Luke 16. We are in our second
consideration on this portion of Scripture, the parable of
the rich man and Lazarus. There's a true story shared with
me and a number of our brothers a few months ago about an individual
who raised a particular question to a Christian worker a Christian
who had clearly professed the crown rights of Jesus Christ
in his life. So on his job, everyone knew he was a believer. That's
not always the case. But for this lesson that I want
to share with you, it certainly was the case. He shared with
us in our men's meeting that his boss, his employer, or his
superior, it was the boss, he was the owner, raised this question
to a man that he knew was a Christian. So this question was raised in
light of his conscious awareness of the believers' understanding
of life now and life to come. Here's the question, and this
is very important in relationship to you and I as well. He said
to this Christian worker, is there anything you would love
so much that it would be worth going to hell for? Is there anything that you would
love so much that it would be worth going to hell for? Now, immediately I know, as soon
as you hear that, you think, observe. You think that's ridiculous
and you think that's preposterous. You think that that's sort of
an outrageous statement. But if you allow the statement
to resonate with you for a moment, the fact of the matter is Most
everyone that ends up in hell ends up in hell because of their
love for something other than eternal life. So the question is not all that
absurd at all, is it? The man asked that question to
the Christian, probably because he was struggling through the
issue of which our elders sort of alluded to in his last example
of the man who sang this song that our sister just also saying,
and he did so because God had redeemed him, this individual
who spoke to our dear brother, his boss was a homosexual. And
the implications of his statement was he loved his homosexuality
more than he loved eternal life and was willing to go to hell
for it, which he did perish a few months later, right along with
his lover. And so the question is very germane
for you and I Do we love something more than eternal life for which
we would go to hell? And here's what I would say about
that in relationship to another thought I want to pose to you
as we begin to carefully unpack these verses in front of us.
At least this individual entertained the reality of hell with this
believer. I commend him for that. I commend
him for accepting the assumption that there's an hell and that
it's possible that men may go there because of their love for
something contrary to the foundation and tenets by which you might
escape that hell. I commend him for that. He's
not like John Lennon. You remember that, you old folk,
not you young people. Imagine there's no heaven. It's
easy for you if you try. No hell below us, above us only
skies. Imagine all the people living
for today. Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing
to kill or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people living
life in peace. You may say I'm a dreamer, but
I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us
and the world will be as one. Imagine no possessions, I wonder
if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing
all the world. You may say I'm a dreamer, but
I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us
and the world will live as one. These are the words of a man
who stood in direct opposition to the gospel. He's dead. Not a horrible death, but the
seeds of this philosophy run this world of unbelievers to
this day. The vast majority of men and
women do not believe in hell. In fact, they call it a myth.
And so the title of our message, as you see, is the myth of the
myth of hell. I wish this rich man was here
to preach this message. But I'll take his place for a
moment. You can follow me in your outline. The text before
us is rich with theology from beginning to end. And the first
thing I want to call to your attention as we consider one
of the most sobering doctrines in all the Word of God, and that
is eternal vengeance and eternal punishment, is the egalitarian
hand of death. Egalitarian hand of death. That's
in our outline, verse 22.8. In our world, we tout egalitarianism. This is part of the assumption
of the argument on the part of the liberal progressives that
there's no distinction in any Category whatsoever between male
and female and the idea of God creating creatures human beings
whether it's animals or human beings having superiority over
other animals or human beings is just Again, that's that's
preposterous. We are all equal creatures animals
and humans men and women in all capacities of life But you and
I know that very little in your life. Have you experienced any
gallant arian atmosphere? It's always somebody that's above
you and it's always somebody that's below you in gifts in
ministry and service terms of possessions or what have you
isn't that true you don't live in a world where everything is
equal that's just not true even if you wished it were it's not
true but I'll tell you what is equal the egalitarian hand of
death see death comes to us all rich poor black white and Male,
female, young, old, whatever you are at this present time
for which you think you are something, when death comes knocking on
your door, he's not going to regard who you are. And our text
plainly tells us that. Will you look with me at verse
22a? Let's learn something. And it came to pass. that the
beggar died. Do you see that? And was carried
into the bosom of the angels unto Abraham. Watch this. And
the rich man also died and was buried. I like the way Solomon
puts it, who was the richest man in the Old Testament. He
says, how does the rich man die? Like the poor man. Just like
him. How does the wise man die? Precisely like the fool. He said, and when I thought about
this, this was a vexation to me because what good is it to
be wise or to be a fool or to be rich or to be poor when you
will all die just alike and everything you did and everything you accomplished
will be given to somebody you don't even know. You see, that's
the egalitarian hand of death. has no respect of persons. Isn't that right? Job said it
in Job chapter 3 verses 17 through 19. There everybody rests, the
wicked and the righteous, the slave and the slave owner, the
wise and the fool, the wealthy and the poverty-stricken, the
sick and the infirm, and the healthy. They all lie in the
grave. Nobody's arguing with nobody.
