2016-06-19 Luke 16:22-27 A Parable About "Me" (4): You Don't Have to Go

A PARABLE ABOUT “ME” (4): YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO (Luke 16:22-27) June 19, 2016 Intro – As we’ve been looking at this passage, we’ve said it’s less about hell than about the identity we choose in this life that follows us into the next. Jesus is warning – “You must choose Me or Self. And who you choose will define your eternal existence.” With this in mind, Tim Keller says this about hell as described in this text: “Hell begins with a grumbling mood, always complaining, always blaming others . . . but you are still distinct from it. You may even wish you could stop it. But there may come a day when you can no longer. Then there will be no you left to criticize the mood or even to enjoy it, but just the grumble itself, going on forever like a machine. It is not a question of God “sending us” to hell. In each of us there is something growing, which will BE Hell unless it is nipped in the bud. The people in hell are miserable. We see raging like unchecked flames their pride, their paranoia, their self-pity, their certainty that everyone else is wrong that everyone else is an idiot! All their humility is gone, and thus so is their sanity. They are utterly, finally locked in a prison of their own selfcenteredness. They continue to go to pieces forever, blaming everyone but themselves. Hell is that, writ large.” That’s a fascinating description, but it could be taken right from our passage. Our outline is I. The Eternal Me is Determined in This Life (Me Unformed). II. Death Reveals but does not Change Me (Me Unveiled). The parable reveals three things. A. There will be surprises. Saw those a couple weeks ago. B. There will be suffering and C. There will be splendor. Last week we looked at the first two parts of the suffering. 1. There will be torment without termination. Are the flames real? Doesn’t matter bc if not they represent something worse – the torment of an unchecked disintegration into total and complete selfishness such that all sanity is lost and only anger, bitterness and unremitting regret remain. 2. There will be darkness without dawn. This is the darkness of the absence of God’s presence. The chance of mercy is gone. All is despair. Not a sliver of hope. God is gone. 3. There will be regret without repentance In v. 24 “rich man” asks, “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.’” Does this man regret not helping Lazarus all those years when he lay at his gate? I think it’s possible. It would have been easy for 1 him to provide relief, but he could not be bothered. Now with tables reversed, I think it’s likely he regrets his indifference. BUT it’s for sure that he regrets where he is. He is in anguish and begs for relief. When that was not forthcoming, he says in v. 27, “‘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.’” Regrets – oh he’s got a few – but then again not too few to mention. He is tormented by regret. But repentance? No! Not going there. Those who would not repent in this life will not repent in hell. Regret, yes. Repentance, no. Did you notice something interesting in v. 24? Did you notice that he knows Lazarus? He even knows his name. Isn’t that interesting? You’d have thought he was oblivious to Lazarus existence. You might have excused him for not knowing Lazarus was there. But he knew. He even knew his name. But he did nothing. He isn’t just guilty out of ignorance; he knew and still did nothing. So you’d think he might be thinking, “Oh, boy! I’m in deep trouble now.” That he might have said, “Lazarus, I want to apologize for ignoring your trouble. I am so sorry. If I had a do over, I’d do it differently.” But nothing remotely like that is forthcoming. Despite his circumstances he has not lost one iota of his self-importance. Amazing, isn’t it? As we said last week, he still thinks he is the center of the universe – that it all about him – that he can still issue the orders and so his only thought about Lazarus is, “Can you send someone with a little relief. That guy Lazarus will do.” But of repentance there is none. Nor will there ever be in hell. Frankly, there is no God to turn to there, and no Christ to forgive. But no one will have that inclination anyway. A reporter once asked Sen. Clare Booth Luce if she had any regrets. She said, “Yes, I should have been a better person. Kinder. