And in hell he lifts 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; for I am tormented in this flame. – Luke 16:23-24 (KJV)
The rich man who died alongside Lazarus cried in hell and the sound of his cry after thousands of years continues to pierce through and echo from the wrong side of eternity.
No cry is so desperate as the cry of an unsaved soul, and more so, when the unsaved cries from the yonder place of torment.
A brother once shared how God opened his ears to capture the languishing cries of sinners in hell. According to him, they were loud and desperate screams.
Souls are crying and men are dying without Christ, howbeit, many Christians treat their desperate cry with a deafening silence. They do not see the need to witness Christ to them.
Like the rich man in hell, sinners are crying from a hellish place in their souls — a place of misery and restlessness, for the soul to be without Christ is hellish enough…
One of the early Church fathers, Saint Augustine said God has created us for Himself and we cannot have rest until we rest in Him.
Truly, a Godless soul is a restless soul. And what is their desperate cry? The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. – Jeremiah 8:20 (KJV)
The unsaved constantly cry, We are not saved. They know it. They know they are not saved. Many of them know if they die in that condition they are bound for hell; hence, their desperate cry.
Behind the beautiful facades and flamboyance; behind the toughness and wantonness, are broken lives desperately screaming, that time is almost gone and we are not saved.
Does it not bother you, dear Christian? When last did you preach to a dying soul? How long are you going to treat the desperate cries of the unsaved with your deafening silence?
Or will you join the One that watches from the grandstand to thrust in your sickle today and reap the ripened harvest into the kingdom?
And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap: for the time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest of the earth is ripe. – Revelation 14:15 (KJV)
As you go about your day, I dare you to hand a Gospel tract to an unsaved person on your way. Share the Good news to the lost today. The Great Commission is not a great suggestion!
