What does the Bible say? | Heaven & Hell

Intro

Hey Y’all! How are y’all? How is y’all’s week? I just got back this morning from Orlando, so if I seem tired, it’s because I am. We are almost to the last bit of school. It’s what bout a month from being over and then summer break! Who’s ready? Seniors, are we feeling peak senoritis right now?

Solid, Solid.

So I we are just going to get on in to it tonight, we are continuing our study on, what does the bible say. Tonight we are going to start shifting towards things that people have hard opinions on, and everybody has a slightly different ideas about, but our goal here is, what does the Bible say? So tonight, we are going to look at what the Bible says about Heaven and Hell, and this may be more about Hell than Heaven.

So i want to take a quick survey really quick, we are going to be talking about heaven and hell so I want to see kinda where every body is.

So it’ll be a true or false, if you get them wrong it’s okay just a thing to get our minds as we talk about heaven and hell tonight.

So True or False

We get wings when we go to heaven? false

We have to check in with St Peter at the pearly gates? false

Is heaven a gated community? true, Rev 21:21

Hell is ruled by Satan? false

Hell is a state of mind? false

Hell is forever? true

Okay cool, if you missed one it’s okay just a little game to kinda prime our minds for the study of God’s word about these two things.

Context

So tonight our starting place is going to be Luke and this is going to give is a look in to both Heaven and Hell.

So Luke 16:19-31,

So let me give you some context as to what is going on, Luke is written by Luke, same guy who wrote Acts, which is where we were last week.

And the lead up to this passage is basically Jesus is talking to the disciples, he’s teaching them about different things and the pharisees hear him and all the bible says is, “They ridicule Him” Luke doesn’t tell us what they said to Him, but Jesus turns around and basically says, “yeah, you guys are an abomination to the Lord, Good luck getting in to the Kingdom of God.” Jesus was like, I got receipts!

Then Jesus goes in to a long bit of teaching where he is the only one speaking and this is where we get our passage tonight.

Main Idea

So our main idea for tonight is, this passage is a warning, warning every person that we are going to experience eternity in one of two places, heaven or hell, where are you going to be?

So with that, we are going to be in Luke 16:19-31

Let me pray for our time in the word

pray

Cool, read with me

English Standard Version Chapter 16

“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.’ ”

Okay so what is going on here in this passage? Cause this is pretty wild if you stop and think about it. It raises some strange questions if we read this in the wrong light. So first we need to remember that Jesus most often taught in parables, and questions and allegories. This is a parable, it should be interpreted as much. Jesus is trying to show the disciples and the pharisees that Hell is way worse than they thought, and why people are going to go to Hell.

So we see two people who die at the same time, one of them is a rich dude, and based on the holy word of God, a fat guy. he “feasted sumptuously.”

like when i read this, i am imagining the spider man villain King-Pin, in the comics and in the show he’s always portrayed as this great big fat guy, he’s got rings on his hands, he’s you know smoking a cigar, I’ve got a picture of him for a visual. he’s putting the cigar out in homeless people’s coin cup.

That’s what is in my head with this guy. Then we have Lazarus, now I honestly don’t know if this is the same Lazarus that was raised from the dead, i don’t believe it is, one of my commentaries says Lazarus was a very common name, is the Greek form of Eleazar and means He (whom) God has helped.

So this is probably just a common guy. Just a regular guy who was sick and on the streets.

But we see these two dudes, this King-Pin guy, and Lazarus. They both die. Now Lazarus went up to “Abraham’s side” which is just heaven, the presence of God. Luke was speaking to both Jews and Greeks, so he used imagery they both would understand. The other guy when to Hades, which is the greek version of Hell.

And these two guys can see each other, and King-Pin is having a bad day, Jesus says he is being Tormented. Remember that, just remember that this guy is being tormented. That is important.

Then they have this conversation, King-Pin is saying “This is terrible!” and he sees Lazarus in Heaven and tries to give orders, he basically asks for water, this fire is hot, this fire is unreal, HELP! but it’s no use, even if they wanted to help, they couldn’t Hell is separated from heaven. So remember this, Hell is Hopeless. It was too late.

