“Hell” Miscellaneous Verses, Luke 16:19-31

“The Last Four Things”

A Sermon Series

“Hell”

Miscellaneous Verses, Luke 16:19-31

Introduction

Defining Hell

 Let’s begin our study at the beginning, in the Garden of Eden. What was the purpose of creation? Humanity was created to be in perfect relationship with God. “Human beings were designed to live eternally with God.”[1] Sin entered the created order which caused a complete corruption – that which was perfect, now has become broken and damaged. The only way to correct that is to get rid of sin. After the great white thrown judgement there will be a great separation of those who want to be with God – and those who have chosen not to have a relationship with Him.

Man’s Purpose Is To Have a Relationship With God.

There are several images that the Bible uses to depict the future state of those who do not place their faith in Jesu Matt. 25:41 says, “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” That state is described in Matthew 8:12 “thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” It will be permanent, torment, and a type of punishment. But the most devastating of all is that it will be an eternal separation from God. It is an intense anguish because there is an absence of God’s presence there.

Jesus taught that one should take drastic measures to make sure that you don’t end up in hell. “Mark 9:43-48 “And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. 45And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”

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Drew are you trying to scare people into follow Jesus? I don’t know of a better motive! Proverbs 1:7 “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (of knowledge, of understanding).”  We should tremble before the Lord God.  As the book of Hebrews 10:31 says: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. . .  12:29 “For our God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 11:7 “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.”

Prayer: Lord, your word tells us of a literal and eternal place called hell.  It is a place of torment and anguish it is a place reserved for those who have chosen not to follow you.  This morning give us a renewed passion for the lost and help us to understand that this is their ultimate destination without a relationship with you.

The Reality of Our Purpose (vv. 19-21)

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.”

During this time it was commonly believed that if God was pleased with you and your life that he would bless your life in that you were wealthy, or healthy.  So whenever a person was born with a disability, or a family was poor, or disaster struck a person it was believed that they were being punished for something.

This man’s richness is described in two ways, his dress and his diet.  Purple is a symbolic color of royalty and linen was very expensive. Every day of this man’s life he lived enjoying himself. No worries, no needs – his only concern was having to look at a beggar outside of his gate.

“And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus,” – literally “had been cast.” This poor man covered in sours is thrown down in front of this man’s home, everyday. While this is a parable, Jesus chooses to call the beggar “Lazarus” which means “He (whom) God has helped.

The poor man longed to eat anything that fell from the rich man’s table.  Bread crumbs, just a little piece of meat left on a bone, anything would have made him happy. Dogs during this day were seen as disgusting scavengers, dirty (or unclean), and this was the lowest of the low – for a dog to come by and lick his ulcers and wounds. This poor man’s life was miserable.

The reason this rich man eventually goes to hell is not so much because he did not help the poor man, but because he did not see it that he had no concern for what God desired to do through his life.  He thought his life, his rich’s were all for him to enjoy to do with as he pleased.

This man went to hell because he missed having a relationship with God that would have enabled him to see why he was on the planet to begin with. Our purpose in this life is to have a growing relationship with God.

The Reality Of Missing that Purpose (vv. 22-25) 

“The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.”

While there are rich and poor, young and old, popular and unpopular, smart and not so smart, – everybody dies.  Hebrews 9:27 “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”

The fact that the poor man enters into heaven is not because he simply was poor and had a miserable life. If that was all that was required to go to heaven then why did Jesus have to die on a cross. It would be simple enough just to give everything away, and be miserable.

The poor man at some point in his life, trusted and loved God. But, why would anyone want to trust a God who leaves you to beg, and desire scraps from others tables, and allow you to have sours, and for dogs to lick you like some kind of lucky bone dog treat?

This poor man who lived everyday with sours, and was thrown aside to beg every day, this man has a name, Lazarus – but the rich man who had everything his heart ever desired, and stepped over the poor and lame at his gate – has no name.

God knew the poor man – and the poor man knew God.  The poor man knew that this life is but a short period of time that there would be an eternity where he would live with his God.  James 4:14 “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”

Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons vin your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”

A careful study of the scriptural uses of the words “life” and “death” will show that the root ideas are, respectively, union and separation.  Physical life is union of the spirit with the body. Spiritual life is the union of the spirit with God.  And everlasting life is this life consummated and perfected until all eternity.

Similarly, physical death is the separation of the spirit from the body. Spiritual death is the separation of the spirit from God. And eternal death is the perpetuation of this state. And for all who have not experienced the second birth, the second death becomes inevitable, for he who is only born once dies twice. But, he who is born again dies only once.

