Jesus said, “There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores.
“Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to be with Abraham.The rich man also died and was buried, and his soul went to the place of the dead.There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
“But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing. So now he is here being comforted, and you are in anguish.And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
“Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’
“The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ “But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t listen even if someone rises from the dead.’”
I’m really glad that I live in this modern world. Especially when I think of all the conveniences and gadgets that we have just to make our lives easier. Imagine what life would be like if you had none of the wonderful things that come with being alive in 2010. But along with all the blessings that we have and the things that we enjoy, there are some things in our modern world that are actually anything but good.
I think that one of the worse things that has come about in the modern world is a general skepticism about the things of God, and especially about those things that are written in the Bible. Today, there are so many people who have absolutely no confidence in the truth of the Word of God. But be that as it may, even in 2010 - the Bible is still God’s word, it’s still divinely inspired and it’s still full of the same Truth that it always has been.And that fact hasn’t changed just because a lot of people choose not believe it
Part of the skepticism we find today comes because people are preoccupied and don’t make time to think on the things that matter. See, today, people today are all about ‘Stuff”. And because they’re so concerned about their about stuff, people today do all sorts of things to get hold of more stuff. Now, some of the things people do are quite legitimate.. .like work. Work is where we trade our time and our skills for money that we can use to pay our way in life…. and then acquire more stuff with what’s left after the bills are paid. But that process can be far too slow for some people and so some people jump start the process to get stuff by doing things that are not so legitimate which is why the cops are so busy and the jails are so full.
Only yesterday, I missed a guy who was supposed to be in one of my groups - and he was a no-show. Actually he’d also made an appointment to come see me 1-on-1 the day before too - and he failed to show up.So, while my office manager was busy calling his cell phone and his home phone, the Lord prompted me to look on line. And I found out that since last Sunday, he’s been in the Volusia County jail for stealing stuff and then trying to sell it on Craig’s list. And it saddened me greatly…
It seems people everywhere have this need –or this drive - to get stuff. It’s the reason why people go to the track and why people play the lottery. They all want to hit the big one becuse if they do – they’ll just go get more stuff.
The story in Luke 16 only occurs in Luke’s Gospel. And the parable Jesus tells, has a real troubling aspect to it and thats what I want to focus on today.
See, the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16 actually has a lot to say about stuff. Because once you actually understand what’s going on, you’ll begin to appreciate that in life there is only one prize worth gaining. And that’s eternity with Jesus in Heaven. And there’s one loss that to be avoided at all costs - and that’s the loss of your soul.
Jesus made the point very clearly in other parts of the Bible too: In Matthew 16:26 , He says
And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul? [NLT]
In Mark 8:36 we get the same question: And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? [NLT]
See, I need you to understand something very clearly: your greatest losses in this life are not concerned with the things that you possess. Because the stuff that you spend your whole life acquiring isn’t worth a hill of beans when it comes to eternity
Your greatest and most important possession is your soul - or at least is should be. See, here’s the thing: your Life is not made up by what you possess but by what possesses you.
Now if you did the study, you would find quite quickly that Jesus spent twice as much time preaching and teaching on Hell as He did on Heaven. The truth about Hell was not a theological concept developed by Paul, or Peter, or even John. The doctrine of Hell - or the certainty of Hell was established by Jesus Christ.
But today, in 2010, if I ask someone if they still believe in Hell, I’m called old-fashioned, or out of touch. They’re think I’m out of step with reality and just plain foolish. So we have all of these people out there that’ll try to appeal to our rationality and to reason, and they tell us that the concept of an eternal hell where sinners burn forever is both ludicrous and demeaning.
Another popular argument they throw our way is to say that to believe that God would choose to consign any of us to Hell flies in the face of the very nature of God Himself and everything that God stands for and teaches
And then there are those guys who’ve convinced themselves (and will try desperately to convince us) that man is capable of redeeming himself and therefore, as every man is working out his own salvation there is no need for a hell for anyone
Finally, we have the cultists, who without exception, have all concocted a plan by which they, and their deluded followers, can escape eternal damnation and live happily in a better world. And if you reject their plan, you’ll either be totally annihilated or will ultimately be saved anyway.
Now while all that might sound pretty good - it’s actually all a lie1 See, today, I’m really not concerned with what you believe about Hell. I’m not concerned with what the world believes about Hell. I’m not even concerned even with what I believe about Hell. But I am passionately concerned by God believe about Hell
In the end, it won’t matter what any of us think about it, the Scriptures will be proved correct and every philosophy and every opinion of every man will perish. So lets dig a little deeper into the truth about Hell.
Now, If you’re going there, and you know who you are - this is your wake up call, it’s your opportunity to do something about it.
