MK Gantt Ministries

In Luke 16 we read the account of a rich man in hell . . . begging that Lazarus would be sent to warn his brethren. He is told, of course, that this would not be possible. However, reading this account started me thinking. What would this man do if he were allowed for just a short time to return to the house of his father to warn his family? I want to suggest that though the world has seen some unbelievably great and effective missionaries and evangelists down through the years, the greatest missionary this world has ever seen would be a soul just released from hell! Imagine what would happen if this rich man himself were to be allowed to return to earth for one week. 

He would go straight to his father’s house and start screaming, “Repent before it’s too late! I have seen the terror! I have been drowned in agony! Turn from your wickedness before it is too late! I implore you as a man condemned for my sin, turn now before it is too late!”

His brothers, I’m sure, would think he had gone stark raving mad. But their ridicule would not deter or silence him in the least. He would unceasingly plead and beg them, on his hands and knees, with hot tears in his eyes begging them to listen to what he’s telling them. 

Then, he would turn his attention to all his friends and neighbors. Old girlfriends, 

Ex-wives, and forgotten acquaintances. He would even warn his enemies of the hellfire to come! Before long this guy would be scouring heaven and earth for souls to warn about the dangers and reality of hell. 

He would never tire. It would be impossible to distract him from his mission. He wouldn’t stop to enjoy life to the fullest and he wouldn’t care whether he was persecuted or not. He wouldn’t bother to get himself all wrapped up in earthly busyness. There would be no time to eat, drink, or sleep. 

There would be things he would deliberately miss out on simply because their pitiful amusement would pale in the face of the torment those around him were unwittingly facing.  No, my friend, I’m telling you, we have not yet seen the missionary fervor of a soul just released from hell!

Now why is it that we would expect a soul just released from hell to act so desperately, while we Christians who preach this and claim to believe this act so nonchalantly? 

Is this stuff true or not? Do we believe it or not? Is there truly a heaven and a hell? 

Is there really a life after death?  Is there truly an eternity, in which every soul on earth will live in one of only two places? 

I ask this because, if there is. If heaven and hell and eternity are really for real then most of us ought to be living vastly different lives than we now do.

Imagine if you will if the souls now in hell were allowed to come back to earth. Do you suppose they would know how to live then? Do you think they would make the same mistake of forgetting God and rejecting Jesus Christ? Do you think they would continue to squeeze God little by little out of their lives? Do you think they would carelessly allow sin and selfishness to rule their lives? What would they tell us about living our lives? What would they view as the most important things in life?

Yes, I am convinced that they would tell us that the only truly valuable things in this life are the things that pertain to or affect the next life. 

It is eternity that gives meaning to this life. Without the next life, nothing else really matters. If there is no hereafter, then it doesn’t really matter at all what we do here. As the apostle Paul and others have reasoned, “Let’s just eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (1 Corinthians 15:32), and that’s that. 

It was Spurgeon who once said: “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

And it was D.L. Moody who said: “I have made it a rule that I wouldn’t let a day pass without speaking to someone about their soul’s salvation, and if they didn’t hear the gospel from the lips of others, there will be 365 in a year that shall hear the gospel from my lips.”

A true story is told about a man named Charlie Peace, who had been condemned to die in the country of England. When it came time for him to die, he was led out to the gallows by the chaplain of the prison to be hanged. 

To the chaplain, this execution was like so many of the others he had attended; just another criminal, just another day on the job. He sleepily and routinely began reading the Bible verses about death, hell, and the so-called “Consolations of Religion.” 

Halfway to the gallows, Charlie Peace began to think, “This man is almost asleep while leading me to the doorway of hell.” “Stop! Stop! Stop a minute!” Charlie Peace exclaimed to the preacher. 

“Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk all over it, if need be, on my hands and knees, and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!”

What a rebuke from a dying sinner. Yet it is a fairly accurate observation: the Christian church in general has yet to prove by its actions that it really cares whether this world is lost or not.  

There are millions of Christians doing nothing, but there are absolutely no Christians with nothing to do!