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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/larry-steers/the-soul/
Turning your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke into chapter 16. Gospel of Luke in chapter 16. I'm going to read into the middle of a passage, but we'll likely refer to some of the details of the passage. We'll commence reading at verse 19.
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and then details relative to his life. Verse 20, there was a certain beggar. I'm coming down in the chapter to verse 22. 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 lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth 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.
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that now in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things. Now he is comforted and thou art tormented. That's all that I'm going to read.
The details of the passage, a few that I didn't read, I may refer to in just a moment. There are two passages in our Bible where it strikes me that God rolls the veil of eternity aside and allows those of us who are living on this side of eternity to take a look into God's eternity.
One of them, we will consider tomorrow morning in the Bible reading here at the conference in Revelation chapter 4, God rolls the veil aside. And for two chapters in the Bible that we're going to look at, one of them, God allows us to take a look into eternity.
And we're going to see a heavenly scene. The other scene is what I have read here. God pulls the veil aside and he allows us to look into eternity to see the consequences of rejecting Christ and to see the destination of two men after they die.
So God rolls the veil aside. Let me make a statement here that the Lord Jesus never told a fictitional story. Every account that the Savior spoke was true. The Bible says grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
And so in Luke chapter 15, there was a shepherd, a living shepherd. The Savior knew the details of his life. He lost one of his hundred sheep. The Savior knew all about that. And he tells that account that actually happened.
That's an account that is actually true. And so when we come to Luke chapter 16, what the Savior is saying here is actually true. This is eternity. This allows us to take a look beyond time and into God's eternity.
So both individuals here actually lived upon this earth, a rich man, maybe we should say a poor rich man and a very rich beggar. That is, the beggar had nothing in life, very little, but the rich man had everything.
So these two men actually lived. The rich man died. I'm going to get to my point here because I'm occupied with the soul. They buried him. We're not told where they buried him. He may have had a large funeral.
They may have made great oration over his funeral, but they took the man's body and they laid it in a tomb or in a grave, but they never buried the soul. It's the soul that we're interested in just for a few moments.
And so it says about this man that he was buried and in hell. That is, they buried his body, but his soul went out into eternity. And the Lord Jesus is giving the actual destination of a man who lived upon earth.
His soul departed from the body and took its flight into eternity. And the Savior is telling us the destination of that soul. There was a beggar. He too died. They likely never gave him an honorable burial.
They likely just disposed of the body like in a very undignified way. But the man's soul departed to a place of peace and rest and safety in contrast to the rich man. I'm occupied for a moment with the soul.
That everyone here has a soul in the body. And the soul is a real person, is the real you. When we go back to the garden when God created Adam and he took some dust of the earth and he fashioned a man.
And there was Adam. But Adam lacked something very important. And perhaps one of the majestic scenes in the Bible is when God leaned over the man that he had created and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.
And Adam became a living soul. Into the body that God had created he now placed a soul. We are reminded in the book of Ezekiel that God says that all souls are mine. That is by creatorial right and claim.
God has a claim upon your soul. But he will hold you responsible for the eternal destiny of your soul. And so he says, the Lord Jesus said, what should profit a man, a woman, a boy or a girl if they should gain the whole world?
And you'll never do that. You might have a little, tiny, limited, very small part of the world but not the whole world. What the Savior was really saying he was placing a value upon your soul. Do you understand that tonight?
That as you sit here within your body there is a soul and the value of that soul exceeds the value of the whole world. A soul that you have. And you are accountable to God for that soul. And so again the Lord Jesus said, what is a person profited if they should gain the whole world and lose their own soul?
And so here's a man who forgot something and likely he knew a little. He forgot that he was going to die. He forgot that life was going to come to an end. He forgot that it is appointed that a man wants to die and after this a judgment.
And after death, what about the soul? I know that some of my brethren here have done what I've had to do. We had a woman coming to tent meetings. She wasn't saved. After the tent meetings I got a phone call that she was in the hospital dying.
I was asked to go and visit her. I remember walking into that room. She's lying in the bed. The man on the other side of the bed holding her hand, I think it was her husband. Two people sitting at the foot of the bed, probably neighbors.
And I leaned over a dying woman. I asked her, I said, I'm going to read some verses from the Bible to you. But she shook her hand and faded unconscious for a few seconds. And I looked over at the man that I assumed was her husband.
And I said to the man, I'm going to pray. He nodded his head. And so for a few moments I prayed over a dying woman who was going out into God's eternity. And as far as I knew, when the tent meetings came to a conclusion that that woman was not saved.
And as I prayed over a dying woman, I quoted every gospel verse that would come into my mind. Just hoping, praying, that before she went out into God's eternity, there would be one of those verses that would get into her soul.
