lthough
we are going to spend the next few months talking about heaven, you cannot be grounded without the other
possibility…Hell! And so, we will start
there, but only for today. For the rest
of the series we will concentrate on learning about and preparing for the place
of eternal joy with our God.
There
are many instances in life where the story is a blend of good news-bad news. This particular text is more about the bad
news of hell than good news about heaven.
It is that way throughout the Scriptures; there’s more than three times as much about eternal
punishment than reward.
There
is a natural resistance to the topic.
When we talk about going to heaven, everyone smiles. If you preach about heaven you're everybody's
favorite. But when the subject is hell
people get nervous about what you will say.
Some folks think you're cruel and narrow-minded to preach a sermon about
the reality of hell, and what it's like.
But the fact is that ignoring the reality does not alter the
danger.
ð If
you ignore a snake’s hissing does your ignorance make the snake change its mind
about biting you?
ð If
you’re standing on the railroad tracks, does closing your eyes make the
on-rushing train disappear?
ð Does
plugging-up your ears disarm a ticking time bomb?
It
is not cruel to warn people of impending disasters, just unpopular. So at the risk of unpopularity, let's
investigate the GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS about heaven and hell.
GOOD NEWS:
HEAVEN IS REAL
BAD NEWS: SO
IS HELL!
At
the beginning of Jesus’ story he mentions both heaven (sitting by Abraham's side),
and hell (the place of the dead).
Ordinarily parables are fictional accounts (earthly stories with
heavenly meanings). But Jesus uses the
actual name, Lazarus in several places.
Heaven and hell are a reality.
In
a recent survey by the Barna Research Group76% of Americans believe in heaven
and 71% believe in hell. The problem is
that only one-half of one percent (0.005%) thinks
that they could possibly be going there. That is to say, everyone is going to
Heaven, and virtually no one will be in Hell.[1]
And
so, it comes down to Whom Do You Trust
once again….do you trust in Jesus, or the American Dream?
If
you go with Jesus, then you must pay attention to the Bible's clear teachings
about hell:
ð IT'S A PLACE
Jesus'
teachings in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:22) call it a place
of hellfire. Once when I was passing a church they had on
their sign outside: You think it's hot HERE?
ð IT'S A PLACE FOR ANGELS
THAT SINNED:
For God did not spare even the angels who sinned. He threw them into hell, in gloomy pits
of darkness, where they are being held until the day of judgment. 2 Peter 2:4(NLT)
But
most tragic of all....
ð IT'S A PLACE OF THE CHRISTLESS:
Revelation
20:13-15 tells us that when God does act in judgment He is going to
take hell and all its' contents, together with death, and all those who have
refused to come to Christ, and deliver them once and for all time and eternity
into the lake of fire.
Beloved,
these are difficult thoughts to entertain.
However, the Word of God backs up every word I have said to you. It is the scientific and existential reality
of opposites:
ð There
is a hot and a cold; an up and a down.
ð There
is young and old, poor and rich, left and right.
ð Common
sense also tells us there must be a hell if there is a heaven.
Hell is not a
myth. If we believe in the God who so
loved the world John 3:16, we also must believe the second part of
that verse that says Jesus came into the world so that men might not
PERISH. Perishing is described in the Scriptures as being part
of that everlasting real place called "hell"!
A
fair and just God who created hell is proved by the very statements of those
who shake their fists at Him and doubt His existence. There are those who say that if there really
was a God, He wouldn’t let such awful things happen;
ð He
wouldn’t let there be Tsunamis or Volcanoes that wipe out hundreds of thousands
of innocent people.
ð There
would not have been a Hitler, or ethnic cleansing, and planes wouldn’t crash
into World Trade Centers.
ð If
there was really a God he would punish the evil.
If
that is so, then there must be a place of punishment. It’s called Hell.
A
fact such people often miss is that if there is no hell, then Jesus Christ did
not have to die....the cross is a mistake; that makes God a murderer, and the
Bible is a fake, and this church and all others that preach the gospel are as
useless as a fire station on the ocean floor!
Hell
is real! Secondly....
GOOD NEWS: HEAVEN IS GOOD
BAD NEWS: HELL IS BAD!
As
we learned at the beginning of this message, there is much more about hell here
than heaven…but we shouldn’t miss that heaven is really good. Abraham’s
bosom is a term that describes heaven….a place of genuine peace. There is a Southern Gospel song called
“Peace”. It presents several situations
of human drama including suicide, divorce and alcoholism. One line says, …don’t need your love, or your sympathy, but I cannot go on living
without peace.
Heaven
isn’t a place for floating around on clouds or sprouting wings. It is the place where the soul understands
perfect peace. It is the place where
righteousness and mercy have kissed, and there is joy!
Hell,
on the other hand, is the place where there is unrest forever. Dives (which is Latin for rich) is the rich man who, able to
see the splendor of heaven from the torment of hell; he pleads for just a
little relief. God reminds him that
formerly he had his opportunities to share; now he must do without! It is a lesson we all need to hear about the awfulness of an eternal
separation from God's peace and presence.