If you’re are saved, and you know that you’re going to Heaven - this is your wake up call too because I need to remind you that billions of people in 2010 are Hell bound and it’s your job – like it’s my job to do your part to reach them with the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ
So here’s some more truth about Hell: the first sermon Jesus preached and the last sermon he preached
both have the same message.
In the first - the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5-7), Jesus calls for us to make a choice between a house build on the rock and one built on the sand.
In the last sermon (Matt. 24-26), Jesus calls for on us all to make the choice between Heaven and Hell.
Now, my job is to preach the full gospel of Jesus Christ. Not to pick and choose the nice bits, or the comfortable bits or the bits that it’s easy for us to incorporate into our lives without it making too much of a difference. It’s my job to teach accountability and responsibility and integrity. It’s my job to teach you that ALL of our actions have consequences, and that we have to deal them with be they good, bad or just plain ugly. It’s my job to teach you that the Bible says that the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life.
Now, neither you or I wouldn’t need the gift of eternal life if we didn’t have to deal with the wages of our sin or the consequential death. And if my life was not predicated towards sin, if there was no real danger of going to a real Hell, why would I need a Savior or a redeemer? See, If Hell’s not real, there really would be no need for Jesus.
So, let’s look at the two main players in the story we read today:Lets start by looking at the rich manHere’s a guy who lost his soul gradually. There was no sudden, cataclysmic event. It didn’t happen overnight. But it did happen. This is a guy who’d been accumulating stuff all his life. Now watch this – its important.The Bible doesn’t say – neither does it infer that this guy was in the slightest bit dishonest about how he got his stuff. But his great mistake appears to be the fact that he spent all of his time and energy focused on the stuff of this world while he ignored his eternal soul. In this life, there was little – or nothing that he couldn’t afford. The Bible says he was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day (v19)
That tells us some things:he wasn't just prosperous or well-off, he was enormously wealthy. He lived like a king. He was the Bible-time equivalent of a Kennedy or Rockefeller or Bill Gates. He wore fine clothes, he had a mansion for a home. Servants waited on him hand-and-foot . He never knew what physical hunger was and he never knew what it was to want for anything.It was obvious that he was well-fed and fully satisfied with life.To guard his wealth and protect his physical well-being his estate was surrounded by a wall.
And the entrance was blocked by a gate and armed soldiers. See, back then, just like now, there were people who wanted to share in his wealth by whatever means they could and there were people who envied his success.
But back in the day, while he was busy living his life to the full here on earth, it seems that he was either unaware or else he was totally unconcerned about the world to come
Now, I don’t think that our guy was necessarily a bad man. In fact, if anything, it appears he was somewhat concerned about Lazarus.He had some compassion. And we know this because the Bible says that every day, crumbs were sent out to the gate to feed Lazarus. Now these ‘crumbs’ must have been worth waiting for because the Bible implies that Lazarus lay at the rich man’s gate for an extended period of time.Obviously those who carried Lazarus to the gate thought that this was the best place for him. They’d probably tried other places but found that this was the best place for Lazarus.
Now, as a segue, just remember this: no matter where you are in your life there will always be a Lazarus at your gate or some hurting person who needs your assistance.And it’s your job as a representative of Jesus to show compassion. And to meet that need. But that’s a blog for another day
Now, the older you get, the more you become aware of just how short life actually is. When you’re in your teens or early twenties and just starting out you don’t have a care in the world about your longevity and you see your whole life stretching out before you. But the older you get, the shorter that path seems to look and when you get to my age (51), you start to understand that maybe the horizon of your earthly life isn’t quite so far away as you once thought. You realize that your grip on this life is tenuous at best and death is just around the corner - waiting to steal that last breath. And as neither you or I know when that moment is gonna come, that’s what makes this whole heaven v hell thing so terribly important.
But people today are so focused on their worldly stuff that the concept of making an investment now in order to reap a harvest in the next life is just plain foolish to so many today. That’s why most people only invest their resources in things that they can see – and not in things they can’t see. So people invest in buildings, in businesses, and in the stock market because those are things that they can track the growth in. That's why the majority of people in 2010 and all to often that includes the majority of people in the church never invest themselves in prayer and fasting, never mine the treasures in the Word of God, are never are concerned with effort it takes to tell someone about Jesus, never experience a hunger for spiritual growth and are never hungry for revival. People just want to stay right where they are, where they’re most comfortable,
But there came a day that the rich man died. And when he died he left it all behind him. The man who gained the whole world ended up losing his soul. When he died, he got torn from all the stuff that he’d accumulated and he entered into an eternal reality that he had nothing in common with and for which he was totally unprepared to face.
