Introduction:
The Truth About Hell (Luke 16:19-31):
- It is filled with people who Never Expected to be There . (Luke 16:19-23)
Matthew 7:21-23
John 6:29 - “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.”
- It is a place of Unimaginable Torment . (Luke 16:24-25)
2 Thessalonians 1:9 - They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might.
- It cannot be Escaped Once You are There . (Luke 16:26)
- It can be avoided by Submitting to the Word of God . (Luke 16:27-31)
Romans 9:3 - For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
Charles Spurgeon - “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.”
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
-
01:28-01:32
All right, you can turn your Bibles to Luke chapter 16 verses 19 through 31.
01:32-01:35
Luke 16 verses 19 through 31.
01:36-01:44
You know, I was thinking this past week, as human beings, we are experts at not dealing with things that make us feel uncomfortable.
01:45-01:52
This phenomenon begins at a young age when children close their eyes when they're told something that they don't wanna do and they don't wanna deal with you.
01:52-01:56
They close their eyes because they think that they're invisible if they do that.
01:57-01:59
It makes all the sense in the world, doesn't it?
01:59-02:03
If I cannot see you, that means that you can't see me.
02:05-02:07
I'm sure we have procrastinators in the room right now.
02:07-02:13
You have a big deadline hanging over your head at work or at home that you don't want to think about right now.
02:14-02:17
You're trying to wait to the last possible second to do it.
02:18-02:24
And some of you are very annoyed with me right now because you were doing a great job of not thinking about what you had to get done until right now.
02:24-02:27
I am so happy to be of service to you this morning.
02:29-02:31
Maybe you have a big issue with someone in your life.
02:32-02:35
You don't want to address it because it makes you feel uncomfortable.
02:36-02:39
And you're just stuffing it down, stuffing it down.
02:40-02:58
Many Americans live in massive debt and instead of dealing with this issue head on, they just dig a deeper and deeper and deeper hole because the stress of their situation makes them feel extremely uncomfortable, and they don't know if they can handle it.
02:59-03:01
You know, death is the greatest example of this.
03:02-03:10
We all know that death is slowly but surely approaching with each tick of the clock, but we still manage to not think about it too much.
03:11-03:19
We all know that death could strike at any time, but we still fool ourselves into believing that our time is unlimited.
03:21-03:26
Most people are afraid to think about death 'cause most people aren't sure of what happens after we die.
03:26-03:28
Do we just cease to exist?
03:29-03:32
Do the lights just turn off and stay off?
03:33-03:37
Do we become one with the universe, whatever that means?
03:38-03:46
Do we reincarnate as an animal or as another human being and just travel this endless merry-go-round of life on an endless loop?
03:47-03:50
Or is there actually an afterlife?
03:52-03:56
Do we go to one of two places, heaven or hell?
03:58-04:05
And the idea of heaven is appealing for obvious reasons, but hell just seems too horrible to be true.
04:06-04:08
For most people, the idea of hell is repulsive.
04:09-04:14
They do whatever they can to reject its existence and make it seem ridiculous.
04:16-04:19
Our society has lessened hell's seriousness in many ways.
04:19-04:24
We've turned it into a curse word that we yell when we're joking around or when we're surprised.
04:25-04:29
We even have the nerve to tell people to go to hell whenever we're annoyed with them.
04:34-04:37
In an attempt to lessen the impact of hell, we make it the butt of the joke.
04:38-04:45
Think of how many cartoons, movies, and comic strips you've seen that have a humorous depiction of hell.
04:48-04:51
Yeah, what does Satan usually look like in these depictions?
04:51-04:52
We all know, right?
04:52-04:53
What's he look like?
04:55-04:57
He has the skin tight red suit.
04:57-04:59
He has the pointy horns.
04:59-05:00
He has the pitchfork.
05:01-05:09
As a kid, I vividly remember watching the Satan's waiting episode of Looney Tunes with Sylvester Cat and Tweety Bird.
05:10-05:21
And Sylvester Cat keeps burning through his nine lives and keeps getting sent to hell over and over and over again where Satan is this red dog that won't stop laughing and yucking it up.
05:23-05:29
I've heard people joke around that they'd rather go to hell and have fun with their friends than go to heaven and be bored.
