Luke 16:19 " There was a certain rich man who was
clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 20 "But there was a certain beggar named
Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 "desiring to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his
sores. 22 "So it was that the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man
also died and was buried. 23 "And
being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and
Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "Then he
cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in
this flame.' 25 "But Abraham said,
'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and
likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are
tormented. 26 'And besides all this,
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass
from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.' 27 "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore,
father, that you would send him to my father's house, 28 'for I have five brothers, that he may
testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' 29 "Abraham said to him, 'They have
Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
30 "And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from
the dead, they will repent.' 31
"But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "
The first thing we
learn is that there was a rich man who was just living life to it fullest. He
had everything a worldly man could want and we also that he was very self
centered and only cared about himself. Then we also learn about this poor man
named Lazarus. He did not have any worldly riches. In fact he was destitute and
all he could do to survive to beg for help from others. We see that he was at
the gate of this rich man just hoping that he would share some of the crumbs
from his table but apparently this rich man was even to greedy to this. We see
that Lazarus was in bad shape and had sores on his body. He must have been
struggling with strength because allowed these dogs to come and lick his
wounds.
So while living on
the earth the rich man had it good and the poor man had it bad. But we learn
from this story that is much more to life than what we live here on this earth.
As the story continues on we learn that rich man and Lazarus dies. You no
matter how rich or how poor you are we will face death on day and this story
teaches us that everyone after they die there soul will be separated from the
body and they will go to one or two place. The first place we see from our
story is that the angels take Lazarus to this place called Abraham bosom and it
tells us that the rich finds himself Hades as well but he is in a different
area where he is being tormented. In fact he describes it as place full of
flames.
I don’t know of any worse pain than that of being burned or
any worse torment of being surrounded by unending fire. Now we to keep in mind
that God can burn something without destroying it. For example, when the Angel
of the Lord spoke to Moses out of the burning bush one of thing that Moses
observed in Exodus 2:2 was that the bush was full of flames yet the bush was
not consumed or burned up. Then you add
the fact that a person soul never dies shows us how a person can continually be
tormented forever.
We also learn from
our text that in this waiting place that we are conscience. We can see just as
the rich was able to see Abraham and Lazarus. We also learn that we communicate
as the rich man cried to Abraham. We learn that all our senses our working as
the rich man was experience the torment of flames and how he desired to have
his tongue cooled by a drop of water from Lazarus. We also learn that Lazarus
was able to experience what true comfort felt like after the hard life he lived
while on the earth. Here we see a role reversal because now the rich men is
begging for just a drop of water just like Lazarus had begged for the crumbs
from rich man table. The difference is that Lazarus cannot give the rich man anything because there is a great gulf that
separates them.
Another thing that
we learn from Abraham is that the rich man is going to have to think about he
lived his life for the rest of eternity. Can you even begin to imagine how it
would make you feel if you realized that you could of done things differently
while you lived on the earth that would have kept from being in that awful
place. Those who have made poor choices are all going to have plenty of time to
think about those mistakes they made.
One last thing we
learn from our story is that the rich man also can remember his family that
this left behind on the earth and because he now knows the reality of his
situation he desperately wants his family to know the truth about God so that
they don’t have to come that horrible place. However learn that from Abraham
that no one is one is going to come back alive from the dead to go warn his
family and if that did happen they most likely would not believe that person.
He concludes by basically saying that they have word God and that should be
enough to persuade them because if it won’t nothing else will. So we learn from
our story that when a person dies their soul either goes to Abraham’s bosom or
this or place of torment where we will all wait for our finally judgment as
either go to heaven or to hell.
Now real quickly I
want to show where I get the idea that these 2 places in Hades are also called
First lets deal with
the term
Luke 23:43…"Truly,
I say to you, today you will be with me in
You see when Jesus died
his soul left his body and his soul went to Hades. Surely no one would every
think that he went to the place of torment. So, from this I conclude that the
place the Lazarus went to is also called
Now lets look at the word
tartaros.
2 Peter 2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned,
but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved for judgment;
This is the only time
this Greek word is used in the Bible as we see translated as hell. Notice this
also the place where the angels who have sinned are held until the day of
judgment. So this is why I conclude that place where the rich man is also
called tartaros. This passage also shows that this realm called Hades is a
waiting place until the day of judgment occurs. Please note the following
passage.
Revelation 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great,
standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which
is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the
things which were written in the books. 13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it,
and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were
judged, each one according to his works.
14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. 15 And anyone not found
written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
John 5:28 "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is
coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice 29 "and come forth -- those who have
done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the
resurrection of condemnation.
According to Paul in
1 Cor. 15 it is at this time that we will receive or immortal bodies that will
last throughout eternity and Mat. 25 Jesus says at this time that there will be
a division between the righteous and the righteous and that there eternal
destination will be sealed at that time.
Matthew 25:46"And
these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal
life."
Now I want you to think
about this for a minute. If the waiting place know as Hades was full of torment
and it was just a preview of what was going to happen in the final place called
hell then can you even begin to imagine how much worse actually hell will be or
to even begin to imagine spending eternity there. Now that we have examined the
waiting place now let take a look at what the Bible says about hell itself.
Now the Greek Word used to describe this place is Gehenna. This word is found twelve times in the Greek New Testament and Jesus himself uses this word 11 times. It interesting to note that Jesus spoke of “hell” more frequently than he did of “heaven.”
