he will be omnipresent. There will never be a moment when I'm out of his presence and I'm longing to see him. And then he would say this. You see young man. I've already had a glimpse of heaven. And I was told not to speak about the glory. I've got a foretaste. And I'm longing to go. No wonder he could say for me to live is Christ. To die is gain. And now I'm going to speak to my brothers who are saved. Aren't you glad you're saved? Aren't you glad you're born again? Just think you're ready for heaven. Because of his grace. But then what about this awful place that's called hell? Now can I be as frank as possible? I would love to stop now. Now some of you will raise your eyebrows. But I will never become a hellfire preacher. I preach it. I warn people. But tonight I will not be able to sleep. Every time I give a on Satan or hell. I'm tormented all night. Because of the horrors of it. Now first of all I want to say this. If we believe that Jesus Christ was the son of God. And if we believe in the evidence of the resurrection. Then Jesus Christ is infallible. And if Jesus Christ is infallible. His work must be infallible. And if Jesus Christ warned us about hell. It must be there. It cannot, it cannot be the invention of a bad mind. And therefore for preachers not to preach hell or even mention hell is a tragedy. For instance a mother would not be a mother if she did not warn her children of dangerous roads. The authorities would have no love if they did not warn you about dangerous traffic. A doctor wouldn't be a doctor if he didn't warn you about health and the injuries of health. We're constantly warning people because we love them. And God warns us because of the reality of And that's why we must mention it. And to eradicate it shows that you're a traitor to the cause of God and to the gospel. So we must mention it. But what happens when a man dies without Christ. The moment he dies according to the teaching of the Lord Jesus. He gets the biggest shock of all. When this rich man had all the physicians around his bed and no one could really save him from dying. The moment he died there was a funeral and probably they said lovely things about him in the synagogue because obviously he was religious. He was dressed in fine linen and that was the garments that they wore when they went into their synagogue. But the moment this man died he had the biggest shock of all. Listen to these words. In hell. In hell. Listen to them again. In hell. He must have said this. Oh God where am I? And he had the biggest shock in eternity. You see he had lived as though God basically never existed. He had parties. He gave a few crumbs to the poor people to alleviate his conscience. He had pleasure. He enjoyed life. He lived it up. He wasn't a vagabond but he just lived to the exclusion of God. And I suppose he told his own self well there's nothing really after death. But when he moved out of his body he moved into eternity. And when he realized he was in an infinite yawning hell he cried. Oh God the shock was inexpressible. Friends can I explain it in Australia? A man comes from a beach in middle life. He sits down. He has a thrombosis or a heart attack. And flash he's taken. In hell. Oh God where am I? A business man is sitting with his colleagues around the board table and they're discussing in millions when suddenly something hits him. He has a heart attack. And before they can get to him his spirit is saying oh God I'm in hell. And there are millions like that. Millions are dying like that. And I believe someone in this hall could die like that very shortly. Then I want you to note his census. His soul has the faculty to see in hell. His soul has the faculty to hear. His soul has the faculty to taste. His soul has the faculty to communicate. His soul has the faculty to plead. His soul has the faculty to observe. In fact shall I say this? The soul faculties are much more intense and probably much more intelligent than your natural faculties. But the worst thing is this. His soul has the faculty of memory. Son remember. And in those census it must have come to him. I went in for pleasure. Went in for girl. Went in for sport. Went in for business. Went in for everything. But miss God what a fool I am. And all the opportunities I had in life of getting right with God. And miss them. Think of the census in hell. But more. He realised it was all up. When he was alive like the prodigal son he could have come back to the father. For the gulf was there but it wasn't fixed. But now he realises there's no second chance. The gulf's fixed. And it dawned upon him. I was separated from God in life and I didn't care two hoots about it because I was enjoying the material world. Now I realise I was deceived. And I'm separated from God forever. And do you know what that means? You will never be able to know God. Never be able to know truth. Never be able to know love. Never be able to know peace. Never