Now what about the rich man? So the rich man, it doesn't say anything about angels there. There's no mention of angels when the rich man died, so we can only conclude if Jesus did not mention angels for him, there were no angels met him. So what happened for him, in the five seconds after he died?
It says: and being in torments in Hell. There are a number of scriptures. There's an interesting one in Job 27:19-22, and it talks about the rich man coming before the king of terrors.
You've got to understand this. He assumed he was going to live a long life. It was a shock to him to die early. It's always a shock for people to die early, so this man died; and the moment he died, he suddenly become aware that he's now no longer in his body, but there are no angels waiting to meet him.
In fact actually the opposite; he is ushered immediately into an eternity separated by God. He doesn't tell us who took him there, but it says in other places in the Bible, he shall stand before the "king of terrors". It's not a very nice sounding name is it, the king of terrors?
So it says - notice about this man - it says: he, being in torments in Hades, lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. He cried, and he 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.
Abraham said: son, remember in your lifetime, you received good things; and likewise Lazarus, evil things; now he is comforted, and you are tormented; and beside this, between us 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.
So let's have a look what the Bible tells us. Now Jesus is giving you a glimpse into what it's like. Now the reality is - that man is still there now. That man is still there now. The reality is, is that Lazarus is still in the presence of God.
Notice what it says of Lazarus, first of all. It says: he was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. Now Abraham is the father of people of faith, so people who were descendants of Abraham, or people who follow Abraham, or people who believe in Jesus Christ, are children of Abraham by faith.
Now to be in the person's bosom, they understood what that meant. In the Eastern times, they would lie down to eat their meal; and so to have a particularly close intimate relationship with someone, you put their head against your bosom, against your chest. John the Apostle leant his head on Jesus' bosom. He had a close relationship.
So what its saying, is that this man Lazarus was deeply loved by Abraham, recognised by Abraham, has a very close relationship with Abraham, the father of faith, and is wonderfully happy in eternity. That was what happened to him.
But what about the other man? Now there are two things that you can tell, and these are the interesting things. There'll be a lot of people who are your friends, they've got no idea. I've been to some funerals, and I've heard the weirdest things, weirdest songs, the weirdest kind of statements about how they've just become a star, and they're looking down on us now. This is total nonsense - or they're just floating around, and they're watching over us. Again, this is not true. It comes out of the mind and imagination of people, who don't know the reality. Here is the reality.
Now this is a reality for any person you know who doesn't know Christ. Jesus said: you must be born again if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must be born from above. It requires an encounter with God to change you on the inside.
Now young people, I want you to think about this. You live and walk every day in the presence of people who are spiritually dead - and this is their eternity, should they have an accident next weekend; should they go drinking to get rid of the pain that they feel in their heart, and a car goes out of control. Before you know it, there's two or three young people killed. This, which you're going to read now, is the reality for them. It's not just some sort of story.