A Judgment to Avoid

Intro

Good Morning! If you have a Bible, go ahead and grab it and turn with me to Luke 16:19. If you’re visiting with us, my name is Cam and I’m the student pastor here. I will be continuing our series we’re in called Beginning with the Ending.

David Platt, who is a well known pastor has a quote about our subject today that is burned into my mind. He says, “We say things like, ‘We had a hell of a time’ or ‘you played a hell of a game’ or ‘that was a hell of a song’ and the way we talk about hell shows that we have no idea what we’re talking about.”

Last week, Pastor Norm preached about heaven. This week we will be talking about hell. The truth of the matter is that we probably don’t talk about hell enough. Hell is an uncomfortable topic. It’s a topic many Christians don’t want to believe is real. It’s a topic some Christians might feel a bit embarrassed about. Almost everyone believes in heaven or some positive aspect of the afterlife and almost everyone believes they and their loved ones are going there.

Hell truly is a hard topic. If this is your first time visiting you may be sitting in your seat thinking… “Oh no! Why did I pick this week?” If you have a guest with you this week you may already be forming an apology in your head for inviting them here this week! It’s a hard topic, but if the Bible talks about it then we must as well.

The truth is no one wants to go to hell. If you were to describe heaven and hell to a child and ask them where they’d rather be, who would say hell? If you told them to avoid hell then all they have to do is a pray a prayer then I think most would pray that prayer. We can’t talk about hell without talking about the goodness and graciousness of God. We can’t talk about hell without talking about making Jesus Lord of our lives. That’s where things get tricky though.

Paul Washer says it this way, “They'll say, "Do you want to go to heaven?" Have you ever had anybody say, "No, I'd rather go to hell." My friend, understand this, everyone wants to go to heaven. They just don't want God to be there when they get there.”

But what we must understand is that hell is a real place. It is a place of judgment, torment, it is eternal, and it is godless. Hell is far worse than we can imagine. As I’ve dwelt on hell this week I’ve had an increasing burden laid upon me for you. Knowing I’d be preaching this and having to think on these terrors I just get overwhelmed and I don’t want anyone to go to hell! Hell is real and hell is horrible.

But what I must lay before you this morning as we begin is that God is good! God gave His only Son and while we were sinners, rebels, enemies, haters of God, Christ died for us! What kind of God would do such a thing!? Only the one, true, gracious, merciful God! So while we look at the terrors of hell this morning, may the beauty and glory of Jesus Christ be ever before our eyes!

Hell is not a judgment to avoid because of the horror, but it’s a judgment to avoid because of the beauty and worth of Jesus! May that be our hearts this morning as we read the Scriptures.

Our passage this morning is a parable that comes from Jesus. Parables were typically symbolic and meant to convey a point. Not everything in a parable is necessarily true, but they were meant to teach. The two characters in our parable this morning probably were not actual people. One rare aspect is that one person (Lazarus) is actually given a name when typically Jesus didn’t use names.

Jesus seems to be addressing the Pharisees with this story. Earlier in the chapter, verse 14 says that the Pharisees were lovers of money and were listening to him teach and scoffing at him.

With that in mind, let’s read Luke 16:19-31

Luke 16:19–31 CSB

“There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate. He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’ “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony. Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’ “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’ “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”

Let’s pray together.

As we think about the topic of hell, I believe this parable forces the question on us--”What are you living for?” We may even ask, “Who am I living for?” This is in fact, the main point we want to press in on today. I once heard someone say that the death rate in life is 100%. No one makes it out alive. All of us will leave this world one day so we must ask ourselves, “Am I living for myself or am I living for something else?”

We’ll take three points from this parable: 1. Living for now 2. Living forever and 3. Living with the end in mind. With these three points we’ll also look at the horrors of hell and the beauty of Christ.

In this parable Christ teaches us about two people. We have a rich man and we have a beggar. The beggar is given a name and it’s thought that maybe Jesus calls him Lazarus because that name means “the help of God”.

These two people display a stark contrast for us. The rich man is described in verse 19 as dressing in the finest clothes. He’s said to feast lavishly every day. It’s certain that this man wanted for nothing and had more than enough. He was rich after all.

By contrast, Lazarus was a poor beggar. He had nothing. He was covered with sores. He stayed at this wealthy man’s gate. He longed to be fed by just the crumbs that fell from his table, but he was offered nothing. Instead, it’s said that dogs would come and lick his sores.