The word Gehenna comes from an Old Testament Hebrew expression, “the
When Jesus would teach people about things such as
heaven or hell he always used something that they could relate to in the 1st
century and so he used this term Ghenna to describe where the sinner would end
up and horrible it would be. Now of course mere words can only come close to
describing how dark and terrifying hell will be. Now one will now the true
horrors of Hell until they get there and hopeful none of will find our way
there.
Now lets take a
look at some more passages that talk about this horrible place called hell. Fist
note what Jesus said.
Matthew 5:29 "If your right eye causes you to sin,
pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one
of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. 30 "And if your right hand causes you to
sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that
one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
Now Jesus is not
literally saying that we should cut parts of our body but he makes this
statement to show how important it is for us to get the sin out our life no
matter what the cost because no sin is worth the Horrors of Hell. This teaches
us that we must take sin very serious and not allow it to drag us down to the
pits of hell. In another place where Jesus was teaching the parable about tares
and the wheat he conclude by saying.
Matthew 13:41
"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His
kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 "and will cast them into
the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Now this idea of wailing
and gnashing of teeth is something that happens when someone is great
discomfort and the only thing they can do from torment they are is to cry and
gnash there teeth in pain. Again notice another point that Jesus makes about
hell.
Mark 9:43
"If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire
that shall never be quenched -- 44
"where 'Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.' 45 "And if your foot causes
you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than
having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be
quenched -- 46 "where
'Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.' 47 "And if your eye causes
you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with
one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire -- 48 "where 'Their worm does
not die, And the fire is not quenched.'
Here we see Jesus is
describing this awful place where the worm does not die and the fire is not
quenched. This teaches us that those who find themselves in this place will
never die but will have remain in this fire that can never be quenched. I cant
even begin to imagine of the pain of being burned or exposed to fire over and
over again with no end in sight. You some people who struggle with the health
and feel miserable they long to leave this world so no longer will suffer the
pain they are going through right now. But just try to imagine being tormented
in hell a never being able to escape the suffering that will be there.
Mat. 25:30 describes hell
as place of outer darkness
Mat. 25:46 say that is a
place of everlasting punishment.
Rev. 21:8 describes it as
lake burns with fire and brimstone.
Finally take a look at
what,
Revelation 14:10
"he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is
poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented
with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb. 11 "And the
smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or
night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of
his name."
You see there is no rest
in horrible place. Those who are opposed to God will be tormented fire and
brimstone and notice it says the smoke of their torment ascends for every and
ever. So, please realize the Hell is a reality and no one should want to go
there but unfortunately many will.
Matthew 7:13 "
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the
way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.
We learned last week that
heaven is a prepared for a prepared people. We in the same vain Hell is
prepared place for unprepared people.
Matthew 25:41
"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you
cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:
So not only is Hell
prepared for the devil and his angels it prepared for all those who do not
choose to obey God.
2 Thessalonians 1:7 when
the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance
on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of His power,
Every single person who
disobeys God word will go to this horrible place. Paul gives us an general list
of those who will end up in hell in,
Galatians 5:19 Now the
works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lewdness, 20 idolatry,
sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish
ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21
envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you
beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who
practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
There will even be a
great number of people who claim to be religious there because they have never fully
obeyed God’s word.
Matthew 7:21 "
Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven,
but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in
that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in
Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'
23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you;
depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
We also learn from the
Bible that there will be Christians the end up in this bad place if they are
not living faithfully to God and they lukewarm in their Christianity.
Revelation 3:15 "I
know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold
or hot. 16 "So then,
because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My
mouth.
Here Jesus was writing to
a church and he wanted them to know the being Lukewarm is not acceptable to God
and unless they repent he will vomit them out of his mouth. So this teaches us
that we must not become lazy in our Christianity because Jesus promises us a
crown of righteous only if we are faithful until the end.
Revelation 2:10 "Do
not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil
is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and
you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give
you the crown of life.
This tells us that we
must be very careful to stay committed to the Lord and serving him. This is why
I believe Paus tells us,
Philippians 2:12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have
always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence,
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and bring it into
subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become
disqualified.
In this lesson this
morning we have learned a great deal about this place called hell and how
horrible it is. We have learned how important it is that we must be faithful Christians in order
to avoid the pits of hell.
Now one last point I
want to make is that knowing about the reality of hell should motivate us to
teach the lost of God saving Grace so that they can have the opportunity to
escape the torments of hell. This was something that certainly motivated Paul.
2 Corinthians 5:9
Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to
Him. 10 For we must all
appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things
done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or
bad. 11 Knowing, therefore,
the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
Paul and the rest of the
apostles knew full well that everyone will be judged and those who are not of
God will have to face the terrors of the Lord and this is one of the reasons
that motivated them to share the good news to those around them and to warn
them that if they do not choose to serve God they will face that horrible place
called hell. Every Christian should be motivated by this. When we start feeling
scared about trying to talk to someone about God and what they may think about
us we need to overcome our fears by thinking of where these people are going to
go if they do not obey Gods will.
It important that they
understand that they must first become Christians first before they every begin
to hope to escape the torments of hell. They need to know that must believe
that Jesus is the son God. They must be willing repent of their life style and
start living their living their life for God. They must confess Jesus as the
Lord. Then finally in order for a person to become a Christians and have sins
washed away they must be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of
their sins. It only when they do all of these things and understand that they
will become a Christian. Then they need to be taught that once they become a
child of God their journey has just begun because as we talked about earlier we
must remain faithful and committed to God until the day we die overcome the
torments of hell.
I hope this lesson has
shown you without a doubt the hell is real and that if we want to avoid it we
must obey the will of God.