So when King-Pin realizes that Hell is hopeless, he gives more orders, he tells Abraham to send a dead guy to warn his brothers, and they say, no, they have Moses and the Prophets, which means they have the scriptures, if they did not believe them, they will not believe a dead guy. and that is where Jesus ends that parable, this was a warning.

How is Heaven and Hell defined in the Bible?

So what does this have to do with what the bible says about Heaven and Hell? This passage really puts the two in perspective and in the same parable. We see both places juxtaposed against each other. So, how does the bible define heaven and hell?

Let’s do this as basic as we can and then we can flesh these thoughts out. First Heaven at its essence is the full presence of God’s glory. When ever heaven is talked about in the bible it is talked about as God being fully with his people. It is people fully worshiping God in the full presence of God. Heaven at its fullness is God coming and redeeming and creating all things new.

I’m gonna be a nerd for a second, but it i love these two things written by two friends, the first is from Lord of the Rings, when Evil being defeated is described Gandalf says, “Everything sad will come untrue.” and I love that imagery, Heaven is going to be when God is wiping away ever tear, the second is from My favorite book The Great Divorce, CS Lewis says, “We know nothing of religion here: we think only of Christ.” This is “we will be His people, and He will be our God.” not to spoil Revelation on Sunday mornings but that’s how it ends, God making all things new, and God dwelling with His people.

If you haven’t read the Great Divorce or Lord of the Rings, you should, it’s awesome. Moving on.

So what is Hell, this one is a little harder to define, but lets try to get it at the most basic level. If Heaven is the fullness of God’s glory, then Hell is the fullness of God’s wrath.

But what does that mean? When ever the bible speaks about hell there are a couple themes that stick out, it is usually referred to as Gehenna or Sheol, which represents death. Gehenna was also a real place they could see, it was the valley of hinnom, which in Jeremiah child sacrifice took place, it was just out side of Jerusalem. It was also where they burned all they’re trash. So when the original hearers heard the word gehenna, it would be bring to mind this super cursed place where that was constantly on fire, and smelled awful. They burned all the trash in jerusalem there. It would not have been a place you would want to spend 5 mins let alone all eternity.

Imagine it’s the elephant grave yard from the Lion King, but it is all actively on fire.

It’s an awful place. And that was just a symbol. In other parts Hell is described as darkness and wailing, so if we are trying to paint a picture of Hell in our heads imagine it is dark but is also on fire and it is a cursed place. It’s awful. We honestly can’t describe it it is so bad.

It is the full presence of God’s wrath. I know growing up i always thought about Hell as being separation of from God, and that isn’t a terrible way to think about it, because the relationship with God is full severed, but what we would be truly separated from would be God’s grace and mercy. Hell is being fully in the line of Fire of God’s perfect wrath.

Misconceptions

So what are some misconceptions about Heaven and Hell? As far as heaven goes. The most common one is that we get wings and become angels in heaven. That is not true, we will look like us, but our bodies will be glorified and made perfect, as cool as wings would be, we aren’t getting them. The second misconception of heaven is probably what we are going to do in heaven. We are going to be worshiping God fully in heaven. I don’t think we are going to be squeezing in 18 between worship sessions. It is going to be fully worshiping and being with God. These are minor misconceptions, If there is golf in heaven, cool. I’m not counting on it.

But there are some major misconceptions about Hell that gives us major misconceptions about Heaven.

The major misconception, Hell doesn’t exist. this is fairly new one too and it is creeping in to some teaching in the church and let me go ahead and clear it up for you. Hell is real and does exist and people go there, every single minute of the day. AC/DC was right, there is a highway and people are going a 100 mph to it. Hell is real and Hell awaits. And this idea of Hell not being real gives us a false view of Heaven.

We are so tempted to ask or worse state as fact, “well, God only send those super bad people to hell. Like you gotta be on Hitler or Charles Manson’s level to go to hell. Just a little a sin isn’t going to send me to hell” No, that is not true, every single one of us in this room is deserving of Hell.