05:31-05:36
Satan loves to get us to laugh at things that are not funny on any level.
05:37-05:45
If we can laugh at something as serious as hell and use that word flippantly in a conversation, then it's not something serious that we have to deal with.
05:45-05:49
not something serious that we have to contend with and think about.
05:50-05:56
People are content just close their eyes to the reality of hell and pretend like it's a fantasy.
05:58-06:01
But denying its existence doesn't make it any less real.
06:03-06:06
This is the final message in our series called Did God Really Say?
06:07-06:15
Over the past month, we've been studying important doctrines and truths from scripture that our enemy constantly tries to undermine and attack.
06:16-06:20
We've answered questions like, did God really say that his word can be trusted?
06:21-06:24
Did God really say that every other religion is wrong?
06:25-06:29
Did God really say that he is in control of everything?
06:30-06:34
And this morning, we're gonna answer the hardest and most difficult question of them all.
06:35-06:39
Did God really say that hell is real?
06:40-06:48
And I'm gonna be brutally honest with you up front, this is going to be a hard message to preach, and it's going to be a hard message to hear.
06:49-06:56
This is a fun subject that I love to talk about, but it's an important topic that we cannot afford to ignore.
06:56-06:58
Too much is at stake.
06:58-07:03
Just sweep a discussion of hell under the rug and act like it's not there.
07:04-07:10
So before we unpack Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31, We're gonna go to the Lord in prayer.
07:10-07:22
And we're gonna ask for his help that we would take this message as serious as possible and not allow ourselves to be distracted from focusing on the reality of eternity.
07:23-07:24
Let's go to the Lord.
07:27-07:31
Father, as we just sang, you are holy, holy, holy.
07:32-07:34
You are righteous and you are just.
07:34-07:41
Lord, I pray that we would approach your word this morning with a sense of seriousness, with a sense of weight.
07:43-07:52
And while there's times in your word when we come across things that are hard, we come across things that we don't wanna read, but Lord, it's your truth, and we're called to submit to it anyway.
07:54-08:02
Lord, may you wound but then bind up, may you shatter us but then have your healing hands put us back together this morning.
08:02-08:09
We pray that you would watch over your word to perform it, that your word would accomplish the purpose for which you sent it out.
08:09-08:11
In Jesus' name, amen.
08:13-08:22
So I wanna read Luke chapter 16, verses 19 to 31 in its entirety so that we can be hit with the full force of what Jesus is saying.
08:23-08:28
And then we'll spend the rest of this message unpacking four essential truths about hell.
08:29-08:43
There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen who feasted sumptuously every day And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered in sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.
08:44-08:47
Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
08:48-08:52
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
08:52-09:03
The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, in hell, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
09:03-09:22
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." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime "received your good things, "and Lazarus and like men are bad things.
09:23-09:54
"But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." 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." And Lazarus said, "Then I beg you, Father, "to send him to my father's house, "for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, "lest they also come into this place of torment." But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets.
09:54-10:19
"Let them hear them." And he said, "No, Father Abraham, "but if someone goes to them from the dead, "they will repent." Abraham said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, "neither will they be convinced "that someone should rise from the dead." This somber passage and many others like it poke a massive hole in the argument that I've heard many people say over the years.
10:20-10:21
Jesus never talked about hell.
10:22-10:26
He was too loving and kind to talk about something so dark and horrible.
10:27-10:31
Actually, Jesus talks about hell more than anybody else in the entire Bible.
10:32-10:36
Jesus talked about hell twice as much as he talked about heaven.
10:37-10:41
Around 13% of his collected sayings were about hell and judgment.
10:42-10:47
So contrary to popular belief, Jesus never shied away from this controversial and difficult topic.
10:49-10:55
As we'll talk about later on, it's important to understand that it's not unloving for him to tackle this subject head on.
10:56-11:03
In fact, Jesus telling the hard truth about hell proves his love and his care for us.
11:03-11:11
Because if hell is real, then there is nothing more hateful and unloving than staying silent about it.
11:13-11:18
So in the verse that we just read, Jesus tells a story that would have absolutely shocked his listeners.
11:19-11:23
Bible scholars debate whether this is a parable or a real story.
11:23-11:27
It's given a lot of detail that's not common to parables.
