When You Kick The Bucket

Well, I've got good news for us tonight friends, and it just may alter your eternal destiny So listen up Let me tell you about it One Saturday night. I was sitting in my car Eating a hamburger while I was parked across from a car wash and as I watched the people Get their vehicles cleaned. I noticed after their vehicle was washed Before they drove it off They would walk around their truck or car with a rag in their hand To examine it for smudges and very painstakingly They would rub that smear off until the whole vehicle was shiny and spic and span from one end to the other And as I watched them, I realized that most folks spend more effort and time Detailing their vehicles than they do on the everlasting details of their eternity Most folks even church folks are unprepared for eternity They are absorbed in this present world Trying to accumulate as much as they can to enjoy it all they can Before they kick the bucket and die We see this was indeed the case With a certain rich man who I want to bring before you this evening friends who died and woke up in hell's torments The Bible speaks of this man is recorded in the gospel Luke in chapter 16 beginning in verse 19 Let me read you friends this striking passage of Scripture But there was a certain rich man Which was clothed in Giorgio Armani and he drove a purple Lamborghini And he ate steak and lobster every day and when he kicked the bucket he woke up in hell Yes, that's the modern translation friends Well, let's continue with the words of Jesus as seen in the gospel of Luke Here now is the Word of God and may the Spirit of the Lord Attend the reading of his holy word 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 Well, I will pause here friends to say Notice the rich man has no name Wealth is not important in eternity You can take all the Warren Buffetts and Bill Gates and the Jeff Bezos in this world Who made money their God in life and stack them up and they won't stack up to a hill of beans in eternity Well, let's get back to our text friends and it came to pass That the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom Well, let me pause here again to relate a true story The great British preacher Charles Spurgeon Was dying and he lay dying in a hotel in the south of France in the town of Menton France and his personal aide Joseph Harrold Swore to his dying day as he was with the great preacher He looked out the window of the hotel and there beneath a cloudless sky Was a bevy of angels Suspended in the air as if they were waiting for someone.

Well, they didn't have to wait long Later that day the great Spurgeon died I believe that story friends. My Bible says that when a believer dies Angels carry that soul up to heaven. I believe that I Also believe that when a lost person dies outside of Christ Demons come and drag that person's soul down to hell the rich man also died and was buried and The next words read and in hell he lifted up his eyes Notice friends.

He still had his senses The text says and he lifted up his eyes being in torments and seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said father Abraham Have mercy on me and sent Lazarus Then he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue I am Tormented in this flame. Well, let me pause here again friends to say Notice this sufferer in hell is seeking things. He cannot have He had it all in life But now he seeks mercy when mercy is passed He seeks favor from Lazarus when he ignored him in life And he never relieved his suffering.

It's so hot in hell. His tongue is like a brittle crisp leaf Begging for water ready to snap into at any time He begs just for a single drop of water when in life He had bottles and bottles of wine and champagne around his table every evening He lived in abundance but now He seeks relief from his torments And they are never ending But alas, it's too late it's too late for this man. He was unprepared for eternity Notice Abraham's response to this man's multiple Requests we pick up our text in verse 25 But Abraham said Remember that thou in thy lifetime Receive us that good things.

Oh friends in hell You'll be haunted by your memory of all the opportunities you had To believe the gospel and to come to Christ all the gospel tracts You crumpled up and threw down on the ground in contempt all the appeals you heard from the various of witnesses God sent to you through your life Friends and family That you treated indifferently all the sermons you ran out on the appeals you spurned The invitations you ignored They were all be brought before your memory and haunt you down in hell Like a pack of dogs and haunt you and fill you full of regret This is the wailing and gnashing of teeth Jesus spoke of Wailing speaks of great grief and loss and gnashing the teeth signifies great anger and regret Oh Hell is full of regrets friends. I warn your friend. Do not go to hell It's a terrible dungeon, which you can never escape But the saddest thing of all is that this man seeks the salvation of his five brothers But he can't help him He cared little about them in life They were always coming to him and asking him for money and he always shrugged them off But now their souls important to him and Abraham tells him look You had plenty of good things in life, but poor Lazarus had none Remember that thou in thy lifetime Receive is that good things and likewise? Lazarus evil things But now he is comforted and our are tormented and beside all this Between us and you there is a great goal fixed so that they Which would pass from hands to you cannot neither can they pass to us? That would come from dance Then he said I pray you therefore father That thou would send him to my father's house five 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 nay father Abraham But if one went out to 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 the one rose from the dead I will stop their friends for that is the end of our passage And I'm coming to the end of my sermon Oh Friends hell is a real place.