Now you're talking about the world that John Lennon is talking
about? That's hell. where everybody's
on the same page except there's some things for us to learn about
this that's very critical so I want to just kind of go through
the verses that are in front of us because we've got we've
got a couple more weeks to address this doctrine of the judgment
of God and the eternal verity of God upon men who reject the
claims of the gospel. Point number two in your outline,
the role of the angels. Isn't this remarkable? I thank
God for the way in which He, in His infinite wisdom, crafts
the scriptures to teach us that the things that appear are not
the things for which you and I should be grasping after. I
said this last week and I'll say it today, You know the tables
turn at some time in life and they certainly turn when you
leave this life What a man or a woman is in this life for which
the whole world would give them all forms of accolades It's not
necessarily what they're going to carry over in the life to
come How people treat you now may not be how they treat you
on the other side Remember what the text said you received your
good thing. Lazarus received his evil things.
I So God tells the believer, be careful to know that the tables
will turn. There's a time when the tables
will turn and so don't become envious of the wicked as David
said When I saw the prosperity of the wicked I I was so envious
and isn't it possible for you to envy the wicked? But you've
got to know the tables turn and our text will develop fully how
the tables turn For those who live their whole lives in rejection
of God. Here's one way how the table
turns the text informs us that both died and But the text tells
us something in addition with regards to Lazarus. Notice what
I said last time. The rich man has no name. God
does not regard him. There was no personal relationship
between the rich man and God. The rich man was wealthy. He
lived opulently. We saw how ridiculous he was
in his daily self-attention. And yet Lazarus was known by
God. And watch this. When Lazarus
died, when the Becker died, the text says he was carried by the
angels into Abraham's bosom. Wouldn't you like to know that
God's entourage will be there when you die to carry you into
glory? Well, here we must stop for a
moment because we are not only understanding the main tenets
of this particular parable, but all of the essential doctrinal
truths that come out of it. Our Lord knows that among the
crowd that he is now preaching to, just as it's the case with
any faithful preaching of the gospel, there are unbelievers
and there are people who pretend to be believers. And among them
were what we call the Sadducees. And the Sadducees denied angels
and they denied the resurrection. So, you know, our Lord is just
like every faithful gospel preacher. As we are preaching, we are considering
our audience and making sure that we bear on their conscious
biblical truth relative to their arguments and their disagreements
with revealed truth. Christ said the angels took Lazarus
into glory. Now, what are the role of the
angels? Point number two in your outline, the role of the angels.
I'm just going to mark seven or eight in front of you. They
are so very relevant. Do you know that the angels of
God stand at God's attention 24-7? That all of God's holy,
the Bible calls them elect angels, elect angels. They stand at God's
beckoning call 24-7. And saints, you and I can learn
something from the angels. In fact, the Bible actually calls
us angels. And so we can learn from the
role and faithfulness and commitment to God of the angels how we should
be. We ought to be at God's attention
24-7. Certainly the angels are. Gabriel stood before the presence
of the Lord. And many of the angels just stood
at God's beckoning call to do whatever God said do. God said
it in the Psalms, Psalms 104. And others, you, his angels,
who do his commandments. Angels are there to do the commandments
of God. Angels are also there to serve
God in this earth realm in whatever capacity God would have. Angels
are very important to the glory of God. Angels are very important
to the worship of God. Do you want to have an insight
into the nature of that divine worship of God wherein both the
angelic beings and the redeemed saints are gathered together
in worship? Read Revelation chapter 5. The whole of Revelation 5
gives us this magnificent, magnificent symphony of angels and redeemed
people of God worshiping at the throne of God. And that worship
was a worship and is a worship like you and I could never imagine. The angels of God not only attend
to God, they serve Him on any capacity. They worship God. Now
listen to me now. The goal of the angel saints
is to exalt God. Exalt Him. Exalt him to share
with the universe and the world the precise nature of God's glory
Angels have the privilege of exalting God in the precise nature
of his glory That's why they are so awesome when we meet them
They cause us to fear because they're in the presence of ineffable
bliss They are in the presence of the glory of the infinite
god And so when they come to us something of that glory also
pours out on us and causes us to fall straight on our faces
They are the angels of god. They come from his presence.
They exalt him. Watch this. Here's another truth. They fight
for god All right now wouldn't you want to be a soldier for
god? The angels fight for God. Isn't that what Daniel taught
us? Isn't that what Daniel taught us how that the angel Michael
and other angels stood to serve in the celestial battle in this
second dimension of the heavens for which the major conflict
between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan is engaged.
And the angels are at war with everything that's hostile to
God's glory. They fight the Lord's battles.
They fight the Lord's battles. They fight the Lord's battles.
The other thing about the angels is that they are given by God
to his people to protect them. Aren't you thankful that God
uses his angels to protect you? You don't know this, but a thousand
times a day, the angels are working according to the will of God
to keep you from destruction. A thousand times a day. You don't
know this. They are operating with the same
type of fierce continuance that your little heart does as it
beats continually in your body, though you pay it no attention.