11:27-11:34
Jesus doesn't say it's a parable explicitly in the text, and I don't wanna get into the nitty gritty of that debate because it really doesn't matter.
11:36-11:40
Either way, the same lessons and truths about hell are on full display.
11:42-11:44
So let's work our way through these four important truths.
11:45-11:52
The truth about hell, number one, it is filled with people who never expected to be there.
11:53-11:56
It is filled with people who never expected to be there.
11:57-11:58
(pages flipping)
11:59-12:05
So Jesus sets up the scene by comparing two men, the rich man and Lazarus.
12:06-12:08
Let's start with the rich man first.
12:08-12:11
He had a phenomenal wardrobe with high ticket clothing.
12:12-12:23
Jesus points out this man wore purple a lot, which may seem like a random detail, but that was the color of the royal and the wealthy back then because purple dye was so expensive.
12:24-12:25
He didn't just eat good food.
12:25-12:29
who were told that he feasted sumptuously every single day.
12:29-12:33
He went all out for every meal of the day with a massive spread.
12:33-12:39
I just picture a massive drumstick in one hand and a filled to the brim glass of wine in the other hand.
12:40-12:44
His house is obviously massive because he has his own gate.
12:45-12:48
So his house could have been on MTV Cribs Israel edition, I guess.
12:49-12:51
This guy lived the dream life.
12:52-12:54
In modern day terms, he rode in limos everywhere.
12:55-13:01
He flew on private jets while popping champagne, and he had newsworthy parties with celebrities.
13:02-13:04
He must have been envied by his neighbors.
13:05-13:13
Everyone thought that he was blessed by God, that he was highly favored by God because he had the very best of everything.
13:15-13:20
But on the opposite end of the social ladder is Lazarus, the man camped outside his gate.
13:21-13:30
His greatest desire in life is that he would get some of the table scraps that were left over from these massive parties in this house that he could never dream to enter.
13:32-13:37
On top of his food problems, Lazarus had horrible sores and ulcers covering his body.
13:38-13:43
And to add insult to injury, wild dogs would come up to him and lick his sores.
13:44-13:45
Isn't that a gross mental image?
13:46-13:49
And before you think, oh, those loving dogs were just trying to help him.
13:50-13:55
Back in those days, dogs were not lovable pets that people brought into their homes.
13:55-13:59
They were scavengers that people hated because they carried disease.
14:00-14:02
This isn't a loving picture.
14:04-14:10
Lazarus would have been viewed as the lowest of the low, only slightly above lepers.
14:11-14:18
In those days, a life of poverty and continued illness was often viewed as a divine act of punishment from God.
14:19-14:24
People would look at Lazarus and think, what did he do to deserve this fate?
14:24-14:28
Maybe his parents sinned and God cursed his entire family.
14:31-14:37
We aren't given any details about the interaction between these two men, but Lazarus lived outside of his house.
14:38-14:40
It's really hard to miss a beggar on your own front stoop.
14:41-14:48
We aren't told that Lazarus mistreated, I mean, the mister man mistreated Lazarus, or that he shook his fist at him to get off his lawn.
14:49-15:00
But we also aren't told any details about the rich man lifting a finger to help Lazarus, to do anything to help him in any way, shape, or form.
15:01-15:06
To the rich man, Lazarus was just a waste of space who couldn't do anything for him.
15:07-15:11
Lazarus deserved none of his attention, none of his time, and none of his care.
15:13-15:17
But the tables quickly turn and the roles are reversed in verse 22.
15:18-15:21
The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
15:21-15:23
That's a picture of heaven.
15:23-15:27
The rich man also died and was buried in hell, in Hades.
15:27-15:34
Being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
15:35-15:39
This plot twist would have blown Jesus' ears away.
15:40-15:53
The seemingly highly favored one ends up in the worst place imaginable while the dregs of society has a place of high honor in heaven alongside one of the greatest heroes of their faith, Abraham.
15:54-15:55
How is this possible?
15:56-15:58
How could this have happened?
16:00-16:05
Well, this story shows us that earthly success does not lead to eternal life.
16:07-16:09
And to be clear, I'm not saying that having money is bad.
16:10-16:18
I'm not saying that being successful is bad, but it is bad to think that because you're successful in this life, that means you're on good terms with God.
