Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

This morning, we are continuing our sermon series called “The Meaning of the Parables.”

Throughout this sermon series, what we have been doing is looking at the different stories Jesus told in the gospels to teach us what it truly means to follow him.

And this week we are going to look at a parable called The Rich Man and Lazarus, and this is easily the most terrifying parable that Jesus told during his earthly ministry because it is all about the doctrine of Hell.

Last week, we studied the Parable of the Ten Virgins to see how Jesus expects his followers to live faithfully to him through believing the gospel, living a godly life, and sharing our faith with others while we wait for him to return to earth, establish God’s Kingdom and usher us to live with him forever in Heaven.

At the same time, Jesus taught that false disciples, those that are not saved from their sins through his gospel, will be shut out from heaven, and this week we are going to take an in depth look at what it will mean for people to be “shut out” of God’s Kingdom as we study the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus from 16:19-31.

The doctrine of hell is one of the most scrutinized and despised doctrines of our faith and to teach you about it is one of the most difficult tasks any preacher faces.

Preaching on Hell, the great Baptist Pastor Charles Spurgeon said, “Beloved, these are such weighty things that while I dwell upon them I feel far more inclined to sit down and weep than to stand up and speak to you.”

The Doctrine of Hell is a sobering thing, and my hope is that as you listen to this sermon, you would not dismiss it as “Fire and Brimstone,” but consider seriously the fate that awaits all those that refuse to repent and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Let me begin our time this morning by giving you the context for our passage and then we will study what the Lord Jesus was teaching us.

19 “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.

22 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.

26 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.’

”

19 “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.

22 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.

26 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.’

”

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

Context

Just before our passage, Jesus says that you cannot serve God and money and this offends the Pharisees because they loved money, and because they are offended, they began to mock Jesus.

14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

15 And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.

For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 “The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.

This is right after Jesus says that you cannot God and money and this offends the Pharisees because they loved money, and because they are offended, they began to mock Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

So Jesus goes at them and says that the pharisees might think of themselves as righteous men worthy of the Kingdom of God, worthy of heaven, but God knows their hearts and the self righteousness they value is an abomination before God.

He tells them that the way to enter God’s kingdom is through receiving the good news of the gospel that Jesus was preaching.

All other hopes to work their way into heaven would never work.

Then Jesus tells them our parable to show the Pharisees the fate that awaits them, and anyone else that refuses to repent from their sin and believe in Jesus.

Two Destinations in Eternity

 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.

The Rich Man

Jesus describes a man who is extraordinarily wealthy.

He is clothed in purple and fine linen which is the most expensive color and some of the most expensive pieces a person could wear.

Jesus also says he feasted sumptuously every day.

This means he ate in luxury, not just every once in a while, but every day.

This guys was going to Ruth Chris every night to eat.

Then Jesus describes a poor man named Lazarus.

Lazarus is so poor and so destitute that he lives a life of begging.

When Jesus says he was laid, this implies that Lazarus was paralyzed and had people drop him at the gate of the rich man so that he might possibly, just maybe, eat some of the scraps from the rich man’s table.

If that weren’t enough, Lazarus was also covered in horrible sores that made him disgusting to those that would pass by, especially the rich man who ignored his existence.

Jesus even says that dogs would come to lick his wounds.

In 1st century Israel, dog’s were not seen as man’s best friend.

They were not house hold pets.

They were completely feral and were seen as disgusting scavengers.

People in Jesus’ day hated dogs.

I’ll tell you, many that live in the Middle East today still have this opinion.

I remember a time when I lived in Jordan for a summer in college where we could see some local children chasing, and yelling, and kicking some dogs because they just despised them.

And yet, even these dogs were kinder to Lazarus than the rich man because they tried to heal his wounds the same way dogs try to heal their own, by licking them.

Here is where the Pharisees, no doubt began to be offended by Jesus because the pharisees loved money just like this rich man.

According to their understanding, the rich man is exactly the kind of person who would surely be in heaven.

He was extraordinarily wealthy which and those listening to Jesus would have concluded that he was greatly blessed by God whereas Lazarus was cursed.

They would’ve seen Lazarus as worthy of Hell and God’s displeasure given his suffering he experienced in life.

In their view, he was as grotesque as a person in God’s sight as his circumstances in life.

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.

However, Jesus turns his audience’s expectations upside down.

Jesus says that Lazarus, the poor, pitiful man who was viewed as cursed and hated by God, died and was carried to “Abraham’s side.”

Now Abraham’s side simply means heaven.

Remember who Jesus is talking to.

He is talking to pharisees who viewed their salvation secure because they were sons of Abraham not because of their faith in Jesus.

You are not saved just because you call Abraham your father.

Jesus says the Rich Man also died, but surprisingly to Jesus’ audience, he is not also taken to Heaven.

Instead, he is taken to “Hades,” which is what we would call Hell.

Hades is a Greek word that refers to the place of the dead which Luke uses because he is writing to Gentile Christians who spoke Greek and came from a Greek philosophical worldview.

Notice also, that Jesus doesn’t describe the Rich Man as uncommonly cruel or a heinous evil doer as if those are the only people that are in hell.

Jesus here shows a reversal of fortune for the Rich Man and Lazarus.

Where Lazarus was in torment while on the earth, he is now experiencing blessed peace while the Rich Man now suffers in torment for eternity.

Now let’s talk about this as a parable for a moment.

Some people might look at this and say that there is no indication that Lazarus ever believed the gospel and yet he goes to heaven.

However, remember how parables work.

They are short stories told to a particular group of people to teach a particular lesson.

If you remember the context of this passage, Jesus is talking to Pharisees who themselves were lovers of money.

He is trying to show these self-righteous men the fate that awaits them for not believing in him or his gospel.

The Pharisees would have identified with the Rich Man, and Jesus is trying to show them, “Listen.

Judgment is coming, and Hell is a place of eternal, conscious torment for all those who refuse to repent and believe in me.”

Hell Is A Place Of Eternal, Conscious Torment

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.’

Here the Rich Man cries out to Abraham (Remember how the Pharisees would often appeal to Abraham as their father as the basis of their salvation and entrance into God’s Kingdom) “Have mercy on me!”

What is so sobering is how Jesus illustrates what it is like to be in hell.

From this story it is clear that hell is a place