I've talked about it before, the little servant, that little
muscle inside your chest that beats and beats and beats and
beats and keeps you going every day, serving you even though
you neglect it. Am I making some sense? So the
angels of God serve the saints of God everywhere in the world,
doing God's bidding to see to it that every one of God's elect
make it to glory. I thank God for the angels. I
thank God for the angels. The angels also have another
privilege of which you and I are worth considering. Do you know
that the angels get to preach the gospel? Very frequently when
they came as a messenger of God, it was about the advancement
of the gospel of the glory of God in Christ. One of the chapters
that's rich with it is Luke chapter 1 and 2. Read it for your own
self. But the angels had the liberty
to tell men and women, you can be of good cheer. God hath redeemed
his people. He's brought peace to the earth,
goodwill towards men of his favor. They preach the gospel of the
glory of God. They advance the revelation in
the knowledge of Christ to his prophets They serve to bring
those insights of God's sovereign hand in the salvation of sinners
Whether that's in the Old Testament days with Elijah the prophet
or in the days of Daniel in the days of Zechariah You'll find
if you pay careful attention that the angels are nearby all
the time Let's see if I can help you a little bit more with this.
Our Lord brought this to full light Even at his birth, the
angels were there at the birth of our Savior, protecting our
Savior, watching over our Savior, lauding our Savior, worshiping
our Savior. And when our Lord Jesus was tempted
in the wilderness, Matthew chapter 4, guess who were there? The
angels. Do you know what the text says? They ministered unto
Him. They strengthened Him, strengthened
Him, strengthened Him, strengthened Him. He was hungry and they strengthened
Him. Remember, He's at the Garden of Gethsemane. The crossroads
between the will of God and his own will for the redemption of
his people and you know what the text says being in agony
The angels strengthened him Do you see how important the angels
are? They are so important They played
a role in helping our master stay a straight course that he
might go to calvary and redeem us The angels are said in hebrews
chapter 1 verse 14 to be ministering spirits Sit on the behalf of
those who are heirs of salvation So that you and I might indeed
make it now imagine this as we go on to our next point You die
And maybe a handful of people show up at your funeral. They
might tell the truth or they might lie We're getting ready
to get into that now But because you have come to
know Christ and He owns you. He bought you with his blood.
He stamped his nature on you by regeneration. He sealed you
with the Holy Ghost. You are his purchased possession.
As soon as you breathe your last breath, a whole legion of the
holy angels comes and brings you and ushers you into the presence
of God. That's glorious. Yeah, that's
glorious, especially as we now consider point number three,
the deception of funerals. In my outline, I have the great
deception of funerals. The last opportunity for people
to lie. To distort the facts. To make believe and pretend and
therefore deny God his glory. The last Opportunity for people
to lie distort the facts to make believe and pretend and therefore
deny God his glory and they do it on the strength of their emotional
disposition Unfortunately and invariably every time I either
do a funeral or Observe one somebody says the individual that died
is in heaven looking down on us right now. I I don't want no one in heaven
looking down on me anytime. And when I get there, I'm not
looking down on you. See, that's paganism and it's
rooted in the Greek culture. This whole idea that we sit on
a stage with the senators and the elders and look down on the
poor peasant human beings because we've entered into a more transcendent
state and we get to deliberate what they're doing down here
and we get to move providence. See how paganism enters into
the Christian church? Listen, nothing in our text tells
us that Lazarus was even interested in what the rich man was going
through. I want you to know when your loved ones die, if they
don't go to hell, when they get to glory, they are not. Help me. Let me help you now.
Watch this. They're not thinking about you. Oh, I know they're thinking about.
And then, you know, you hear silly stuff like, you know, that
I know they are really pleased with the way we did the funeral
service. No, they're not. No, they're not. They could care
less how you did the funeral service. Will you hear me? The dead don't care. See down here, we with our last
breathing breath, love to manipulate people and act like we know the
things of God and we don't. And then we demand that God endorse
the sentiments of the crowd or the church or the family that
this individual who dies by saying they're in a better place. Don't
you hear it? They're in a better place now. They're in a better
place. They're resting now when the
record of their life shows that that person had no regard for
God while they lived down here. See, We just watched one of the
bigwigs, one of the female rich rulers, Whitney Houston's funeral. And it was highly publicized,
because that's what we like to do. We like to laud our idols. Highly publicized. And many well-known
persons were there. Famous clergy and famous individuals
all there so they can get their two cents. I was at her funeral.
I was at her. And all during the funeral, everybody
that's speaking is lying. because that's what that's what
religious people do. No one tells the truth about
the real nature of a person and the tragedy of death at a funeral. We all somehow play death down
and in doing so we steal God's glory. And then what makes it
worse? Right in the house of mourning
where sinners are trapped least once until another death occurs. They don't even preach the gospel. And then they have their big
earthly entourages with their trains of people and they lift
the caskets up and they drive people through the streets in
chariots. You know, dope dealers. Dope dealers get buried like
kings. Don't we lie? Come on now, help me. Aren't
we liars? All men are liars. And especially at funerals. Do
you know how full of the Holy Ghost you must be to tell the
truth to weeping hearts who want to be deceived at funerals? To
tell them the truth If you know anything of the certainty of
the destiny of that person or if you have insight to the nature
of the spiritual condition of that crowd, do you know what
kind of boldness you must have to let that crowd know you and
him are going to, you're going to the different place. You're
going to other place. You're not going to glory, not by the
lifestyle that you live, not by the attitude that you convey,
not by the presumption that reeks in your life. And then This deception
prevails from generation to generation, but our text tells us that there
is a grand turning of the tables in hell. Now I want you to see
verse 23. See the text tells us in verse
22, the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man died also and was buried. So you see how
God's attitude and value is? God didn't even pay the rich
man any attention. He only gave us one concept and was buried
and we could extrapolate on it as we did. We know how rich people
die, right? And we know how rich people are buried, but watch
what verse 23 says. And in hell. Do you see it? And in hell. and
inhale, just as a matter of fact. Our Lord doesn't qualify it.