16:19-16:26
It's bad to think that your earthly status in any way affects your eternal status.
16:29-16:43
There are so many people in the Wexford and Cranberry area who have a massive house, nice cars, kids with straight A's, go on globe-trotting vacations, but their path is to eternal destruction.
16:46-16:50
Their lives look great on the outside, but on the inside, there is a spiritual emptiness.
16:53-17:06
Jesus says throughout the gospels that wealth and the desire for more and more and more stuff blinds us to our spiritual need, can blind us to our need for a savior.
17:06-17:22
It's easy to fall into the temptation "heaven on earth, and in the process, "you enslave yourself to an eternity in hell." These verses also show us that there are a lot of people in hell who are shocked that they are there.
17:23-17:26
They never expected to be here.
17:27-17:31
Even people who thought they were Christians and lived good lives.
17:33-17:36
Jesus talks about this in Matthew chapter seven, verses 21 through 23.
17:38-17:44
Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to me, "'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, "but the one who does the will of my Father "who is in heaven.
17:45-17:51
"On that day, many will say to me, "'Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy in your name "'and cast out demons in your name?
17:51-17:57
"'And do many of you buy works in your name?' "And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you.
17:58-18:07
"'Depart from me, you worker of lawlessness.'" That last sentence has to be one of the most chilling parts of the entire Bible.
18:09-18:10
You did all these impressive things.
18:10-18:15
You checked all the boxes off the Christian list, but I never knew you.
18:16-18:20
I never had a personal relationship with you.
18:20-18:23
You are a complete stranger to me.
18:24-18:26
Depart from me forever.
18:29-18:30
Please listen to me.
18:30-18:37
Trying to do good things to make God love you and work your way to heaven is futile.
18:37-18:38
It is a waste of time.
18:39-18:43
It is an exercise of self-deception and pride.
18:43-18:48
It only feeds your ego and makes you trust in yourself and not in the Lord Jesus Christ.
18:50-18:52
Maybe you're here this morning thinking, well, I'm going to heaven.
18:52-18:54
I do a lot of nice things for people.
18:54-18:55
I read my Bible every day.
18:55-18:56
I go to church every week.
18:57-18:59
Taylor, you don't know how much money I give to the church.
18:59-19:02
You don't know how much money I give the charities.
19:02-19:04
No, no, no.
19:05-19:06
None of those things matter.
19:07-19:09
None of those things will take you to heaven.
19:10-19:15
It's not a matter of what you do for Jesus, it's what Jesus has done for you.
19:16-19:20
Have you placed your faith and trust in him as your personal Lord and Savior?
19:21-19:24
Have you realized that you can do nothing to save yourself?
19:24-19:27
You can do nothing to forgive yourself.
19:27-19:34
All you can do is place your faith and trust in him fully and what he has done on your behalf on the cross.
19:36-19:39
Have you accepted this free gift of eternal life?
19:39-19:44
Are you pushing it away 'cause you feel like you need to do something to earn it?
19:45-19:50
Do you truly know Jesus or do you just know a lot of stuff about Jesus?
19:51-19:54
There's a big difference between those two things.
19:56-20:04
In John six, the crowds come to Jesus And they ask him, what good works must we be doing to please God?
20:05-20:08
What must we do to gain his approval?
20:09-20:11
Give us the chore list of good deeds and we'll do it.
20:13-20:15
I love Jesus' response.
20:16-20:20
This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.
20:21-20:22
That's it.
20:22-20:24
It's that simple and clear cut.
20:24-20:28
Do you believe in Jesus or do you believe in yourself?
20:30-20:34
The second truth about hell, it is a place of unimaginable torment.
20:37-20:40
It is a place of unimaginable torment.
20:43-20:49
Let's continue on with verses 24 to 25 of Luke 16.
20:52-21:09
And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me "and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water "to cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that in your lifetime, "you received your good things, "and Lazarus in like manner, bad things.
21:10-21:21
"And now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." So the rich man looks far off, and he sees Lazarus with Abraham.
21:22-21:24
He's in anguish, and he's in torment.
21:26-21:32
Actually in the Greek, he's commanding Abraham to send Lazarus to help him.