It's a place of punishment for sin in a prison of regret Jesus Christ came into the world Doing good. He went about healing the sick feeding the hungry Even given sight to the blind Yet what happened men cried away with him and they nailed him to a cross The cross is the place where a man sought to get rid of him But by his death it becomes the place Where his saving power flows out to all who come in repentance Confessing they are sinners and own them as their Savior and Lord. Oh Friends look look at that man on the cross Look at that blessed man on the cross See him there With his arms outstretched Beckoning you to come to him and believe on him Look, look, look Look at that blood-stained Savior for sin He's the only remedy and refuge for sin if you've not trusted this blessed Savior Receive him now Before it's too late Soon, he will come in judgment on this world when his anger shall burn as an oven and then You shall meet him as your judge Hearing his love not that we love God But that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins Well, that's the close of my message friends I've given you the gospel tonight and like we say in the south I've given you the oil straight from the can Because I preach an undiluted gospel of the cross of the Son of God Listen friend you either a sheep or a goat you either saved or lost You either have Jesus or you don't you either been born again or you're not You're either been living an aimless life in the vain pursuit of selfish gain or You can say only one life Which will soon be passed only what's done for Christ will last Listen friend your good works or good opinion of yourself won't do you any good It won't get you into heaven.

You can't climb up to heaven on the back of your good church membership either That's like climbing to heaven on a rope of sand. Your only hope is Jesus Listen, your only hope is Jesus Listen friend put your pride in your pocket Admit that you lost and come to him tonight. He may be dead tomorrow John 14 6 Jesus declares I am the way the truth and the life No, man cometh unto the Father but by me Here Jesus answers the three greatest questions of the human heart How can I be saved? Jesus says I am the way how can I be sure? Jesus says I am the truth.

How can I be satisfied? Jesus says I am the life Jesus is the bread of life and in John 635 Jesus declared I am the bread of life He that cometh to me shall never hunger and him that believeth on me Shall never thirst. Oh Friends, the gospel is for the hungry the weary and the thirsty Let me ask you friend Are you hungry for God? Are you sick and tired of your sins? Are you thirsty for Christ then come to him and believe on him? And he has a pure gospel promise to all who come He that cometh to me I wanna know why is cast out Oh Friend when you kick the bucket and die, where will you go? Will you drop down to hell in torments? Will you be carried up to heaven by angels? Well, I'll end this message with one of my favorite stories Which speaks of our justification? Before God it talks about how the soul actually gets in the heaven Listen to it carefully There was man Traveling through the city of st. Louis and it was a Sunday and he was a Christian So he parked his car at a downtown church and went inside to worship Once inside he realized he was the only white person in an all-black church So he took his seat on a back row up on the platform Stood the elderly pastor of the church and he was beginning his sermon and his topic was heaven He began by saying Well, some folks call heaven paradise Other folks call it Abraham's bosom.

I like to think of heaven this way Here is Jesus Just returned from his earthly ministry and old Gabriel greets him Hello, Jesus Sure is good to see you Jesus we sure missed you up here Jesus Welcome home Jesus but wait, wait, who's that with you? Is that that thief from the cross? We can't have no thieves up here. No, sir. He's not welcome here Just then Jesus replied Never you mind Gabriel.

Never you mind and then Jesus wrapped his arm around the thief and announced He's with me Well, I like that story friend Can Jesus say that about you? Are you with him? Is he with you? Let us pray Great God in heaven. I pray you use this message in someone's life and open their hearts and pour in your grace and Save them and I pray great God That your spirit will disturb folks and I pray these things in the strong name of Jesus Amen