That in those closing moments of her life, she would understand. She would take in the truth of the death of Christ. I don't know whether she ever got saved. But to the speaker, it is a solemn moment to stand at the deathbed of a soul that is not saved.
They had no profession of faith in Christ up until that moment. What about your soul? I said the soul is a real you. It's a real person. You go into a funeral home and you see a person lying there. No smile.
That body will never smile again. No life. No kind words. Nothing from that soul that would indicate life. The soul is gone. The body. The soul is gone. Nothing relative to the body that indicates life.
The soul has taken that flight into God's eternity. So the issue is your soul. Here's a man in hell. And hell is real. This isn't a fairy tale. This isn't a made-up story. This is absolute reality. And now this man in hell is concerned about those who are living.
And perhaps the most urgent prayer meeting that has ever taken place took place when a man in hell cries. He says, I have five brethren. Maybe someone sitting here. Maybe a friend. Maybe someone that you knew that died not saved.
And in hell, crying for your soul. I have five brethren. He wanted someone to go from the dead and to warn his five brothers lest they also come to this place of torment. He was told that even if there stood on this platform right now someone who came from hell and preached about hell to you, there are souls that still wouldn't believe.
And so the Lord said to this man relative to Abraham we'll read the verse when this man is crying for his five brothers and Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. And for you today this is what you have.
You have the word of God. And in this Bible God makes it abundantly clear. That soul that is in your body. That soul that is going to go out into eternity. That soul that is going to leave the body behind.
The body is going to die. It's going to experience death, but not the soul. The soul will be conscious eternally. And so now this man is praying for his five brothers. I wonder is there some here tonight and eternal issues have weighed upon you.
Some have told how they got saved. Can you turn over the pages of your life tonight and go back to a moment when the death of Christ became very precious and very real to your soul. And can you say with confidence tonight that all is well with my soul for eternity.
And so here's a man and we would gather from the way that this is expressed here. That this man didn't die in ignorance because in hell he remembers. He remembers details and circumstances in life. The man who died and his soul was in hell.
An issue that you need to face tonight and a very solemn issue that you need to face tonight. You're going out into eternity. It's not a debatable thing. It's not something that is open for discussion.
You are going to eternity. And that eternity is going to be one of two places. Two roads before your life. Which one will you take? One goes upward to the sky. That's the beggar here. And the other to the lake.
There is a difference between hell and the lake of fire. They're not the same place. If I had that two road chart that we would put up on the tent whenever we put a tent up. And it's very interesting that there have been a number that at the conclusion of the meeting have made their way up to the front and have stood and looked at that chart.
Sometimes we have opportunity to stand beside them and to hand them our pen that can mark the chart. And to ask them, put an X on that broad road where you think you are. Where would you put the X? Where do you think you are?
I may be talking to some and you think you're going to live a long time. I only met one man who was 101, 102. He was asleep when I walked into the room. But thankfully when I leaned over that man and whispered into his ear, do you know the Lord?
Immediately he awoke, indeed I do. Where would you put the X? Interesting that most that I have spoken to in that way have put the X a long ways from the pillar of death. We've taken the pen from their hand and we put an X right at the pillar of death.
What if you're here? What if you're very, very close? What if death is very, very near? Young people need to understand that. That you have no lease on life tonight. Life may end very quickly. Eternity is real.
Death is real. That it is appointed unto man once to die, after this to judgment. At this moment in your own thinking, just ask yourself the question. Be honest with yourself tonight. If my life ends tonight.
We're speaking to everyone here, young and old. The youngest person that I've had the privilege or responsibility for taking a funeral service was a 12 year old boy who was actually related to me. Who sat in the Owen Selden Gospel Hall back our way.
I can tell you the exact seat where he sat in. Jonathan had both elbows on the chair in front of him and looked at me intently during the course of that meeting. I remember speaking that night that I was going to have a word with Jonathan before he left the hall tonight.
When I was at the door, someone else was speaking to Jonathan and I thought I'll speak to him tomorrow night. I regret that ever since. Because I got the word the next day that Jonathan died in his father's arms that night.
You see Jonathan knew that his life was going to end. Jonathan had leukemia. And they had told him in the hospital for sick children they had told his parents there's nothing more we can do for your son.
I wish I had spoken to him that night. I carry that regret right till this present moment. That was the last opportunity I would have to speak to that boy. Let me come back to the issue then. For every one of us here, young and old, if you're honest with yourself, just at this present moment and to decide in your own soul if I died tonight, where would I be?