The
judgment that came on the rich man was not for being rich. The judgment came because he had plenty of ability
to respond to the need of Lazarus who was laid at his doorstep, but he acted as
if the poor man never existed. He acted
as if it were right and proper that he should concentrate all his energies,
talent, and God-given blessings in an ever-expanding effort to please himself,
while the poor starved to death on his doorstep. That sounds a little too uncomfortably like our
culture where the rich throw parties while the poor starve to death. The second of the two great commandments is
to love our neighbor.
The
fact that the punishment fits so appropriately is also noted.
ð Dives
was in torment, and could see Lazarus in heaven's comfort and he pleads for
mercy and receives none.
ð But
he is reminded constantly of his own torment without hope.
All
of these are the exact opposite of the way things were in the former life. A newspaper article I read years ago told of
a scientific expedition drilling a hole several miles into the earth's crust to
conduct some experiments. The account
reports that the men working the drills believe they've uncovered
"hell". They have heard unearthly
screams that could only be produced by human voices under incredible suffering,
coming from the dark hole they've made.
I don't know of the veracity of the report - but I do know that the
Bible declares that hell is a place of weeping, teeth gritting anxiety and
darkness (Matthew 8:12).
ð It
is a place of punishment (Matthew 25:46)
ð It
is a place without rest (Revelation 14:11)
ð It
is a place without God (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Hell
is the place Jesus most often called Gehenna, which is the place just outside
of Jerusalem where the ancient pagan worshipers sacrificed their firstborn
children to their god Baal, and then discarded them on a garbage heap.
Hell
is a real place, and it’s a bad place.
It is a garbage heap for souls.
Thirdly....
GOOD NEWS: HEAVEN'S FOREVER
BAD NEWS: HELL IS FINAL
There
are those who believe that hell can be a temporary place, where if your friends
and family pray long enough, your soul can be released.
The
Bible however teaches that the kind of suffering we've mentioned is eternal and
unchanging. In verse 26, Jesus says that
there is a gulf, a chasm, a wide valley that separates heaven from hell. And it is FIXED, meaning that it cannot be moved, or bridged.
The
question always comes: Who dug this ditch, and why would anyone do
such a thing?
The
Bible tells us that God created the place for the devil and his fallen
angels. Why? Because God is holy and righteous, and no
sinful beings may ever stand in His presence.
Irenaeus
was a second century church father. He
said:
[God will] send the
spiritual forces of wickedness, and the angels who transgressed and became
apostates, and the impious, unjust, lawless, and blasphemous among men into
everlasting fire….The penalty increases for those who do not believe the Word
of God and despise his coming. . . . [I]t is not merely temporal, but eternal. To whomsoever the Lord shall say, ‘Depart from
me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire,’ they will be damned
forever" (ibid. 4:28:2).[2]
Beloved,
the only bridge between heaven and hell is the one Christ makes with His own
body on the cross of Calvary . The Bible declares that there is no other way
we can come to God.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can
come to the Father except through me.
John 14:6(NLT)
Lastly....
ONLY GOOD NEWS:
HEAVEN IS GOD'S GIFT TO ALL WHO BELIEVE.
In
depressing resignation Dives realizes that it is too late for him, and urges
the Lord to send Lazarus to speak to his loved ones.
In
the last verse of this text Jesus declares the final sentence:
‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be
persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’
Luke 16:31(NLT)
What
Jesus said to the rich man in hell was it has always been a matter of
faith. And God has given each of us that
privilege of making that choice to receive Christ or reject Him.
The
naked truth is every person can believe if they choose to do so!
The
warning here is stated negatively.
People who don't believe simply WON'T believe. They choose not to believe.
The
fact is that God never sends anyone to hell....people choose that way when they
refuse to accept the authority of God, and the fact that in His mercy and grace
He sent Jesus to die in our place.
The
only thing required of an individual to be saved, is to confess or acknowledge
that he needs saving, and that Jesus is the one (the ONLY one) Who can save.
I
hold an object in my hand, intending to give it to you as a gift. Is it yours?
Not
until you TAKE IT from my hand; not until you RECEIVE IT! In the same way Jesus holds the gift of
eternal life in his outstretched hand.
Like
Dives, we start out with the wealth of the gift of life to live, and love. But like Dives we also will die one day. Will we be carried into the bosom of Abraham,
the splendor of heavenly fellowship with the Lord....Or, like Dives; will it be
the torment of everlasting hell?
The
question will be answered one day for each of us.
Will
you accept the gift of salvation?
Go to VIDEO
Notes
[1]
Americans Think
Hell Exists, But No One Goes There Marian T. Horvat, Ph.D., ©2002 - 2005 Tradition In Action, Inc
[2]
© 1979-2005 Catholic Answers. All Rights
Reserved.
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