In the last podcast, in episode 178, I asked you, "Can a sinner repent and be saved in the final moments leading up to their death?" And here's a related follow-up question that some listeners have asked. Pastor John, can a sinner repent and be saved after death? The answer is no.

And there are several passages of Scripture that make me clear about that. I remember, again, my father preaching, and I can see the kind of squint in his eyes when he quoted Hebrews 9, which he did numerous times. He said, "It is appointed to a man once to die, and after that comes judgment." And he would just say, "When you die, here's what you look forward to, judgment." Not some kind of intervening space where you get another chance.

But the most clear passage of Scripture is Luke 16 and the story of Lazarus and the rich man. People may remember that Lazarus was poor and sat at the door of the rich man. The rich man walked by him indifferently every day, manifesting that he had no love for him, no trust in God, and they both die.

And Lazarus, who evidently had been trusting in God, goes to Abraham's bosom and is rewarded and relieved of all his lifetime of suffering with delights and pleasures in the presence of God. And the rich man goes to a place of torment and anguish where he's longing to have just a drop of water put on his tongue.

And there's this imaginary conversation that Jesus creates between them, and he says, "Can't you just send Lazarus down here?" And Jesus says, "No, I can't, because there is a gap." Verse 26 of Luke 16, "Besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you cannot do it, and no one can cross from there to us." So one of the reasons there's no salvation after death is that there's this chasm fixed.

And I think the reason it's fixed is because the Holy Spirit is poured out on this world to bring people to conviction of sin, and there is no Holy Spirit promised in hell. And if we push Jesus away and refuse to yield to the work of the gospel in our hearts, in this world, there'll be no reason to think that our hearts will be softened in the conflicts or in the torments of hell.

I can think, Tony, of one possible exception to this. And let me bring it up because it comes up all the time, namely infants who die. And here I just admit I'm in the area of speculation. I don't think the Bible says explicitly what I'm about to say, and so people should take it carefully.

It seems to me that there are pointers in the Bible, like Romans 1, 19-23, and John 9, 41, that God's desire for public justice to be done and manifested will lead Him not to bring infants who die into everlasting judgment and condemnation, which raises the question, "Well, how then will they come to faith in Jesus, who alone is their Savior?" And so I'm leaving open the possibility that in some way that I do not know and don't want to speculate too far about, God might be pleased to make that possible for them to come to faith after death.

But the context for those who have mental frameworks whereby they can construe the evidences that are available to all human beings, it says in Romans 1, those people who resist God and suppress the truth that is available to all human beings who have the mental processes to grasp them, those people will pass into judgment for which there is no second chance.

And so the urgency, hence the urgency of the call to people all over the world to believe, hence my commitment to world missions, my love for this conference that's coming in December about the cross and its mobilizing of young people to reach the nations of the world, the implications of believing that there's no second chance beyond death are very, very serious and big.

Yes, it certainly is. Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for listening to this podcast. Email your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringguy.org. Visit us online at desiringguy.org to find thousands of books, articles, sermons, and other resources from John Piper, all free of charge. I'm your host, Tony Ranke. Thanks for listening.

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