to be able to know happiness. You will be separated from God forever. Because that was your choice. Friends that defies description. But there's something more. There's deep sorrow. The moment he finds himself moving in an eternity without God. All the realities of earth have gone. There's no trees there. There's no beautiful mountains. He's there in spirit. He's there in soul. He begins to realise the reality of soul and spirit. And then he will realise this. My body deceived me. I thought that only those things I could touch and see were real. But I'm in the realm of eternity. And the reality of eternity is striking upon my spirit. And what does he do? He cries out for mercy. Father Abraham have mercy upon me. Friends if you could go to hell tonight you would hear them screaming for mercy. But there's no mercy. There was one man that came to God and he was a publican. He was an old rascal. And realising his soul was lost but he was still alive. He cried this prayer. God be merciful to me a sinner. And he was saved. But this man cries the prayer when it's too late. Father Abraham have mercy on me. But there's no mercy. Dear friends I know this is jagged language but take it from a man that loves you. Two people before next week in this congregation could drop dead and you could be in eternity. And the reality of being in hell could be yours. And dear friends I want to say this. The sorrow will be terribly great. Some of your children will curse you that you never told them about the new birth. Some of your children will say to you. Mum you went to church but you never told us to be converted. And look we're lost. And they'll curse their very parents. Hell is going to be a place of deep sorrow. But this is the tragedy. It won't be sorrow for a hundred years. It won't be a sorrow for a thousand years. It won't be a sorrow for ten thousand years. It will be forever. Forever. Your life is but five seconds in comparison with eternity. But the worst thing will be there. Just like Christians will be ever present of the Lord Jesus and will be constantly in his company. Those in hell will be constantly aware of the devil. And this will be your reaction. You deceive me by your pleasures. You deceive me by intellectual arguments. You deceive me by religious men that told me that I was good enough. And now I've got to live with you forever. And you'll live with him and all his demons. You see hell was never created for the human race. It was created for the devil and all his angels. And there'll be thousands and millions of Australians in hell because they were deceived by the devil. Now I know what someone is saying. Mr. Brandon how can you reconcile that with the love of God? It's not the will of God that any of you should perish. And this is what the scripture says. He wills not the death of any but all should come to repentance. How do I know that? The Lord Jesus was so realistic about saving us. He went to a cross. Bore our sins and it's judgment on the cross. And the very language of a man in hell. He cried on the cross. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And he died there to save us. And it's the will of God for every single one of you tonight to be saved. He doesn't want one of you to go out of this building tonight unsaved. But if you reject this warning. The onus of your soul swings heavily now upon your shoulders. Can I use this illustration and clouds? A young man by the name of Alec Legg was with a party of young people at larks. And they were walking past a lovely river that was in spate. And one young man went in swimming and he was told that it was very dangerous. And it wasn't long before he was swept under. And no one would go in for him. Only one young man, Alec Legg, who was quite poor in health. And he stripped off his coat and he went in. And in midstream they fought fanatically. It must have been a horrid sight. And they were all screaming to Alec Legg to come out. But this boy was struggling for life. And he wouldn't respond. He was fighting as many drowning people do. And Alec Legg came away from him. He broke his grip. And they were calling for him to come out. But he wouldn't. He went in again. And in desperation the poor fellow grabbed hold of his cheek. And nearly pulled his cheek. But he hung on to him. And they were screaming for Alec Legg to come out. But he wouldn't. With his face pouring with blood he went in. And they both sank. It must have been a terrible moment. And then they made a chain. And one boy grabbed hold of the ginger hair of Alec Legg and pulled him in. And the other boy drowned. And they had a funeral at Cowdenbeath. And Alec Legg with all his face bandaged set this over his coffin. He said, John, I wanted to save you. You wouldn't let me. He wants to save you tonight. Will you let him? Will you let him? The scripture says, Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. May someone call on the Lord tonight.