The Bridgeless Gulf

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Luke 16:19-31

There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:…

I. In trying solemnly to speak upon this matter, I shall commence with this — THERE IS NO PASSAGE FROM HEAVEN TO HELL — "They which would pass from hence to you, cannot." Glorified saints cannot visit the prison-house of lost sinners. They did both grow together until the time of the harvest; it is not necessary, now that harvest has come, that they should lie together any longer. It were inconsistent with the perfect joy and the beatific state of the righteous, with its perfect calm and purity, that sin should be admitted into their midst, or that they should be permitted to find companionships in the abodes of evil. Those who are nearest and dearest must be divided from you, if you perish in your sins.

II. As we cannot go from heaven to hell, so the text assures us, "NEITHER CAN THEY COME TO US THAT WOULD COME FROM THENCE." The sinner cannot come to heaven for a multitude of reasons. Among the rest, these:

1. First, his own character forbids it.

2. Moreover, not only does the man's character shut him out, but also the sinner's doom. What was it? "These shall go away into everlasting punishment." If it is everlasting, how can they enter heaven?

3. Moreover, sinner, thou canst not go out of the prison-house because God's character and God's word are against thee. Shall God ever cease to be just?

III. But now, once again to change the subject for a few minutes, I have to notice in the third place, that while no persons can pass that bridgeless chasm, so NO THINGS CAN. Nothing can come from hell to heaven. Rejoice ye saints in light, triumph in your God for this — no temptation of Satan can ever vex you when once you are landed on the golden strand; you are beyond bowshot of the arch-enemy; he may howl and bite his iron hands, but his howlings cannot terrify and his bitings cannot disturb.

IV. Again, we change the strain for a fourth point, and this a terrible one. As nothing can come from hell to heaven, so nothing heavenly can ever come to hell. There are rivers of life at God's right hand — those streams can never leap in blessed cataracts to the lost. Not a drop of heavenly water can ever cross that chasm.

1. See then, sinner, heaven is rest, perfect rest — but there is no rest in hell; unceasing tempest.

2. Heaven, too, is a place of joy; there happy fingers sweep celestial chords; there joyous spirits sing hosannahs day without night; but there is no joy in hell.

3. Heaven is the place of sweet communion with God.

4. There is no communion with God in hell.

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