21:33-21:36
Even in hell, the rich man thinks he's better than Lazarus.
21:37-21:45
He still thinks that Lazarus is beneath him and should serve him, even though he did nothing to help him in this life.
21:47-21:52
But Abraham breaks the bad news that there will be no relief now or any time in the future.
21:53-22:10
He says, "Remember that you in your lifetime "and received your good things, "and Lazarus and like men are bad things, "but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish." In other words, the bad times for Lazarus have ended forever, but your bad times have just begun.
22:12-22:19
For many, this life is as good as it's ever going to get, but for the follower of Christ, this life is as bad as it ever will be.
22:21-22:23
Heaven is unbelievably awesome.
22:23-22:33
to never-ending joy, peace, and comfort in the loving presence of God, while hell is unspeakably awful.
22:33-22:38
It is filled with sadness, darkness, and eternal loneliness.
22:40-22:48
Those who rejected Christ and went their own way will experience the massive consequences of this continued and unrepentant decision.
22:48-22:54
They will experience the just and deserved wrath of God for their sin and rebellion.
22:56-23:01
But some try to lessen the horrors of hell by teaching something called annihilationism.
23:03-23:04
What's annihilationism?
23:04-23:11
This teaches that Satan, his demons, and unbelievers will not suffer forever and ever.
23:11-23:15
Instead, they will be disintegrated and just wiped off the map.
23:16-23:19
Their bodies, their souls, and their minds will just cease to be.
23:20-23:26
So in a sense, those who are sentenced to hell are sentenced to non-existence.
23:28-23:32
The only problem with this teaching is the teachings of the Bible.
23:34-23:37
Listen to how Paul describes the experience of hell for those who reject Christ.
23:38-23:47
They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might.
23:49-23:57
John says this in Revelation 14, 11, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.
23:59-24:07
Jesus says that hell is the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, for everyone will be salted with fire.
24:09-24:11
These verses are painful to read.
24:11-24:14
They're not easy to talk about, but we can't skip them.
24:15-24:17
We can't shy away from dealing with them.
24:18-24:24
May we never lessen the horrors of hell to make ourselves feel better and make other people feel better.
24:24-24:27
We lessen the glory of the gospel.
24:28-24:31
We make hell seem less bad than it actually is.
24:33-24:43
This would be like telling someone, they need an immediate surgery without first explaining to them the life-threatening illness they have ravaging their body.
24:45-24:47
What would urge this patient to sign off on this procedure?
24:48-24:52
What would urge them to take care of this right now?
24:54-25:00
The surgery would just seem totally pointless and unnecessary if you didn't tell them what they need saved from.
25:01-25:10
In an even greater way, you cannot tell someone they need a savior without first telling them what they need saved from.
25:12-25:22
The good news of the gospel isn't truly good "bad news of hell." The third truth about hell, it cannot be escaped once you are there.
25:23-25:25
It cannot be escaped once you are there.
25:30-25:42
In verse 26, Abraham continues to deliver bad news and further explain to Lazarus why, well, further explain to the rich man why Lazarus can't commute over to hell and give him any relief.
25:42-25:55
He says to the rich man, 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.
25:56-26:01
There is a cosmic gulf between heaven and hell that cannot be crossed.
26:03-26:09
There is no door, there is no boat, there is no shuttle that takes you from one place to the other.
26:10-26:13
Neither heaven or hell will have visiting hours.
26:13-26:24
the inhabitants of hell will be completely blocked off from the people of God in heaven, and the people of God in heaven will be completely blocked off from the inhabitants of hell.
26:24-26:28
There are no exceptions to this fixed rule.
26:29-26:33
Once a person is in hell, they're there for the long run.
26:34-26:41
You know, back when I was in college, a best-selling book called Love Wins came out by a now former pastor named Rob Bell.
26:42-26:46
Don't even bother to look it up because all of his stuff is just heretical nonsense.
26:47-26:51
And Oprah loves him, so that should tell you all you need to know about his theology.
26:53-27:00
But the main assertion of this book is that God is way too good, God is way too loving to let people suffer in hell forever.
27:02-27:08
In the end, God's love will win out and everyone in hell will receive a second chance and enter into heaven.