As we see the contrast of these two people, we come to our first point.

Living for now.

The rich man was living his life to the fullest. He did not have eternity in mind. Instead, he was wearing the best clothes. He was feasting like it was his last meal every day. He could not be concerned with anyone who needed help. He was self-focused, he was self-absorbed, he was self-consumed. A man who would have been happy to just have crumbs from his feasts stayed at his gate. There is no doubt that he passed him over and over, but he ignored him. The dogs were kinder to Lazarus than this rich man was because they at least licked and tried to relieve his sores!

As I focused on this passage this week I want to admit to you that I found myself identifying far too much with this rich man. The rich man loved the world and the things in the world. He was focused on the hear and now and what he could have and how he could advance. He didn’t concern himself with others or their needs. He was selfish!

I can be so selfish at times. I can focus on this world so much at times. Might I ask you this morning if you could say the same thing of yourself? Are you living like there’s no tomorrow? Are you living like you and your family are the only people in your world? Are you focused on the next thing you can buy? Do your thoughts consist of things only involving this world without giving a second thought to eternity? Is your kingdom this world and you don’t ever give a thought to storing up your treasure in heaven?

I would say most of us are familiar with the famous actor and comedian Jim Carrey. He has a quote that comes to mind quite frequently. He says, “I think everybody should get rich and famous and do everything they ever dreamed of so they can see that it's not the answer.”

Jim Carrey has had it all and he’s still found it not satisfying. He’s had everything this world has to offer and he says he wants others to see that all your dreams in this world are not going to satisfy you! This is why people who seem to have it all commit suicide. We weren’t made to find our satisfaction here.

The rich man soon found that out. This brings us to our next point.

2. Living forever

Both people die… like we all will. While the CSB uses the terms Hades and Abraham’s side and for the sake of simplicity, I’m going to use the terms heaven and hell. Jesus is not giving us detailed explanations of eternity in this parable, but just as I said at the beginning, the story is meant to illustrate a main point for us.

The rich man and Lazarus find themselves in quite different positions after death. Lazarus is now being comforted and the rich man finds himself in agony. Lazarus had placed his hope in the Savior in his desperate position on earth. The rich man had placed his hope in his wealth, in his position, and in his things.

As we look at verses 22-26, I want us to feel the weight of eternity. In fact, could we just all take a moment to stop and think about forever. It’s a hard thing to do because everything we know as humans has an ending. But if we can stop and try and just hurt our brains a little to try and imagine forever… no ending… I think it’s a worthy exercise.

In his time on earth, the rich man enjoyed luxury! He enjoyed comfort! He had plenty of good things! But his life was like a millisecond compared to what he now was facing.

Listen to how Jesus describes hell in these verses. He says the man is immediately in torment in hell. He describes his position as one of being in agony. He describes it like a fire. His pain is such that he would find even a drop of water on the tip of someone’s finger as a relief. And he talks about a great chasm that has been fixed so there is no escape. It is eternal. It is forever. A person will spend 100 years in hell and it will be as if no time has passed because there will be no end. There will never be any relief. There will never be any comfort.

There will also be no communication. While the parable depicts the rich man crying out to Abraham, this is used to serve the story for Jesus to make his point. Hell is such a heavy topic, but we must realize that Jesus talked about hell more than he talked about heaven. Jesus also talked about hell more than any other person in the Bible. There is no doubt that Jesus believed and knew hell was real. He warned against it as a judgment to avoid and if Jesus spoke about it so much then we cannot be silent about the horror of hell!

And we must notice that there are no second chances. There are no do overs. There isn’t an angel on the other side giving anyone one last chance to believe the gospel. This life is it! Now is the time to repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ! Now is the time to make Jesus your King! Now is the time to make Jesus your Lord! Now is the time to lay everything at His feet because we are not promised tomorrow!

Charles Spurgeon, known as the prince of preachers, says this, “If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for.”

Which brings me to my last point.

3. Living with the end in mind.

Only after going to hell does the rich man become concerned about anyone else. Only after experiencing the reality of anguish does he realize that he doesn’t want his loved ones to go to this place. He asks that Abraham would send Lazarus from the dead to warn his five brothers so they won’t wind up in torment.