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, and I remember a girlhood friend of mine who had a brain tumor and called me three times to come and see her. I was always too busy, and when she died, I was profoundly ashamed. I still remember that after fifty-six years.” That’s hell. Unremitting regret, but no repentance. You can picture Pilate walking thru the darkness of hell, forever washing his hands saying, “I am innocent of Jesus’ blood.” But it will not wash. Regret without repentance. You can see Judas eternally throwing the money back and saying, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” And every other person there, living in their own hell of regret without repentance – so it will be in hell. 4. There will be rebellion without restraint 2 Notice v. 29. “Rich man” suggests something more than Scripture is needed to convince his brothers. But what he’s really doing is blaming God for his own fate. “You didn’t give me enough information! You’re the whole reason I’m here in the first place. It’s all your fault!” Rebellion underlies the whole charade of a request. It’s a backhand slam at God for not doing more. Ravi Zacharias tells of a friend, Peter, who heard a huge crash outside his home one night. Rushing out, he saw that someone had violently crashing into a parked car and then taken off. Water in the street indicated the radiator of the offending car had been smashed, so Peter went to search. Rounding a corner he found two teens standing beside a steaming vehicle looking distraught. They had taken their dad’s brand-new sports car for a joyride without his knowledge and knew they were in trouble. Sensing their concern Peter asked if he could pray for them. They looked surprised but welcomed any possible help and agreed. But no sooner had Peter finished praying than one of the boys said, “If God loves me, why did he let this happen to me?” With that eternal question before those in hell, is it any wonder that they don’t want heaven? The rich man doesn’t want to go and share God’s heaven, he only wants someone to come and relieve his hell! And when relief is not forthcoming, what happens? Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Self-pity and uncontrollable rage. Unrestrained rebellion. “If God loves me, why did he let this happen to me?” No personal responsibility at all. Just endless rebellion and rage. Hell! 5. There will be loneliness without let-up Ever hear this? “Who cares if I go to hell; I’ll be with my friends. We’ll party hearty!” Aaron Lewis set the idea to music. Assuming he’ll never make heaven he says: “So let’s have a party and tell ‘em I’m home. / There’ll be Waylon and Whitley as well. / And the Devil will be dealin’ the cards as they lay / So let’s have a party in hell. // Washed up, worn out, down on my knees / But the angels won’t take me away. / The bartender serves brown liquor in hell / And that sure sounds like heaven to me. // So let’s have a party and tell ‘em I’m home. / There’s be Janis and Jim Beam as well. / And Rick James will bring all the cocaine you want. / So let’s have a party in hell.” If that’s your hope, I hate to burst your bubble, but you’ll be partying alone. Notice, the rich man isn’t asking for his brothers to join him. He wants them warned “lest they also come into this place of torment.” There is nothing about this place that would make one want to see anyone else come there. Jesus describes it elsewhere as a place of “outer darkness”. Contrary to popular 3 opinion, hell will not be party central. It is an utter darkness in which one is totally alone. No friendship, no companionship – just total desolation forever. Imagine entering a dark cave with a large group of people. Soon the only light are the candles and flashlights the leaders have. Now imagine missing a turn and finding yourself utterly alone, in darkness so dense that you can’t see your hand in front of your face. You’re completely lost; totally alone. Multiply that by a billion times and you’ve got hell. It’s not exactly a party atmosphere. During WWII the Japanese discovered that the best way to make someone talk was to put them in solitary confinement with no human interaction. Worked better than torture. Bertrand Russell’s atheism led him to say: “We stand on the shore of an ocean, crying to the night and the emptiness; sometimes a voice answers out of the darkness. But it is the voice of one drowning; and in a moment the silence returns.” He sensed that even now, without God, we go to the grave alone. Imagine when the darkness surrounds the unbeliever forever. It must have been something of what actress Inger Stevens sensed when she said, not long before she took her own life, “Sometimes I get so lonely I could scream”. Loneliness without let-up. That’s hell. 6. There will be God’s glory without God’s presence The Bible is God-centered, not man-centered. Eventually all things will bring glory to Him – and that includes the judgment of those cast into hell. Peter says, “in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.” In everything. So God will be glorified in those who by grace are in heaven. God will be equally glorified by the judgment of those who have rejected grace. Rev 14:7 says, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.” Rev 19:1-2: “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, 2) for his judgments are true and just.” Judgment and God’s glory are not mutually exclusive. God will glorified in those who choose hell as well as those who choose Him because He will have rid the universe of all sin, death, rebellion, disease, and corruption. We honored and glorified men like General Eisenhower after WWII. Why? Because they rid the world of hideous plague of Hitler and Nazism. In a far greater way God will be glorified for bringing an end to sin for all time. But while God’s