27:10-27:21
Simply put, this life is kind of like a board game of monopoly and trouble where a child loses badly but their overly lenient parent lets them go back to the beginning and start all over again because they feel bad.
27:22-27:26
But does that line up with what Jesus is talking about in this passage?
27:27-27:30
Does this line up with what New Testament tells us?
27:31-27:32
Not one bit.
27:33-27:41
If this teaching from love wins is true and we all get another chance in eternity, What's the point of trusting in Jesus for salvation in this life?
27:42-27:46
What's the point, where's the urgency of telling other people about the gospel?
27:47-27:57
Why would we urge each other in the church to deny our sinful selves and pursue holiness if we all just end up in the same place eventually no matter what we do?
27:59-28:02
The story that Jesus tells us makes it so clear.
28:02-28:04
There are no second chances.
28:04-28:07
There are no do-overs after this life.
28:08-28:12
The chasm between heaven and hell cannot be crossed.
28:14-28:25
But again, false teachers like Rob Bell will rail against the clear teachings of scripture and ask how could a loving God possibly send people to hell forever?
28:26-28:29
And I want to tell you that's the wrong question to ask.
28:29-28:36
The right question is why would a just, holy, and righteous God allow anyone into heaven?
28:37-28:40
Why would God choose to save any of us?
28:41-28:44
We don't deserve it at all.
28:46-28:49
So often we say, "I don't deserve this, "I don't deserve that.
28:49-28:50
"You know what I deserve?
28:50-28:51
"I deserve hell.
28:51-28:53
"That is what I deserve.
28:54-29:12
"Everything else is the grace of God to me." This awesome God willingly sent his one and only son to suffer and die upon a cross, to absorb the wrath reserved for those who place their faith and trust in Him.
29:12-29:19
Jesus willingly sacrificed His place in heaven for 33 years to come to this earth and become like one of us.
29:19-29:28
And on the cross, He was willingly separated from His Father for a time so that we wouldn't have to be separated from Him for all of eternity.
29:30-29:35
How could someone who claims to be a follower of Christ have the audacity to believe.
29:36-29:39
The doctrine of hell makes God seem unloving and uncaring.
29:40-29:50
How could the Lord be anything but gracious, loving, kind, and patient as he gives sinners chance after chance after chance after chance to repent in this life?
29:52-29:58
Every single day is a fresh opportunity to freely accept what is given in Christ.
29:59-30:06
Every single breath is an opportunity to confess Jesus Lord and repent of your sin.
30:08-30:16
When you have a high view of man and a low view of God, hell is extremely offensive and makes no sense whatsoever.
30:17-30:24
But when you have a low view of man and a high view of God, the necessity of divine judgment makes all the sense in the world.
30:26-30:28
God's judgment has to go somewhere.
30:30-30:44
"be upon you in hell forever, "or upon his son who stood in your place." Finally, fourth truth about hell, it can be avoided by submitting to the word of God.
30:47-30:50
It can be avoided by submitting to the word of God.
30:52-30:58
So the rich man moves beyond thinking about himself, and he moves to thinking about his living family.
30:59-31:01
read verses 27 through 28.
31:01-31:15
And the rich man said, "Then I beg you, Father, "to send him to my father's house, "for I have five brothers, so he may warn them, "lest they also come into the place of torment." So the rich man knows that Lazarus can't help him.
31:15-31:19
He knows that Lazarus can't exit heaven to come to hell and give him relief.
31:19-31:25
But he's hoping that Lazarus can leave heaven and go warn his brothers.
31:27-31:30
But Abraham's long line of bad news hasn't come to an end.
31:30-31:34
In verse 29 he says this, "The Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets.
31:34-31:39
Let them hear them.'" What's he talking about here?
31:40-31:41
Moses and the prophets are long gone.
31:41-31:45
They're in heaven alongside Abraham and Lazarus.
31:46-31:48
But their writings live on in the Old Testament.
31:49-32:00
He's saying your brothers have access to scripture which plainly tells them that you need to by faith "Believe in the Lord and they will be saved." That's all they need.
32:02-32:04
But this answer isn't good enough for the rich man.
32:05-32:13
Verse 30 he says, "No, Father Abraham, "but if someone goes them from the dead, they will repent." In a way it's like he stomps his foot, that's not good enough.
