"And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.”
- Luke 16:26
The lost spirits in hell are shut in forever. I see the angel standing at that iron door. I hear the awful key as it grates among the tremendous wards, and when that gate is closed he hurls the key into the abyss of oblivion, and the captives are fast immured, bound in fetters which will never break, in chains which never rust.
The sinner cannot come to heaven for a multitude of reasons. Among the rest, these. First, his own character forbids it. As a man lives and dies, so will he be throughout eternity. The drunkard here will have all a drunkard's thirst there without the means of gratifying it. The swearer here will become a yet more ripe and proficient blasphemer. Death does not change but fixes character; it petrifies it. "He who is holy let him be holy still; he who is filthy let him be filthy still." The lost man remains a sinner and a growing sinner, and continues to rebel against God. Would you have such a man in heaven? Shall the thief prowl through the streets of the New Jerusalem? Shall the atmosphere of Paradise be polluted by an oath? Shall the songs of angels be disturbed by the ribaldry of licentious conversation? It cannot be. Heaven were not heaven if the sinner could be permitted to enter it. "Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God," and as there is no hope of the finally lost ever being born again, that kingdom of God they cannot see.
Sinner, if you are not fit for heaven now, have you any right to hope you ever will be? If you die without God and without hope, where must your portion be? Without a God can you dwell in heaven - God's own dominions? Without hope can you enter where hope is consummated in full fruition? Never.
Remember sinner, there never was but one bridge between fallen man and a holy God. That bridge you reject. The person of the Mediator, his substitution, his righteousness, his painful death -- these make the only road from sin to righteousness, from wrath to acceptance. But these you reject. If you should ever be lost you will have finally rejected Christ; and inasmuch as you are not this morning saved, O my poor fellow creature, you are now rejecting Christ. You are as good as saying, "Christ died, but not for me. Christ shed his blood to save men, but I will not be saved in his way. Let Christ die. I count his death a trifle and his blood a vanity. I had sooner perish than be saved by him." This is what you in effect are saying. I know the words make you shudder. You would not venture to utter them, but that is your feeling. You will not have this man to reign over you. You will not bow the knee and kiss the Son. You will still be an adversary to God and sooner be destroyed than be saved through the atonement of Christ. Well, now, if you reject the only way, what wonder if having rejected that there remains no hope? Besides, remember there is no other sacrifice for sin.
"But," says one, "how may I lay hold on Christ?" May the blessed Spirit enable you to do it. Here it is: trust Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Conscious that you deserve his wrath, trembling because of his terrible law, look to Jesus. There hangs a bleeding Saviour. I think these eyes can see him bleeding there. God eternal, he by whom the heaven of heavens were made and the earth and the fulness thereof, takes upon himself the form of man and hangs upon the tree of the curse.
See from his head, his hands, his feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down!
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet,
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?
There is life in a look at that crucified One. There is life at this moment for you. Will you glance at him with a tearful eye, "Jesus, slaughtered, martyred, murdered for my sake, I do believe in you. Here at your feet I throw myself, all guilty, polluted, foul. Let your blood drop on me. Turn your eye upon me and say to me, I have loved you with an everlasting love, therefore with the bands of my kindness have I drawn you."
O that you would believe in Jesus. He is freely preached to you -- accept him. May the Spirit of God lead you now to accept him. These are no hard terms, no stern conditions of a blood-thirty tyrant. He does but say, "Bow the knee and kiss the Son. Come, and welcome, sinner - come." Young man, will you be saved or not? You sinner, yonder, with your gray head betokening the approach of death, will you believe in Christ or not? It may be this is your last time; you shall never hear the gospel faithfully and affectionately pressed home upon you again. Will you have Jesus to be yours? Spirit of God, lead that heart to say "Yes, Lord, I will." And as the acceptance is heard on earth, may it be registered in heaven, and may salvation come to that man's heart this day.