He doesn't hedge. He simply says, now inhale, inhale. He lifts up his eyes being in
torment and sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
And this is where we now have to begin to work. Those who deny
the doctrine of eternal punishment, the doctrine of hail, denying
an essential truth that runs all the way through the scriptures. Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse
22 is the first time that hell is mentioned and in Deuteronomy
32 22 God is speaking to his own people about what will befall
them should they turn to idolatry that they they will experience
hell. Hell is a place of God's wrath
being poured out upon men and women without a mediator. That's what hell is. Hell is
the place of God's wrath being poured out on men and women without
a mediator. Now you and I are going to go
through a number of verses today to settle this issue of what
the Bible says concerning the subject of hell. In the book
of 2 Samuel chapter 22 verse 6, David also addresses this,
that men and women will perish, the wicked will perish, the ungodly
will perish under the fury of God's wrath in hell. Psalm chapter
9 verse 17. Go there. Notice what the scripture
says. Psalm 9 17. I'm going to have you to do something
that you don't do much. We're going to flip through about
seven texts in order for you to see this. Psalm chapter 9.
Listen to what it said verses Six and seven all thou enemy
Destruction are come to a perpetual end and you have destroyed cities
their memory is perished with them But the Lord shall endure
forever watch this. He hath prepared his throne for
Judgment, do you see that he hath prepared? his throne for
judgment. Why? To punish men and women
in hell. Look down at verse 16 and 17.
The Lord is known by the judgment which he executes. The wicked
is snared in the work of his own hands. Verse 17. The wicked
shall be turned in to hell and all the nations that forget God. Do you see that? The wicked shall
be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God turn
with me in your Bible to Isaiah chapter 57 I want you to look
at verse 9 and then we're going to go to the New Testament and
listen to our Lord Further develop the reality and significance
of this judgment called hail Isaiah chapter 57 The Old Testament
underscores this as well. Now listen to this Isaiah chapter
57 Verse eight and nine. Behind
the doors also and the post have you set up your remembrances.
This is false idols. This is God talking to Israel.
For you have discovered yourself to another than me. The metaphor
of unfaithful wives committing adultery with other men and are
gone up. You have enlarged your bed. This
here is the insatiable lust of idolaters not being content with
the God of all grace. And you have made a covenant
with them. Watch this. you love their bed where you
saw it and you went to the king with ointment and you did increase
your perfumes you see how this woman has dressed herself up
and made herself a luring for this individual now watch this
and you have sent your messengers for all you did debase yourself
even unto what hell God said to Israel, hell is the process
of men and women debasing themselves to a point where God gives them
over to his wrath. Now go with me in your Bible
and we're going to look now at several verses that underscore
this in the Gospel of Matthew. the gospel of Matthew chapter
8 verse 12 I want you to hear how our Lord puts together the
doctrine of hail the doctrine of eternal punishment and watch
the language that he uses in Matthew chapter 8 he says over
in verse 11 and 12 these words with regards to with regards
to, again, the Jews who rejected the preaching of the gospel and
the offer of redemption in Jesus Christ. Listen to what he says
in verse 11 and 12. And I say unto you that many
shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the
children of the kingdom, that's a term for national Israel, shall
be cast out into what? Outer darkness. Now, it's one
thing to be in darkness. It's another thing to be in outer
darkness. God uses this term frequently. Christ uses this term frequently,
ladies and gentlemen. And it means to be in the furthest
reaches of the realm of God's rejection, in the place where
darkness is at its thickest. Here again is the antithesis
or the paradox. God is light. there is no darkness
in him whatsoever wherever the darkness is it's on the other
end of God's glory and for men to be cast into outer darkness
means that they have been infinitely rejected by God listen to it
and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth So our Lord
describes for us the distance from which men are rejected from
his glory, from his beauty, from his presence, as the scripture
says, and then the condition that they are in. When a person
is weeping and a person is gnashing, that person is in torment. When
a person is weeping and a person is gnashing, they are in excruciating
torment. The next verse that I want you
to go to then, therefore, on this subject matter is Matthew
chapter 13, verse 42. Our Lord speaks to this several
times. Fortunately, I had an opportunity
to go through these verses again. And when I went through all the
verses where our Lord spoke about eternal judgment, and his wrath
upon those who reject the gospel, I once again am amazed at how
theologians can frame their lips and say there's no such thing
as hell or eternal punishment. It means that they have been
blinded to the truth of scripture. Listen to Matthew chapter 13. Are you there? Verse 42 now this
here is an eschatological statement that jesus is making concerning
the end of time And we read over in verse 40 as therefore the
tares are gathered and burned in the fire So shall it be in
the what end of this world? The son of man shall send forth
his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom Everything
that what offends and them which do iniquity now watch this verse
ladies and gentlemen and shall cast them into a furnace of fire
Now this is God talking. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth. Do you see that? There shall
be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Now go with me in your Bible
to Matthew chapter 22 and notice what it says in verse 13. Here