Where would my soul be? According to what I have read, your soul may be buried, your body may be buried in a grave, but not your soul. Your soul will be in heaven. Or your soul will be in hell. And so this man was told, they have Moses and the prophets, and for you you have the word of God.
We have been reminded and expressed in a different way, that the entrance of thy word giveth light. There have been souls that have sat in a gospel meeting and the word of God has entered into their soul.
In a meeting much smaller than this one night, there was a young girl sitting. There have been gospel meetings. That was the last night of the meetings she had been prayed for. The last night of the meetings she went home and told her mother and father that she had got saved.
When someone professes to be saved, we like to talk to them a little. Give them a little word of encouragement if we sense that this is real. But we couldn't talk to her because she had gone home. Meetings are over.
But I came into a conference, just very similar to this, only the auditorium was empty and that girl was sitting all by herself in the middle of that auditorium. So I went over and I sat down beside her and I asked her, need you just tell me, what happened the last night of those gospel meetings?
That girl had no difficulty understanding that she was a sinner. She knew that. That had convicted her for some time. And she knew that she was guilty. She knew that she deserved to be in hell. And for that series of meetings she told me she had been troubled for all of the meetings and now the meetings have coming to an end.
And she's still not saved. And so she made the statement to me. She said, I realized that night that the Lord Jesus Christ died for me. And I said, well I asked her, where did you get that from? Well she said, one of you were speaking on John 5 and 24.
May have been me, I don't know, because that's the best verse in the Bible. That's the verse I was reading when I was saved. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath everlasting life, shall not come into the judgment, but is passed from death unto life.
And she told me what that verse meant to her. Now I'm not going to mention the other man's name. Because I went out into the corridor and I found the other man who was speaking and I told him that I had spoken to her and she said she got saved while she was reading or thinking about John 5 and 24.
Now, his reaction. This is the other gospel preacher. He said, how did she get that out of John 5 and 24? Well, you're looking at a person on the platform. And out of John 5 and 24, I discovered that Jesus died for me on the cross at Calvary.
He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me. Now, I didn't quote it just as is found in your authorized Bible. I quoted it as is found in the revised Bible. Now, let me just quote both of them again.
In your authorized Bible, the King James Bible says, and believeth on him that sent me. I did that problem and she had that problem. She was trying to believe and I couldn't believe. But it was pointed out to me the revised rendering.
Notice the difference. And believeth him that sent me. That took the believing away from me and took my believing to God. God who could not lie. And I knew the word of God was absolutely true. And I knew that the word of God said that this man had sinned.
I knew all the verses, but for the first time in my life, that became real. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And God said that. And God could not lie. I was a sinner. I was convicted of my sin for a long time before that even.
But my Bible also makes another statement. It says, this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. That's what God says. That's what the word of God says.
I understood for the first time that the Lord Jesus came from heaven to die on a cross for me, a sinner, that it was for me. So where do you stand tonight? I'm going to sit down. Another man's going to preach the gospel for a few moments.
But where do you stand? God has placed a value upon your soul. God will hold you accountable for the destination of your soul. You will be responsible if you reject Christ and your soul ends up in hell when you die.
But I made the statement that hell and the lake of fire are not the same places. So there's going to come a moment when the body of the person who dies without Christ will be raised out of the grave. And out of hell will come the soul.
And the body and the soul reunited. Body and soul cast into the lake of fire. Before I was saved, I didn't want to find myself in hell. I was fearful. I was fearful that the moment would come, and perhaps come suddenly when I wasn't prepared, when I had never accepted Christ, and my soul would be found in hell.
And eventually, that I would be cast into the lake of fire. Let me just say, again, in closing, that there's a God in heaven who places a value upon your soul. And the value of your soul is inestimable.
Even the value of the world, if it could be some, could not be used to place a value upon your soul. The most valuable possession that you have, or ever will have, is your soul. And God is holding you accountable for the destination of your soul, that God has made ample provision that your soul might be in heaven when you die.
And so the Lord Jesus has died on the cross. Peter makes the statement that the Savior suffered the just for the unjust. He was the just one. He suffered for the unjust. That's for each of us. Took our place.
A miracle of grace for man. The Lord Jesus Christ died, suffered upon the cross. Where's your soul going to be? I'm asking you to be honest with yourself. I'm asking you tonight not to put the question aside.
I'm asking you to face honestly the issue of eternity and your soul. There is no issue that is more important that you will ever face if you would just face it tonight and not leave this meeting and then get involved in conversation and forget all about the issues of this meeting, your soul and heaven and hell.
Will you face that honestly? Because God has made full provision that your soul can be delivered and you can be saved tonight. And you can know for certain as you rise from your seat and make your way out of this building tonight.
You can know for certain that I am on the way to heaven. I'm saved.