32:14-32:20
I need you to send a miracle so that they will believe that you can shake the cobwebs off of them and they'll finally understand.
32:23-32:26
He doesn't have a very high view of the word of God.
32:27-32:29
But Abraham doesn't share this viewpoint.
32:29-32:46
He says, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, "neither will they be convinced "if someone should rise from the dead." Lazarus could pop out of the grave, juggling fire and swords or riding a unicycle, and these guys still wouldn't repent and believe.
32:48-32:54
Think of the countless men and women who saw Jesus do miraculous things, and they still didn't believe.
32:54-33:02
They saw him give sight to the blind, release those who were demon possessed, and literally bring the dead back to life, and they still resisted him.
33:02-33:04
They were still hard-hearted.
33:06-33:14
In order to be saved, a person must humble themselves before the word of God, which plainly lays out the path to eternal life.
33:16-33:23
You must recognize that your opinions and thoughts are wrong and God's authoritative word is right and true.
33:24-33:28
The word of God is sufficient to accomplish the work of God.
33:30-33:38
If someone repeatedly and unrepentantly rejects the word of God, either read or preached by a messenger, nothing will convince them.
33:39-33:42
Even a miracle from heaven will not move them.
33:43-33:47
Even the dead coming back to life will not stir their dead hearts.
33:49-34:08
You know, it was impossible for Lazarus to leave heaven and warn the rich man's brothers, but we as Christians have the opportunity, we have the pressing call to spread the word of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ to our neighborhoods, to our cities, to our country, and to the ends of the earth.
34:08-34:12
We get to tell people the great news that hell could be avoided.
34:13-34:20
We get to even tell the even greater news that God can adopt them into his family and they could spend forever with Him.
34:21-34:23
That is why we're still here.
34:24-34:28
That is why God didn't just beam us up to heaven when we came to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.
34:28-34:29
We have work to do.
34:31-34:37
There are almost eight billion people on this planet, and the vast majority of them do not know Jesus.
34:37-34:41
And a massive chunk of them have never even heard of Jesus.
34:44-34:50
The Apostle Paul points to the importance, weight, and joy of our calling in Romans chapter 10.
34:51-34:52
Let's read, it'll be on the screen behind me.
34:53-34:57
For everyone who calls in the name of the Lord will be saved.
34:58-35:10
How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed, and how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard, and how are they to hear without someone preaching, and how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written.
35:11-35:24
How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news, but they have all not obeyed the gospel, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed "what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of who?
35:25-35:26
The word of Christ.
35:28-35:32
What an amazing privilege and responsibility we have been entrusted with.
35:32-35:42
We get to share the word of Christ, and see God change lives, change families, change eternal destinies.
35:42-35:47
This is the most important mission of all.
35:48-35:51
But I don't know about you, I can get really distracted.
35:52-35:59
I can suffer from spiritual amnesia and forget who I am, and forget what God has called me to do.
36:01-36:03
We are ambassadors for Christ.
36:04-36:06
We represent him on this earth.
36:06-36:13
We forget that heaven is our ultimate home, The road to hell is packed and time is running out.
36:15-36:23
Church, we have to slip out of this amnesia and be awake and stay awake to these non-negotiable realities.
36:24-36:28
True followers of Christ should never be unmoved or unfazed by the reality of hell.
36:28-36:41
If you call yourself a Christian and you can listen to this message, you don't feel stirred up, you don't feel anything, you don't feel a call to spread the gospel or love people, please do some heart examination.
36:42-36:46
Please look at your own soul and ask yourself, do I know Jesus?
36:46-36:48
Do I truly love other people?
36:50-36:55
It should break our hearts that people are in hell right now and many more will go there in the future.
36:57-37:05
In Romans 9, one through five, Paul grieves over the truth that many of his fellow Jews are rejecting Christ and denying him.
37:07-37:19
He goes as far as to say this, "I could wish that I myself were accursed "and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, "my kinsmen, according to the flesh." Do you realize what he's saying here?
37:19-37:25
Paul is saying, if it was possible, I would take their damnation upon myself and give them my salvation.
37:25-37:30
I would take their place in hell, and I would give them my place in heaven.
37:32-37:34
Imagine that kind of love.
