A personal responsibilty to the lost.

Luke 16:19–31 CSB

19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day. 20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate. 21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores. 22 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. 23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side. 24 ‘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!’ 25 “ ‘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. 26 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.’ 27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so that they won’t also come to this place of torment.’ 29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ 30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “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.’ ”

Separation of body and spirit

Death is not the end - the beggar is not absorbed into nature, resurrected or fails to exist.

there are two destinies - The righteous go to heaven,

The good news is the righteous will go to in inverted commas. heaven.

Which is the answer most of us gave. The righteous will go to heaven, actually hear it this this place of rest is described in Luke here. As Abraham side elsewhere described as old test Abraham's bosom, this was an Old Testament picture that the Saints in the righteous believers in the Old Testament weight went to some protected place called Abraham's Bosom or Abraham side. Is there any other scriptural reference that will help us on this? Yes. Can you think of Jesus on the with the thief on the cross? The guy has an amazing conversion experience there on the cross. Isn't God's grace amazing? The guy basically turns to Jesus and says. What can I be with you when you come in your Kingdom? What's that? What's he looking forward to the second coming? Has the second coming happened yet? No, so something still in the future. But notice what Jesus says to him. He's not saying yes you can. When I come back, although he can. He actually says this today, what day, the very day that both of us die. You will be with me in where? Paradise was paradise. Paradise is the same as Abraham side or Abraham's bosom? Is what we call heaven. It basically is the place the dip artedi Saints go to be with the Lord. Can I say if it was today you will be with me? What does that mean? It means that we go to the presence of Jesus. So what does that mean? As believers, we do not need to fear physical death. In fact, far from it being something to be feared. Polp actually describe physical death even prior to the coming of Jesus. As something to be long for.

Now I don’t know about you but I am going for long life, but death is not something to be feared.

Philippians 1:21–24 CSB

21 For me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22 Now if I live on in the flesh, this means fruitful work for me; and I don’t know which one I should choose. 23 I am torn between the two. I long to depart and be with Christ—which is far better—24 but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for your sake.

Then read this the rich man also died and was buried in Hell where he was in torment. He looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. So he called him father Abraham. Have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tongue of his finger because I am in agony in this fire. So notice still there. This rich man is fully conscious after death. He's not in his physical body. It is a picture language that Jesus using, but there's still a truth here that there is somehow a separation between Lazarus picturing the righteous who go to be in the protected place, paradise and this other place. And it's interesting here that the phrase that Jesus uses is not Gehenna, which is the Lake of fire that will look at this afternoon. It's the Greek word for Jedis. And there is a difference between Hades and Gehenna. They're both Greek words. Gehenna means the Lake of fire. Jedis basically was the place of departed souls or spirits. So this is like Paradise Hemi, clearly temporary. An intermediate place. It's like a waiting place for. Unsaved hadees or for the saved it's paradise

So where do believers go? When they die, can just check your oil still with shout out, where do they go? Paradise we can call it heaven if you like, but call it Abraham's bosom, but it's that it's a place of rest. It's where do unbelievers go prior to the second coming? Jedis which is the place of departed souls or spirits? But notice even here before the judgment. It's already a place of torment and lostness and separation. Whether the fire is literal. I'm not going to be dogmatic about that. It may be it may not be, but the fact of the matter is is a place of torment. The rich man is conscious. And what does that say? What it tells me this? Is that there is no such thing as universalism in the Bible? Not everybody is going to be saved. It's not good. News is bad news, God once everybody to be saved. But you you can.

interesting it was so awful for the rich man to be there. Do you know what he wanted to do? He wanted somebody to go back and warn. His family. About how awful it was. This is eating your greens time, but this is critical. I would rather teach our people the reality of hell now. And we do everything we can. Before they go to the other side to get the Gospel, then this can I tell you why we don't preach hell to the unbeliever. Jesus goes and he says no, you go and tell them the good news of the Kingdom. Heal them, bless them, tell them the good news of what she's done for them. But as the church, I believe the right understanding of hell and eternal Lostness is one of the greatest motivations to evangelism.

if we really believe that lost is lost. Then it will affect. The way we view the people in our families, our neighbors, our friends, the people. Many of you work with their across the office from you that shouldn't produce a judgmentalism you're gonna go to hell. It should produce a deep compassion and say Holy Spirit. Help me. How can I reach this person in Word and deed and expose them to your love and your grace that they may be? Because we can often talk about the the temporal benefits, the now benefits of being a Christian. You'll be happy you'll be at peace and that's not wrong. But saved. Doesn't just mean saved in this life, it doesn't mean saved eternally.

. And then the third thing is clear here there is no second chance after death. There is no second chance after death. There is no, oh gosh, sorry Lord, I'm I realized I made the wrong choice. Listen to what Abraham makes, clear him again. It is still a parable, but the trews are in line with the rest of the New Testament. Abraham says between us and you. A great chasm. Has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone crossover from there to us.

Recap -

Believers heaven

Unbelievers Hadies

thre is no swapping after death.

Hope - Jesus Christ will return

the Big Hope and comfort for believers is not so much listen to me carefully that we go to heaven when we die. Although we do the big hope we're waiting for is that Jesus is coming back.

1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 CSB

13 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, concerning those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, in the same way, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. 15 For we say this to you by a word from the Lord: We who are still alive at the Lord’s coming will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the archangel’s voice, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are still alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. 18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Why is this a hope?

The dead will be raised. This is a far greater hope than a disembodied existence in the presence of the Lord, 'cause that is not where history is ending. History is ending with resurrection. The dead in Christ will rise first. This is the great hope. For the believer. Not a disembodied existence in the presence of God, a temporary intermediate waiting point point. We're not waiting for that. We are waiting for Christ to come back, 'cause when Christ comes back in his resurrected body, we are going to receive new bodies. That is the great hope that is the central hope that you will find time and time again through the New Testament.

Tom, right again. Bishop Ford, Bishop Barron says this God wants to save holes, WHOLES, not souls. In other words, we can often preach a partial religion. All that matters is your soul gets saved. No, God wants the whole of you, saved spirit and soul and body. I am saved in my spirit. I'm being saved him in my mind. My will and emotions becoming more like Christ. But the great hope of the eternal future is that every part of me, Spirit, soul and body is going to get saved. So my hope is not just when I die. If I if I die before Christ comes back, I'm not. I'm actually going to be the president of my. Great hope is that I'm going to be resurrected as Jesus has been resurrected. That's the real focus of the New Testament when it comes to this whole subject.

The eternal hope the good news when Jesus comes back, we're getting brand new non aging, non decaying. Sickness, immune? Bodies. Immortal. Able to contain the glory of God.

Turn to the person next to you and say “When Jesus comes back, you're going to look a whole lot better than you do right now.”

This is our eternal hope.

God is the creator of his physical creation, can have, and are meant. And God is the creator of our physical bodies. And God likes you the way he made you. And so the reason I'm so excited about the new creation and the new body is because it demonstrates that God the Creator wins over the devil. The redemption that we enjoy in Christ. Is not just that it's reversing of the four, but the everything that Satan ever tried to do. A man's ever tried to do to mess up God's original plan is going to be undone reversed, and that the Creator wins the day.

Colossians 1:5 CSB

5 because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You have already heard about this hope in the word of truth, the gospel

CONCLUSION

We’re for hope – that the King will return, rule, and reign in peace forever!

We’re for YOU! We’re for you because God created you, loves you, lived for you, died for you, rose for you, and draws you to himself in love no matter your background, no matter your sin, and no matter what your story looks like