The Cries
ICS Daily Devotions
Luke 16: 26-31 (NKJV) 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.’ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
We read in the Bible that Jesus left the ninety-nine to look for the one stray sheep, and He had the urgency to preach the Gospel to every city and village. Today, the Holy Spirit sees those around us who are still lost and pleads and compels us in our hearts to go forth and share the Gospel with them. He has given us the ministry and the Word of reconciliation to encourage everyone to return to Him. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are to preach the Gospel to all the nations that are represented in our city because we are sent to the world to be witnesses and ambassadors for Christ.
There is a cry within each one of us, and it urges us to do something about the lost. The power is in the Gospel, not in testimonies, and not in miracles even if someone were to rise from the dead. We are not ashamed of the Gospel because it is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, first for the Jews, then for the Gentiles.
The departed spirit of the rich man in this passage was suffering in Hades—a place of torment. He was living in regrets that he didn’t believe in God while he was alive, so he asked for Lazarus to be sent as a messenger to his five brothers on earth. We need to remember that there is nothing we can do for anyone once their spirit has departed. No prayer, intervention, or good works will be able to change their destination in eternity.
This passage tells us that there are cries in hell from those who are being tormented, urging their loved ones not to go to that place of torment. The answer to those cries lies in us. We can respond to these cries while we are on earth by sharing the Gospel with those who are unsaved before it is too late.
Sermon Series: God’s Compelling Love