our Lord is still speaking. Now If you are with me, our Lord
is speaking and he's speaking repeatedly under different circumstances
with different contexts in order to drive home to his hearers,
his auditors, the reality of eternal punishment. He has no
problem bringing to bear on their heart and mind the fact that
there are eternal consequences to rejecting the gospel. And
he is of the greatest authority to do that. So we read in Matthew
chapter 22, these words over in verse 13. Here it is. I'm
going to I'm going to read verses 11 through 13. Now this here,
interestingly enough, is another parable that our Lord give is
called the parable of the wedding feast. Not going to expound it,
but in this wedding feast, it has to do with the call of the
gospel to everyone and the beckoning of men and women to come to the
wedding feast, which is a metaphor for the church where you hear
the gospel and ostensibly men and women become prepared for
the wedding of Christ and his bride. In the parable, our Lord
shares with us the anomaly that follows this gorgeous invitation
and call for sinners to enjoy the feast of the gospel with
the son who's going to marry the bride. But there's an individual
in that feast of which, when the king comes, he looks to see
if everyone is appropriately dressed for the wedding. And
he finds an individual who doesn't have a wedding garment on. Here's what it says. Listen to
what it says, verse 11. And when the king came in to
see the guest, he saw there a man which had not on a what's the
word? Wedding garment. And he said
to him, friend, do you notice again the favorable disposition
of God when he implores sinners to obey the gospel, even though
they don't? This is intentional. The Bible
is very clear that God takes no pleasure in the death of the
wicked, but that the wicked should turn from his wicked ways, that
men and women would repent of the evil that they do. When God
sends a man or woman to hell, he is doing it out of strict
justice. Strict justice. Even before he
must execute punishment on this man, he calls him friend. After
all, That's what Jesus called Judas Iscariot when Iscariot
kissed him. Friend, betrayest thou the Son
of Man with a kiss? Do you see it? The gospel always
calls you, calls you, calls you to bow the knee to Christ. If
you perish, it's because you've rejected the gospel. Listen to
the language. Listen to a verse 12. And he
said unto him, friend, how camest thou hither not having a wedding
garment? You know what that means, right?
Somehow they did church long enough to fool everybody, maybe
even themselves. That they were right with God
when indeed they did not have the righteousness of God, which
is in Christ. They fooled everybody by their
good words and their theology and their doctrine, and they
were trusting in something, but it wasn't Christ. It wasn't the
glory of God in Christ. It wasn't the Christ of the cross.
It wasn't the Christ of eternal redemption It wasn't the righteousness
of God in Christ. They were trusting something
but I'm gonna tell you God sees whether or not you're clothed
and The king will come in one day and determine whether or
not you play church Are you really receive the Lord Jesus Christ
as all your hope for glory? Now here it is Here it is and
he was speechless Our elders said it, hinting that in hell,
men don't confess their sins. Ah, but we'll seek some of that
here as we work this through. Then said the king to the servant,
now watch the language, ladies and gentlemen, bind him hand
and foot and take him away and cast him into outer, what? Darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of what? Teeth. For many are called, but
what? Now, Judas Iscariot should have
heard that. Remember what I said last week?
When the preaching of the gospel goes forth, it is a personal
letter to every one of us. Whether you decide to open that
letter up or pretend that that letter is for someone else will
determine your eternal doom. When God speaks through the preaching
of the gospel, you should hear him. He sees things about you
no one else sees. And when he warns you to pay
heed, it's out of his concern for your eternal welfare. It
is not for you to get mad at the preacher. I could care less
about you getting mad at me. It's not about you finding ways
to determine how flawed the preaching is or why I didn't emphasize
this or that. What did the Spirit say to your
soul? that him that hath ears hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches." Listen to it again.
Do you see that, ladies and gentlemen? Our Lord is pressing the perpetual
and undinting torment Many women who reject the gospel
now go to Matthew chapter 24 51 I'm going to now turn the
corner on this and emphasize the duration Which is the major
argument of some categories of theologians who would suggest?
Well, yeah, people are punished but it's not for eternity. I
beg to differ Listen to what the scripture says Listen to
what it says in Matthew 24 again, our Lord is developing and closing
out a the argument. In Matthew 24 he does this again
with another, this slothful servant. I call this the false prophets
and their just deserts. These are men who take advantage
of God's people and do not preach the truth and therefore feed
his people with good food in due season. And they start to
be slothful and hang out look listen to what it says in verse
48 and 49 But and if that evil servant shall see in his heart
my lord delay his coming and shall begin to smite his fellow
servants Watch this and to eat and drink with the drunkards
The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he does not
look for him and in an hour when he is not aware and shall cut
him asunder that's bad language And appoint him his portion with
the what? See he was not a true servant
of god and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew chapter 25. Our Lord
lays out before us in full display the great judgment of all nations,
the great judgment of all nations. And in Matthew chapter 25, notice
what he says, having already taught us that hell, I want you
to hear this now, hell was prepared initially for the devil and his
fallen angels. Isn't that what our Lord said?