Friends, I pray that the horrors of hell would be so great to us here and now that we cannot keep our mouths shut about Jesus! I pray that we’d be burdened for our lost loved ones.

As a student pastor, as I’ve thought about this all week, there has been one question that I haven’t been able to shake. Parents, “What are you showing your children is important?” “What are you discipling them toward?” We will all be disciples of something, but will be disciples of Jesus?

We need to ask ourselves hard questions about what we elevate in the lives of our families and our children. Where and how are we spending our money? Our kids notice that. Are we spending our money building our own kingdoms at home or on vacations and never doing anything to help someone else? Do we talk to our kids about how all the good things we have come from God and so in love, we give back to Him through an offering to our church? It is so convicting to me to know that my kids are watching how I spend my money. Am I showing them Jesus is worth giving for?

Where are we spending our time? Our kids notice that. Do we make being at church a priority or do we show them that there are better places to be? Are we making being in our Bible daily a priority or do we spend our time on other things?

Many of us have multiple television and movie subscription services, but we rarely get in the Bible. We can quote lines from our favorite shows, but we can’t quote any Scripture.

Many of us spend tons of time scrolling social media feeds and watching youtube videos yet we don’t spend any time learning about the Creator of the Universe. We claim we don’t have any time, but our phones prove us to be liars.

I want to be honest with you today. One of the hardest things about student ministry is competing with athletics. When a sport that a student plays is in season, many times that student will disappear. Many times their parents will disappear. I know by bringing this up I may be making some of you mad and I’ve decided it’s a risk I’m willing to take because I love you. The majority of students will leave the church once they go to college. Very few of them will return later into adulthood. What are we showing our kids is important? Are they being equipped with a Christian worldview that can withstand the new ideas they will face in college? I promise I don’t have a problem with sports. I really enjoy sports. But we have to look at our lives and ask if we’re living with the end in mind. Let’s at least be vigilant in reading the Bible with our kids at home. Let’s be adamant about talking to them about Christ day in and day out. If they’re going to play a sport and be away then mom and dad, please be working twice as hard to teach them about Jesus every day in your house.

But athletics aren’t the only thing… Lake season, camping season, hunting seasons can all be places people disappear to during certain times. And I want to be clear that none of these things are bad things. But when we make good things the main thing and we elevate it above Christ then we have a problem.

What are we showing our children is most important? What do our lives show we value?

This life is short. Eternity is long. Are we living with the end in mind?

We should be vigilant about sharing the gospel not just with our loved ones, but those the Lord puts in our path, and even our enemies! May the horror of hell be so real to us that we have to speak about Jesus!

Abraham tells the rich man that his brothers have the Scriptures and that they should believe the promise of a Savior through them. But the rich man insists that someone coming back from the dead would convince them to repent. However, Abraham says if they don’t believe the Scriptures then they won’t believe someone coming back from the dead.

As we live with the end in mind, we should be bold witnesses to others about Jesus. We must be people who take confidence in the power of God’s Word. God’s Word is living and active. It is just as alive as someone being brought back from the dead.

And in Scripture we see these very statements play out. Jesus raised his real friend Lazarus who was the brother of Mary and Martha from the dead. The religious leaders at the time had such hard hearts that this did not convince them of Jesus being the Messiah. Instead they plotted to kill Lazarus.

In the same way, Jesus himself went to a cross and took on God’s wrath and died for sinners to save them from hell. Three days later he rose from the dead and defeated death! This really happened. He appeared to many after His resurrection. His disciples started a movement that is still going! Yet there are many who reject Him and His Word today.

Even if they do, we must be people who continue to share the good news of Jesus with a lost and dying world. We must care about the eternity of people more than our comfort. We cannot be a people only living for this world. We must remember we will live forever. We must live with the end in mind.

Outro

As we close, let me ask, “What have you been holding back from Jesus?” He gave everything so we give him everything in return. We’ve been praying for baptisms this year and maybe you haven’t been baptized and need to follow Him in obedience in baptism.

Maybe it’s your time or money and you need to lay it at his feet today. Maybe you need to pray about that person you need to talk to about Jesus this week.

Maybe you’re here and you’re not a Christian. You need to turn from your sins and believe in Jesus! I’ll be down front here and would love to talk with you about it. I will also be in the back after our service is over and would love to talk then.

Hell is a judgment to avoid and Jesus Christ is a Savior worthy of following!

Let’s pray together.