A Place Called Hell: Sunday Morning Sermon

A Place Called Hell

Luke 16:19-31

I would like to talk to you this morning about what I believe to be the most important subject in the entire Bible. It’s the subject of your eternal soul. You see, five hundred years from now, a thousand years from now, one million years from now you are going to be alive somewhere; either in heaven enjoying fellowship with Christ and His saints, or in a Christless place, a place of eternal torment, where your agony and suffering will never end, a place the Bible calls the “lake of fire,” a place called hell.

Hell is a real place. It’s not a fairytale or an allegorical place or a figment of the imagination. It’s a real, physical place. Multitudes of people are there now, and multitudes of people are headed there. There are those right now while we sit here who are dying and dropping straight into hell, right now, and the most loving thing that a Christian can do is to warn people about this awful place.

Jesus spoke often about hell. I’ve read somewhere that Jesus taught more about hell than He did about heaven. If that statement is true, then this is something that we should be constantly warning people about.

One of those times that Jesus taught about hell is found in Luke chapter 16, so turn with me in your Bibles to Luke 16 and let’s look at this parable that Jesus told.

Many of you will be familiar with this parable. It’s the story of the rich man and Lazarus. And this story is directed toward the hypocritical Pharisees who thought that their own righteousness would be enough to get them into heaven. We can see why Jesus told this parable if we look at verse 14.

Luk 16:14 The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him.

He had just told the parable of the dishonest manager and then in verse 13 said: “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” This statement, “You cannot serve God and money,” exposed the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, because they were lovers of money and yet appeared to be very outwardly religious and pious. So the rich man in the story represents the Pharisees. Let’s read verses 19-31.

Luke 16:19-31 (New International Version) ¹⁹"There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. ²⁰At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores ²¹and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.²²"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In hell,^[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. ²⁴So he called to him, 'Father Abraham, have pity 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 fire.'²⁵"But Abraham replied, 'Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. ²⁶And besides all this, 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 cross over from there to us.' ²⁷"He answered, 'Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, ²⁸for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.'²⁹"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them. ³⁰" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.'³¹"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' "

Let’s talk first about what Jesus is not saying. He’s not saying that if you’re rich you go to hell and if you’re poor you go to heaven. First of all there are going to be many poor people who die and go to hell. One of the reasons why missions exist is to reach people with the gospel and the majority of the countries that we send missionaries to are poor. Not only that, but Abraham was one of the richest men in the Old Testament, and yet he is in heaven. So Jesus is not saying that the rich go to hell and the poor go to heaven, or that the rich are ungodly while the poor are righteous. Again, Abraham being a godly man was rich and he is in heaven, so status has nothing to do with it.

In this parable Jesus is doing several things. First He’s destroying the theology of the Jews. You see, the Jews thought that wealth and health was a sign of blessing. If a man was religious, and we know the rich man was religious because first of all he called Abraham his father, and second he knew about repentance, ³⁰" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent. John MacArthur says: we know he was religious, 'cause he had a view of repentance, which means he had a view of sin, which means he had a view of law, which means he had a view of the Lawgiver, which means he had a view of God; so he had a fairly significant theology. He also calls Abraham his father, which indicates that he was a Jew; so he knew the law of the Prophets. He knew the covenants and the adoption and all the things that belong to the Jews...

And so the Jews had the idea that if someone was religious, healthy, and wealthy they must have God’s blessing and therefore must be on their way to heaven. And if a man was poor, sick, and destitute, well, he was under God’s wrath and was on his way to hell; otherwise he wouldn’t be in the shape that he was in.

Can you imagine the utter shock, and surprise that the rich man must have felt when he woke up in hell? It should make us shudder, because there are many that are in the same boat as the rich man. The rich man, being a Jew and religious had a faulty view of what it was to be accepted by God. And many today have a faulty view of what it means to be a Christian. There are many who are deceived. They may be involved in Church ministries and activities, but their lives do not reflect holiness or godliness. They aren’t concerned with sin and repentance. They live in continual habitual sin and think that because they had a religious experience of some sort, whether praying a prayer, walking an isle, or signing a card that they are saved, when in reality they are self deceived. In his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, John MacArthur says:

A…contributor to self deception is failure of self examination. Through a faulty and presumptuous view of God’s grace, some professed believers blithely go through life, oblivious to and unconcerned about their sins…When a couple lives together without being married, when a person practices homosexuality, is deceptive and dishonest in business, is hateful and vengeful or habitually practices sin without remorse or repentance, such persons cannot be Christian-no matter what sort of experience they claim to have had or what sort of testimony they now make.

And so it must have been utterly shocking for the rich man to wake up in hell.

The second thing Jesus is doing is giving us a warning about the reality of eternal torment. Hell is only a holding place until the Great White Throne judgment.

Revelation 20:11-15 (New International Version)

¹¹Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. ¹²And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done.¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

So then, hell is a temporary holding place until the Day of Judgment. At the Day of Judgment those who are in hell will be brought up and judged. After they are judged they will then be cast into the lake of fire.There are some things to notice about this parable; first notice that the dead go immediately into the presence of God, or into the place of torment: ²²"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. ²³In hell,^[a] where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. Notice then that eternity starts the moment we die. There is a false view that some hold to called “soul sleep.” Soul sleep says that when a person dies his soul sleeps or is unaware until the Judgment. Basically, the soul neither goes to heaven or hell, it stays with the body until God is ready to judge the world. This is an unbiblical view of the soul. There are many places in the Bible that refute this faulty view of the soul.