Hell was prepared initially for the devil and his fallen angels,
but it has plenty room for rebellious sinners too. Now listen to the
language. This is Matthew 25, 45 and 46. Then shall he answer unto those
of whom he had indicted them for not bringing the gospel to
poor, hungry, thirsty, naked, imprisoned sinners. And in so
much as he didn't do it to them, what do we learn? They didn't
do it to Him. When you don't share the gospel
with God's elect, God's lost sinners out there, you don't
share the gospel with Christ. Isn't that what Christ said?
Inasmuch as you did not do it to these, mine, you didn't do
it to me. Which means, by inference, when
we do it to them, we're doing it to Christ. Now watch this. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment. Saints, do you see the word?
Everlasting punishment, but the righteous were everlasting life. Now I always argue with these
so-called theologians that if they would do away with what
we call the unending perpetual fixed state of a being in terms
of eternal punishment, what do you do with eternal life? Do
you understand the logic? If there's no eternal hell, then
there's no eternal life. If hell is temporary, then maybe
life is temporary. But don't we believe that the
man or the woman who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ already
has eternal life? Don't we believe that? And we
believe that that life is perpetual and it's unending and it's fixed
and it's unalterable because it proceeds from the nature of
God. God is eternal. God is the eternal
living God and those who are saved are partakers of the divine
nature and we live forever. So it doesn't follow for you
to tell me that there is no eternal hell and yet there's an eternal
heaven. And in fact it doesn't follow
me for you to say that there's no hell and yet you believe.
Have you ever met anybody that says I don't believe that I'm
going to heaven or there's no heaven? Very few people say that. Most people ready to go to heaven.
Most people just ready to go to heaven. But they would argue
and fight against the doctrine of eternal hell now again They
argue that there's no such thing as eternal or everlasting punishment
and our text here makes it very clear Everlasting punishment,
but just to lock it down go with me in your Bible to mark chapter
9 I'm going to share with you several verses here to underscore
this make some points and we'll move on to our Next three points
as we prepare to close is hell real certainly it is the myth
that hell is a myth is a myth hell is real you know how we
know that there's a great deal of integrity and virtue in the
doctrine of hell thus far we have seen that hell is a place
of outer darkness we have seen that hell is a place of weeping
and gnashing of teeth we have seen in our own context the sorrow
the sorrow and the crying and the anguish and the begging the
begging that the rich man does And all of these experiences
are things that you and I know and go through in part in this
life. It's only perpetuated and intensified
in the life to come. We are not really talking about
things with which we have absolutely no experience here. We do. We
can identify with hell to the core of our being. to the core
of our being now listen to our master in the gospel of mark
chapter 9 verses 43 through 48 i want you to hear this is him
now in this context he's speaking to those He's speaking to those
who have offended his little ones by either bringing false
doctrine to damn their souls or Living such a scandalous life
as to lead God's elect to live a scandalous life to on either
Equation God says worn to you who offends one of these little
ones verse 42 It's better for him that a millstone were hanged
about his neck and he were cast into the depths of the sea see
that verse 43 And if your hand should offend you, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter into what? Life. Main. Than having two hands to go into
hell. Into the fire that shall never
be quenched. Do you see it? Into the fire
that shall never be quenched. The idea is that there will be
nothing possible to stop the burning flame of fire forever
into the fire which shall never be quenched. Look at it again
over in verse 44. Where there, I'm sorry, yeah,
shall never be quenched, verse 44, now watch this, where there
warm dieth not and the fire Is not quenched. Do you see that?
He says it over again in verse 45. If your foot offends you,
cut it off. Better that you go into life
lame than to have two feet be cast into hell, into the fire
that shall never be quenched. Here it is, where their worm
never dies and the fire is not quenched. Do you see that? And
he says it again over in verse 48, where the worm does not die
and the fire is not quenched. Our Lord said this three, four
times with emphasis. You know what he's saying? The
flame will never go out because there will always be fuel for
the flame. The worm represents the corrupting
nature of our physical bodies. Now, a physical body, as people
do when they cremate people, can be placed in a furnace and
consumed and burnt up and turned into ashes. With the worm, it
speaks to the rotting nature of the flesh that lies in the
ground and disintegrates, and worms eat that. Only in this
sense, our Lord is now saying there will be a time when the
dying, the dying, the dying, will be engulfed by eternal flame
of which the flame and the worm will eat upon the soul and the
body for all eternity. So now let me just make some
exegetical points before we further develop our text. Some would
argue that Hades That's the Greek word there for hell in most of
our New Testament verses. However, in our text Mark chapter
9, in Mark chapter 9, this is not the word Hades that we have
in a Luke 16. This is the Greek term Gehenna.
Gehenna. Gehenna. And it's a Greek term
that always refers to the ultimate and final eschatological judgment
of both body and soul in hell. The difference between Hades
and Gehenna is that Hades the place where the soul is in torment. The body is still in the ground
because the world is still existing until the final judgment of which
the body and the soul is reunited and both hell and death are cast
into the lake of fire right along with the ungodly. That's Revelation
chapter 20 verses 11 through 15 right? So you see the distinction? The distinction is, Hades, as
it's used in the New Testament, particularly in the Gospels,
Jesus is using it particularly in Luke 16. Go back there, I'll
show you how this works out. That Hades, or hell, is the place
of torment for the unbeliever who dies without Christ. His
soul is in hell, but his body is still in the ground, waiting
for what? The resurrection. There is a fallacy about Hades
that you and I must not consider. That Hades is the place for both
the believer and the unbeliever. Nothing can be further from the
truth. Hades is the place of torment only for the ungodly. The believer has always, upon
death, when he knows Christ, gone into the presence of God,
both in the Old Testament and the New. To be absent from the
body is to be what? Present with the Lord. This is
theological truth. This is the consistency of truth.