Think of it like this, imagine if i were to come down here take my shoe off and knock one of you in the head, lets say i knock Joel over the head. What is going to happen to me? you are all going to think less of me, i might get pulled in to a personnel meeting tomorrow, I might get yelled at, i’ve been yelled at before But like, i’m not gonna go to jail though, if it’s just Joel I hit. But now imagine, President Biden comes to town, I see him at the dairy queen, even liberals gotta get a blizzard, and I take my shoe off and whop him upside the head. What’s gonna happen to me then? I’m at the very least gonna get wrecked by the secret service, if not just straight up shot right then and there. Now imagine, you stand before a Holy, Perfect, Almighty, Eternal God of all things, and you sin you do the thing he hates the most, which is sin, doesn’t matter the sin, you have gone against Almighty God. What is going to happen? You have broken the relationship. It’s not so much what you have done, but who you have done it against. You have sinned against a perfect and holy God who abhors sin. You have rejected Him. Sinning against the eternal warrants an eternal punishment.

So this idea that Hell does not exist or this idea that Hell is only for the super bad people is a scheme straight from Satan himself, which Hell also awaits him. Satan isn’t in charge of hell, but hell was created for Satan and all those who reject Christ. Who Reject a holy and almighty God.

How do you get to Heaven? What sends you to Hell?

So this leads us to ask, How do we get to heaven and what sends you to hell?

i have been asked by a handful of you about different things and people going to Hell. “I’ve been asked, do this group or that group of people go to hell.” And if you ask me that question, i’m going to ask us to back up and look at what sends people to hell. So what sends people to hell is sin, did they die without saving faith in Christ, then yup, they have gone to Hell. I know that sounds cold and callous, but it is the truth. Because we have sinned against a Holy and Almighty God.

So how do you get to heaven? The answer is super simple, it is Christ. Follow Christ. One of the biggest false ideas about heaven and how to get there is two fold, that you can be good enough to get there on your own, and that there are multiple ways to heaven. Both of these ideas are against biblical teaching and worse cheapen the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross.

These ideas basically look at heaven as a mountain, and say well there is a ton of ways to get up there, all these different paths, but when you set out to get to the top you realize the Mountain is Mount Everest and there is no way you are getting up there on your own, on your own strength.

Christianity flips this idea on its head. Christianity is the idea that Christ came down from the top of the mountain and said, “I know the way up, I know how to reach the top, all you have to do is follow me. put your feet where i put mine. stay close, I will get you there.

Christ is the way to heaven, more importantly to a life that pursues what heaven is all about, the full glory of God, and Him dwelling among us.

Point to Christ

So last thing, why does this matter? Why talk about this? Well, think of it like this, think back to the text, King-Pin didn’t go to hell because he was rich and fat, he went to Hell because he didn’t follow God. He placed himself in the place of God, he worshiped Himself. Stick with me here, King-Pin went to Hell because he choose to go. All he needed was to follow God, to follow christ. Everyone who goes to Hell has chosen Hell, because they have rejected Christ. They have chosen to worship themselves, they have said to God, I can get there, I don’t need to follow Christ. They said to God, they said to Christ, not your will be done, but my will be done. And God is going to reply, okay, your will be done. To choose yourself over Christ is to choose Hell.

So before we finish up here, I want to read one more passage, this is the one Lauralee always tells me that scares the fool out of her. you don’t have to flip there, but let me read it.

English Standard Version Chapter 25

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

41 “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. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?’ 45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So this text is calling us to choose, it is calling believers and followers of christ to have a sense of urgency, because the mission is to make disciples and to come along side Christ isn building the kingdom. If you are in here and you aren’t sure what you believe, this is calling you with some urgency to choose this day who you are going to follow. If you are sitting here kinda wondering, and not knowing who you are following, you need to consider the call to follow Christ, Christ is better. Christ is the one worthy of all our worship and glory. This text is calling you to submit to the lordship of christ. If you need help figuring out what that looks like, please come talk to me, talk to one of the adults in here, or talk to a friend that you know, knows Christ. Where are you going to be when Christ comes in His glory, will you be following Him or following yourself. Are you choosing Christ, or are you choosing Hell? Hell is real, and Hell awaits those outside of Christ. There is hope, and Christ is that hope.

Pray with me