37:34-37:36
Do you have that kind of love for people?
37:36-37:40
Do I have that kind of love for people?
37:42-37:46
May we follow the example of the Apostle Paul and not be apathetic.
37:46-38:02
The horrors of hell should motivate us to not stay silent about the gospel and let the fear of man hold us back from sharing the gospel with our unsafe family members, our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, even those people we don't like very much in our lives.
38:04-38:08
Never forget that every single person you meet is not just flesh and bone.
38:09-38:15
Every single person you meet is an embodied soul that will live forever somewhere.
38:17-38:24
Charles Spurgeon once said something about the believer's response to hell that I haven't been able to forget since I heard it.
38:25-38:29
He said this, "If sinners be damned, "at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies.
38:30-38:34
"And if they perish, let them perish, "their arms wrapped about their knees, He's imploring them to stay.
38:35-38:42
If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let no one go unwarned and unprayed for.
38:43-38:48
Is there someone in your life right now who doesn't know Christ and they're going unwarned and unprayed for?
38:51-38:54
So let's wrap up this series by definitively answering our final question.
38:55-38:58
Did God really say that hell is real?
39:00-39:00
Yes.
39:01-39:07
No matter how hard people want to close their eyes close their eyes to this question, the answer is yes.
39:07-39:12
This truth is crystal clear from the mouth of Jesus and the rest of the New Testament.
39:13-39:16
Hell is filled with people who never expected to be there.
39:17-39:21
Hell is a place of eternal punishment and separation from the loving presence of God.
39:22-39:35
Hell is unescapable and devoid of second chances once you are there, but praise the Lord that hell can be avoided by submitting to the word of God, by repenting of our sin and turning to Jesus for forgiveness.
39:36-39:44
He experienced the full weight of hell upon the cross so that those who trust in him will experience the everlasting joys of heaven.
39:45-40:00
For those of you in this room who are distracting yourselves from eternal realities or falling back on the hope that you're a good person, I've been praying for you all week, I hope and pray the Lord will open up your heart to the truths of the gospel and you will finally believe.
40:02-40:05
Maybe there's someone in this room who feels like they're too far gone.
40:05-40:08
They've done too many bad things to be forgiven.
40:10-40:14
God is ready and willing to accept you with open arms this morning.
40:16-40:35
Jesus once said, "Whoever comes to me, "I will never cast out, I will never send away." And for the rest of us, who have friends and family members who are rejecting Christ, who want nothing to do with the Lord, please don't give up hope.
40:36-40:37
Please don't throw in the towel.
40:37-40:43
Keep praying, keep sharing, keep trusting in the Lord, keep modeling Jesus Christ.
40:44-40:44
Let's pray.
40:47-40:55
Oh Lord, we come before you and we thank you for your mercy and your grace.
40:56-40:59
Help us never think, oh, we're so much better than other people, Lord.
40:59-41:01
I can't believe those people would do that.
41:01-41:05
Lord, help us to realize, I'm only saved by grace and grace alone.
41:06-41:09
I am where I'm at because of God and him alone.
41:10-41:16
And Lord, we wouldn't point our fingers at other people, we'd wrap our arms around them and share with them the love of Jesus Christ.
41:17-41:19
No one is too far gone, Lord.
41:19-41:20
No one is too far away from you.
41:20-41:24
You can chase anyone down and wrap them up in your loving arms.
41:26-41:33
Lord, if there's someone in this room who doesn't know you, Lord, I'm praying they wouldn't be able to leave this room this morning without turning to Jesus Christ for eternal life.
41:34-41:47
And for the rest of us, Lord, let us walk out of this room with a sense of urgency, a sense of urgency to share this message, Lord, to be a good example, to shine the light of Christ everywhere we go, Lord.
41:47-41:51
Let us leave our spiritual amnesia here and never go back into that slumber.
41:53-41:59
Father God, let us live for your glory and for the proclamation of the good news of your son.
41:59-42:01
In Jesus' name, amen.
Small Group Discussion
Read Luke 16:18-31
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
Why is hell such a controversial and neglected doctrine? Why do many churches/Christians shy away from talking about it?
How can we lovingly and graciously talk about the reality of hell with unbelievers in our lives as we share the gospel?
Breakout
Pray for one another.