glory hangs over hell as a permanent reminder of His infinite holiness and perfection, God’s presence as an active force will not be there. The “great chasm” that “has been fixed” is not passable by the presence of God. “God is light” (I Jn 1:5); hell is “outer darkness.” II Thess 1: 9) “They 4 will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.” Ravi Zacharias tells a story many can identify with. He underwent an MRI for a herniated disc, a procedure he found more distressing than the back problem. “I was laid on a movable table and slid into a narrow tunnel where the door was shut on me. The confines were so small and the darkness so grim that I am convinced that whoever designed it was inspired by studying Egyptian sarcophagi. It was a terrifying experience, especially for one is who is as claustrophobic, as I am.” An attendant assured him thru a speaker that he would be right there throughout the procedure and Ravi says, “I want you to know that even a total stranger's voice was immensely comforting in this closed box.” But hell has no such relief. No voice, no angels and no God on the other end of one’s prayer. But remember this. Those in hell with only themselves for company have exactly what they have always chosen. Self as their identity – and now that’s what they have – self -- and nothing else! C.S. Lewis puts it like this: “In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell, is itself a question: ‘What are you asking God to do?’ To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start …? But he has done so, on Calvary and they rejected it. To forgive them? They rejected forgiveness. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what he does.” That’s what hell is. A self-imposed divorce from God. Lewis continues: “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no hell.” C. There Will Be Splendor (Heaven for the Christ-identifier) Thankfully hell is only half the story. For the person who has changed identities from Self to Christ -- like Lazarus, the one whom God has helped – there is great news. Splendor awaits them. You can’t earn it; you can only receive it. You can’t be good enough to merit it or bad enough to be disqualified – as long as you give your heart without reservation to Christ and begin to live for Him. For those – there will be splendor. Unimaginable! This passage is about the fate of the rejected; but we get a glimpse of the enormous difference between eternity in heaven and hell. The rich man is in torment, but in v. 25, Lazarus is comforted. The rich man is in outer darkness, but Lazarus is in a place where according to Rev 21:23, “the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.” The rich man will exist forever filled with regret, but for 5 Lazarus – no regrets. Rev 21:4-5: “4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” No regrets. The rich man rebels and hates God with eternal weeping and gnashing of teeth. For Lazarus the rebellion was over the moment he reached out to God in faith, and now he is living Rev 21:3, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” For the rich man it is an eternity of the intense loneliness – only himself for company. Lazarus is at “Abraham’s side” – literally lying in Abraham’s bosom – a depiction of the 1st century convention of reclining at feast times, like John reclined in Jesus’ bosom on the night of the last supper. Heaven is a perpetual love fest of food and fellowship for all who love Him. This is the splendor of glory in the presence of Christ – available to everyone who asks in faith. John Piper tells of watching Ranger Rick when he was a kid – nature show I surmise. One show highlighted about 1,000 species of self-illuminating fish who live at the bottom of the ocean. Some have a little dangling lamp hanging out in front. It’s a light to attract food to their mouth. Some have a little lighted chin. Others have beacons under their eyes that send out little beams. And you wonder, where do they plug these in? How can light be produced at the bottom of the ocean without any batteries? And why didn’t the Lord make just one instead of 1000? Because He is lavish in beauty, lavish in creativity and lavish in splendor. And if He’s done that at the bottom of the ocean, just imagine what the splendor of heaven will be like! Conc – Don’t you want to go there? You can. But only if in this life you give up your identity as Me and take on the identity of He. “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col 1:27). The only hope of glory. But also the certain hope of glory. Have you invited Him in? It’s your choice, the suffering of hell or the splendor of heaven. I’ve used this before, but it is so appropriate. When Calvin Coolidge was governor of MS, two state senators had a violent dispute that ended up with one telling the other he could “go to hell.” The insulted politician went to Coolidge to ask him to do something about it. Coolidge said calmly, “I’ve looked up the law, Senator, and you don’t have to go!” That’s the best news in history. You don’t have to go – not if you will renew your identity in Christ. Let’s pray. 6