1. There is the Apostle Paul’s statement to the Philippians.

Philippians 1:21-23 (New International Version)²¹For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ²²If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! ²³I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;

A. the statement he made to the Corinthians.

2Co 5:8 Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

2. We have the statement that Jesus made to the Pharisees when defending His deity. They said that Abraham died and so did the prophets “are you greater than our father Abraham, who do you think you are?” And jesus answered with these words:

Joh 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad."

3. We have another statement by Jesus to the thief on the cross.

Luk 23:43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

And then there is the Mount of Transfiguration, whre Jesus reveals His heavenly glory to His disciples. And there with Him appears Mosses and Elijah speaking with Him. If their souls were sleeping until judgment why were they there speaking to Christ about His death?

And so when a person dies they immediately go to heaven or to hell.

The second thing to notice is that in hell there will be continual torment. 24 'Father Abraham, have pity 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 fire.' The torment was so great for the rich man that even his tongue was burning in the flame, no doubt because of the continual screaming from the agony he was experiencing due to the burning of the flame that he was in.

Thirdly, notice that there will be no escape,. ²⁶And besides all this, 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 cross over from there to us.' Hell will be a place of eternal torment. There will be no escape.

Finally notice, there will still be concern for those known and loved in this life.

³⁰" 'No, father Abraham,' he said, 'but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' In hell there will be concern for loved ones, but there will be nothing that those in hell can do to warn them.

What hope does anyone have then of escaping this horrible place. The only chance that we have is now. Every day that we live is one step closer to eternity. The time for salvation from this place is now! Hell is an awful place, but this parable doesn’t just describe to us what hell is like, it provides the answer for the way of escape: '²⁹"Abraham replied, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.

The way of escape is “listening” to scripture. The word listen is the Greek word acuo where we get the English word acoustic. It has with it the idea of heeding and understanding. So Jesus is saying to heed the scriptures, and its only in the scriptures that we find the way of escape.

1. The scriptures tell us that we are sinners, not just that “nobodies perfect,” but that we are sinners; rebellious; corrupt; and vile.

A. Not only are we sinners but we are enslaved to our sin: Rom 8:7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot.

B. Our minds then are darkened and our hearts are corrupt: Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

2. God, in order to be just, must punish sin: Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

A. Sinners will not only be under the wrath of God in hell, but they are under His wrath now: Joh 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

B. God’s wrath will be ultimate and final in hell: .¹⁴Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

3. The only way to be saved from the consequences of sin is to be born again: Joh 3:3 Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."

A. Being born again is not something that we have the power to do in and of ourselves. John is using the analogy of physical birth. As a baby has no power to birth himself physically, so we have no power to birth ourselves spiritually. God does all of the work in salvation, from start to finish. So then:

4. Although there are requirements for salvation, (conditions that we must meet in order to be saved), only God can give us the ability to meet those conditions those conditions. The whole work of salvation is God’s from start to finish even to the point that He gives us the ability to meet His requirements.

5. There are two conditions that we must meet if we desire to be saved; the first is faith, the second is repentance. And the reason I say that God gives us the ability to meet these conditions is because both faith and repentance are gifts from God:

A. Faith: Php 1:29 For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in him but also suffer for his sake, ; Mat 16:17 And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ; Joh 6:65 And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." ;

Heb 12:2 looking to Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith,

Acts 16:14 (New International Version)¹⁴One of those listening was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth from the city of Thyatira, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul's message.

a. What is faith? Faith is embracing Jesus not only as Savior but also as Lord: Luk 14:33 So then, everyone of you who does not forsake all his possessions, he cannot be My disciple.

b. But not only embracing Him as our Lord, but also as our highest Treasure: Mat 13:44 Again, the kingdom of Heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which when a man has found it, he hides it, and for the joy of it goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.

B. Repentance: Act 5:31 This One God has exalted to be a Ruler and Savior to His right hand in order to give repentance and remission of sins to Israel. ; Act 11:18 When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, "Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life." ; 2Ti 2:25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth,

1. What is repentance? It is a change of mind towards sin, with the idea of turning away from it. It is an “about face.” We were headed one way, and now we are headed another. It means that we turn away from our sin with the intent of never returning to it again.

Conclusion: I want to conclude this morning with a plea. I started out by saying that the most important subject in the entire Bible is the subject of eternity. If you are sitting here this morning and you’re not afraid of hell, it could mean one of two things; you are saved, and you know that you have been born again. You love Christ; you have submitted your life to Him and He is your Treasure; or, You have hardened your heart so much that perhaps your past the point of repentance you’re what the Bible calls “past feeling.” I hope there is no one in this congregation this morning that is past feeling. If you are concerned for your soul this morning, it is because God has awakened you to the seriousness of eternity. There is hope for you, because Christ died and took all of God’s wrath for you if you will come to Him today believing what He did for you on the cross, and turn from your sins, you will be forgiven, and cleansed, and your place in heaven will be secure.