So lets look at the differences between the rich man and LazarusOn the outside, their circumstances could hardly have been more different:
- One was rich, the other was a beggar
- One wore the finest clothes, the other wore rags
- One ate only the finest food - the other survived on crumbs.
- One enjoyed good health, the other was covered in sores
- One moved in the highest social circles, the other was a beggar.
Now, here’s one of the greatest lessons we can learn from this parable: Lazarus could have found himself in Hell just as easily as the rich man. While he was earth his temptations would have been just as great as the rich man’s. He could have allowed his situation, his health and his living conditions to make him very bitter. He could have spent his days complaining about what he hadn’t got like so many of us today. But he didn’t
I want to spend the last few minutes looking at what happened when our guy got to hell
It couldn’t be any more plain that Hell is a place of pain and torment. A lot of people feel that this is symbolic
And if that’s where you’re at this morning - you’d better hope not! Because Symbolism is only used in the Bible when conventional language is totally inadequate to describe something. And the reality is always much worse than the symbol!
Here are some the real torments that Hell contains: Revelation 20:14-15
Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Now in our story Jesus points out four distinct torments that a man will have to endure in hell and from which there will never be any relief
- a tongue that’s so dry – its blistered,
- and the cry for water,
- the separation,
- and the unanswered prayer.
Here’s the first flame of hell - The Pain
24 “The rich man shouted, ‘Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue. I am in anguish in these flames.’
I am in anguish in these flames.Other translations use the word tormented instead of anguish. In Hell, You will be burning but you’ll never be consumed. So the pain will never go awayAnd while the pain will be unbearable, there’ll never be any sense of relief. See, there will be nothing to stop the flames.
The Second Flame will be your own memory
25 “But Abraham said to him, ‘Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and Lazarus had nothing.
If you find yourself in Hell, you’ll remember everything about your life on earth .You’ll rember all of the times you spent in the house of God, all of the times the Holy Spirit tugged at your heart, all of the times someone prayed for you and with you, all of the times that you turned your back on the call to make a commitment., all of the times that you just sat there and chose not to get involved in the worship. You'll remeber all of the times that you laughed it off, all of the sermons that you ever heard, all of the Sunday School lessons that you heard and all of the excuses you made to yourself about why you couldn’t serve God.Nothing will escape your memory.Those memories will be so powerful. The words, “Son, remember. . . .” will haunt you forever
The Third Flame is the Separation from God
26 And besides, there is a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.’
Here’s something strange about Hell: apparently it’s inhabitants will have a limited view of heaven. Jesus says the same thing in Luke 13: 26-28
Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’ “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out.
I think the view that you’ll get from Hell will be a living illustration of you lost opportunities from this life and all the chances that you were offered but chose to ignore.
See, you won’t be there. You’ll be separated from God, from the moving of His Spirit, and from those you knew in the Church.
The Fourth Flame: An Unanswered Prayer .
27 “Then the rich man said, ‘Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home. For I have five brothers, and I want him to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.’
The rich man had family who were at risk. He had five brothers who were following in his footsteps. Now all of a sudden, their eternal fate became important to him. And so the rich guy prayed that if somehow Lazarus could just return from the dead and preach to them, and witness to them, that his brothers would be saved.
But his prayer went unanswered. Actually the prayer was answered. Just not with the answer he was desperate for. The answer was given that there are others who are right now working toward reaching the lost. There are people busy sharing Jesus with hurting people.
As I’v been teaching this series on the realities of Hell, maybe you’ve paid a bit more attention that you have in the past. But maybe its all fallen on deaf ears.
I have no doubt that hell is full of mothers and fathers, and sisters and brothers and grandparents who are all begging that someone should reach out to their families right now.
They’re saying
- Please somebody - warn them about the pain.
- Please somebody - tell them about the separation.
- Please somebody - tell them about the memory that never stops remembering.
people you know - and people I know - will go to Hell.
Maybe there will be people you live with that’ll die and end up there. Hell will be filled with real people. People who simply said no to God. Will you be among them? Who do you know that will be?
The rich man was told that he had to stay there and he’s still there this morning! If you die without Jesus Christ, you’ll go there too. And once you go to Hell, you’ll be there forever,
Hell is not annihilation – that would be the easy way out
Hell is not a temporary place of purging or cleansing - en route to heaven
Hell is not the grave
Hell is not a parable, and it is not a scare tactic.
Hell is the reality waiting for you if you are outside Jesus Christ and die today!
But here's the good news: HELL CAN BE AVOIDED THROUGH A REAL PROMISE. The rich man is told that the Word of God holds the answer. John 3 -16/17 tells us of God’s love for sinners, how Jesus died to save us and how his resurrection guarantees eternal life to all who come to him by faith.
So I'm hgoing to end this posting with the only question I have for you today:
“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
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