In Mark 9:43-48, our Lord speaks of “the fire that shall never be quenched”—“where the worm does not and the fire is not quenched.”  He was using the common Jewish metaphors for Gehenna, taken from the perpetual fire that burned in the Valley of Hinnom, to destroy the refuse, and the worms that fed upon the unburied corpses that were cast there, It was used by the city of Jerusalem as a dumping ground.  The city’s inhabitants would put anything they wanted to burn into this valley, and the fires burned continuously.

This teaching gives us several descriptions of hell, I says “In hell, where he was in torment,” Hell is a place of torment.  The rich man goes on to says, “I am in agony in this fire” Hell is a place of agony.

‘Child, remember – this will be one of the worst torments that will be inflicted upon a person in hell.  They will constantly remember how God showed them grace by bringing people across their path, or sermons they may have heard, or resources that were put in their hands – but like the rich man stepping over the poor man they will remember.  They will remember all the sin, all the times when they could have given Christ their lives but chose not to. “Child remember.”

Without Christ people go to hell to live for eternity in torment and they will remember “in their lifetime” all the opportunities to receive Christ’s gift of forgiveness and to have eternal life – but rejected it.

The Reality of A Loving Permanent Plan (vv. 26-31)

“And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

It says that a great chasm “has been fixed.”  We learn from this that once a person finds themselves in hell, there is no return, no relief, no escape and no way to warn others who are still alive.  A person is fixed in that situation for all of eternity.

Abraham’s response to the rich man’s request for someone to go and tell his brothers is that someone already has and is continuing to do so right this very moment. The verb is given in the historical present – “‘They have Moses and the Prophets.” They have the Bible, they have testimonies by godly men who tell them about God.

The rich man argues that this is not enough. Moses and the Prophets is a reference to the Old Testament. The man is pleading for someone from the dead to go and tell them about hell.  The Bible tells us that God did just that – Jesus went into death and came back to tell us of a plan so that we don’t have to be in hell forever.

We who have broken God’s laws, we who are liars, thieves, adulterers, blasphemers, coveters, rapists and murderers can escape the flames of hell through Christ’s death on the cross – he died in our place.

The rich man says, it someone from the dead tells them “they will repent” To repent means to turn from your sin, as though you are driving down a road and you turn 180 degrees around and drive in the opposite direction.  It is a willingness to turn away from sin.  And it is a turning toward God.

Unbelief and the refusal to repent are not the results of lack of evidence (or lack of a sign) but due to a stony heart.  God has given us a conscience that has God’s law written upon it, He has given us nature around us, He has given us the Bible, and He has sent His Son Jesus who rose from dead. There is the transformed life of Christians (like the apostle Paul).

For those who refuse to accept God’s gift of forgiveness and refuse to repent of their sin – hell is their destination.  While it is true that God is love (John 4:8), he is also just (Nehemiah 9:32, 33; 2 Thessalonians 1:6) and eternal (Psalm 90:2; 1 Timothy 1:17).  God will punish the evil doer and this punishment will be eternal.

Hell in other passages of Scripture is described as “shame and everlasting punishment” (Daniel 12:2), “Everlasting punishment” (Matthew 25:46), “Weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 24:51), “Fire unquenchable” (Luke 3;17), “”indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish” (Romans 2:8,9), “Everlasting fire. . . the blackness of darkness forever” (Jude 7, 13).

Abraham replies back to the rich man, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” A person has to make a choice to give up their sin and follow God, receive his free gift of salvation or continue to live their live the way they see fit and live unconvinced of God’s grace.

This morning if you are lost, or have never given your life to Christ then your ultimate destination is more horrible than you could ever imagine. You can trust God’s Word, which gives clear directions as how to get to heaven.

“We should observe that God does not send anyone to hell. He desires that none should perish (2 Peter 3:9). God created humans to have fellowship with him and provided the means by which they can have that fellowship. It is human’s choice to experience the agony of hell. His or her own sin sends them there, or his or her rejection of the benefits of Christ’s death prevents escape.

C. C. Lewis said, “sin is the human being saying to God throughout his life, “Go away and leave me alone.” Hell is God’s finally saying to the human,” You may have your wish.”

Your response to God’s Word today is 1) I would like to receive God’s grace and be forgiven of my sin, I want to have a relationship with God. Or 2) “go away God, leave me alone.” God gives you the dignity and freedom as a created being to choose.

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[1] Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, Second Edition (Grand Rapids, Michigan; Baker Academic, 2007) 1247.