But what's taking place in our context is a bringing the two
worlds so close together that if it were possible, they could
talk to one another. Remember, we are dealing with
a parable, aren't we? So the parable is actually conflating
two realities. They are not the same realm.
They are not the same world. The rich man in his conscience
able to look over into paradise and see Lazarus in the bosom
of Abraham this here is this is what we call strong high Jewish
language the Jewish people believed in paradise in Hades in relationship
to the promise of Abraham and so Christ is accommodating that
language but ladies and gentlemen let me help you as the New Testament
Church made up of Jews and Gentiles and people of every ethnic group
when I get to glory Glory. I'm not looking for Abraham.
I don't want Abraham's bosom. It's not big enough for me. I
want Christ's bosom. I want the bosom of the father.
But I want you to see the redemptive truth here because it's important
to see. It's important to see. Go with me back to your text
if you're there. The turning of the tables in the hill and
our understanding of everlasting punishment If eternal glory,
if eternal bliss, if eternal life is indeed an unending, permanent,
progressive state of being that never changes, then eternal judgment,
eternal wrath, eternal damnation, eternal vengeance, eternal shame,
and eternal bonds, which is the language the New Testament use,
refers to a permanent state of being for all those who are in
that category. Are you hearing what I'm saying?
And so let's listen to the discourse between the rich man and Abraham. Lazarus has nothing to say. And we are reading now in our
outline point number 24, verse number 24, and the rich man,
we find as soon as he opens his mouth, do you see this is the
tables turning. You remember last week as we
depicted and watched the rich man going about his business,
the person that was doing all the crying, Lazarus He is begging
wasn't he? I just want some bread to eat
just some crumbs from your table Could you please just help a
brother out right the tables have turned haven't they first
thing come out of this rich man's mouth is he cried He cried Which means as our elder
was teaching on the subject of the conscience this morning as
I said last week I When a person leaves this life and goes into
the world to come, you are more fully illuminated to reality
then than you are now. There's a sense in which you
and I, we walk by faith and we see through a glass dimly and
there are a lot of things about our life that's a mystery and
we can even manipulate our own heart and conscience and we do,
don't we? But I'm here to tell you when you cross that veil,
true is all you get. And the conscience is brought
to a full state of clarity and it will either usher you into
the joy that comes with believing or the eternal torment that comes
with rejecting Christ. So he cries. He cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Oh, now you want mercy. You remember? He lived lavishly, high on the
hog. He dressed gaudy. He let everybody
know he was full of himself. And he enjoyed letting people
know he was full of himself. And he didn't care about that
providential act of God placing that person that was afflicted
and in need at his doorstep. Every day he crossed over Lazarus
and kept going about his business. Showing no mercy. None. None. That was the great sin that he
committed. Showing no mercy. Now all of a sudden, he wants
mercy. Okay, he must have left that
out in his package of commodities and stocks and bonds and mutual
bonds. His whole portfolio had all kinds
of commodities in it. But mercy wasn't there. See,
had mercy been in his resources, he would have been rich towards
God. He would have been rich in faith.
He would have had the necessary commodity to help him cross over
from death to life. But he was just as broke in the
spirit as Lazarus was in the flesh. No mercy. It's interesting what's taking
place in our outline because he makes a number of requests.
Seeking things from father Abraham of which in our next point hell
is a place of rejection Hell is a place of rejection. Do you
see that? for great requests denied By the father here Abraham
first he asks for mercy and he doesn't receive it Do you see
that have mercy on me? I? Secondly, he's seeking the
comfort, the comfort, watch this now, the comfort that will come
from Lazarus to him for his need. Verse 24, and he cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus, do you see
that? That he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool
my tongue for I am tormented in this, what? Flame. Where's he at? He's in the flames.
That's what our Lord said. The fire which shall not be quenched. Cool my tongue. So what is he
asking for? He's asking for mercy. He wants
to be comforted, right? Here's another great truth that
was denied. Oh, you ready? Send Lazarus. he cried and said father Abraham
have mercy on me and sin Lazarus verse 25 but Abram said son remember
that you and your life received your good things and likewise
Lazarus is evil but now he is comforted and you are tormented
do you see that so first things he asked for mercy and it's rejected
He asked for the comfort that comes from mercy, but that's
rejected. Then he asked for the comforter
who would bring the mercy and that's rejected. Now watch this.
And then he asks, okay, if you're not going to give it to me, will
you send Lazarus to give it to my brother? Are you watching? Notice what he says. He says
over in verse 27, then he said, I pray thee therefore, father,
that you would send him to my father's house. For I have five
brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they come also
into this, what? Place of torment. This place of torment. A place of conscious awareness
in torment. A place of conscious awareness
and torment. Listen to me. He is not sleep.
