Luke 16:19-31

This is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. One thing we must get straight is that it is not because Lazarus was poor, and the rich man was rich that one went to Heaven and the other to Hell. Nor does this represent accepting Jesus Christ, because Jesus had not yet died. So why did Jesus tell this story. It was because Jesus was discussing certain things pertaining to the law of Moses. The law of Moses can be cold and useless unless combined with that precious ingredient of faith. We see in Hebrews 11 what faith does. Now we are not told what kind of a life Lazarus had, but we are told a little about the life of the rich man. He could observe the beggar and give him only crumbs from his plenty. They both died and each went to their separate place. Because of his faith Lazarus went to Paradise and the rich man to Hell. Paradise is a place of blessing but hell is a place of torment and according to the story there is no changing after death. Torment is forever and blessing is forever. Next, what is on the mind of the rich man? He can't change his own state, but he doesn't want his brothers to come there. Why? Because he loves his brothers and doesn't want them to go there. Friends that is why I constantly pass out Gospel tracts and preach the Gospel. I don't want even a so called enemy to go there. Simply by accepting Christ we can change our destination.