He's not drowsy. He's not disoriented. He's crystal
clear in his thinking. He's acute and vibrant in all
of his feelings and senses. Torment is a feeling in this
flame. This is why we are sure we are
addressing Gehenna's approach toward the lake of fire. But
I want you to see what's taking place now. Everything that this
rich man has said truth everything this rich man has now uttered
is the God honest truth and you'll notice that it's rooted in his
mind's eye being fixed on one object and that's Lazarus you
see hell ladies and gentlemen is a place of truth with no lie
in it No lie in hell is present anywhere. No opportunity for
distortion of the facts or for wishful thinking that by somehow,
by accident, I might get it right with God. No. Hell is where everything
is manifest and where you are when you die is where you'll
be when you die. In fact, on the door to hell,
it says you have come to the right place. Acts chapter 1 verse 24 Judas Iscariot was among the
twelve but Jesus made it plain he was a devil from the beginning
John chapter 6 verse 63 and as he was praying to his father
to keep every one of his elect he waited until after Judas showed
his true colors to pray that prayer Acts chapter 1 24 25 says
Judas having fallen by transgression from the office of Bishop has
gone to his own place Hell has an address with people's
names on it Wouldn't that be shocking for
you to wake up, having passed from this life, having shirked
and manipulated your way and conned your way out of the blessings
of the gospel, to find that you have an apartment with your name
on it, permanent address in hell for you, just as if you were
made and designed for it. It's dreadful, isn't it? Isn't
it dreadful? May God help you understand the
importance of these things. Hell is the place of rejection. Hell is where no will come every
time. No, no, no, no, no. Furthermore, I want you to notice
this before I go on to develop the more salient truth here.
Hell has no comfort whatsoever in that while many people on
this side, and I've heard them, They'll say, yeah, I know I'm
going to hell. But I'm not going to be there
by myself. I'm going to have all kinds of friends and buddies
with me in hell. That's a nice notion, but it's
not true. One of the aspects of hell that
will be so tormentuous is that everyone will be isolated in
their own compartment. So as to not receive any kind
of benefit from any one of the other tormented millions and
billions of people who will be locked in their own compartment.
If you'll notice the text doesn't even remotely imply that there
was somebody over on the other side checking this rich man out.
See, one of the ideas of rejection is finding yourself alone. And
this is what we don't like. That's why God in the beginning
when he made Adam, he said it is not good for Adam to be alone. I will make him a helper. And
this is where the whole gospel scheme comes in. And this is
where the arrogance of a man or an arrogance of a woman or
the arrogance of any person thinking that you can make it on your
own is utterly ludicrous. Let me develop this point before
I get to the the inherent redemptive message that's on the inside
of this text. Do you know our master from the
moment that he started his ministry till the time that he died on
Calvary's tree was never alone? Never alone. He never endorsed
being a Lone Ranger preacher. He never endorsed being a Maverick
minister. He never endorsed it's me, myself,
and I. He always taught the interdependence
of the body of Christ, even for himself. Even as he went into
that crux of agonizing prayer, he said, Peter, James, and John,
come with me, brothers. Pray with me. Pray with me."
And when they couldn't pray, he raised him up. Couldn't you
pray for one hour? I need you to pray with me. This arrogance, this arrogance
of autonomy is only rooted in the devil's doctrine. Even the
glory of God in His eternal essence reveals to us Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. a union of companions and fellowship
and communion that tells us to totally disregard the notion
of self-sufficiency and independence. But this man is all by himself
now. See, Lazarus was by himself. The rich man had a full... You
know, like the proverb says, hey, the wealthy, they got all
kinds of friends. Poor people often by themselves.
But no true believer is ever alone. No true believer is ever
alone. No child of God is ever alone.
There's no such thing as a sheep without a shepherd, and a shepherd
without a foal. And as I told one brother yesterday,
listen, don't tell me your head don't stray when you are in the
body of Christ and working with the church of Christ in the cause
of Christ. You're all by yourself. You can't bear fruit that way. You can't do it. I'm sorry. God will not endorse it. Warn
to you when you are alone, because when you fall, there's no one
there to lift you up. Better if there are two, for
when one falls, the other will lift him up. Yeah, they can keep
themselves warm in the bed. They can encourage each other.
They can strengthen each other. They can rebuke each other, admonish
one another. In a threefold court, well, you're
not breaking that real easy. Am I making some sense? This
man's all by himself. all by himself, all by himself
in a conscious awareness of eternal punishment. But you know what
God says in his word? He says, even the wrath of man
shall praise the Lord. God in his sovereignty is able
to take a hell bound, hell ridden sinner and cause him to give
glory to God. Do you know what the Bible says?
Every tongue shall confess. Every tongue, not some tongues,
every tongue, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father,
even in hell. Even in hell. Watch this. Lord,
have mercy on me. Lord, have mercy on me. What do you mean? I need a mercy
seat. I need a propitiation. I need justification. I need
the atoning work of somebody who can show mercy to me. That's
his first request. Isn't that right? I need somebody
to stand between me and God and be the object of God's wrath
so God can show mercy to me. That's his first request. Now
all of a sudden, he's seeking the mercy of the gospel. And
then he says, send Lazarus. Now he also now believes in evangelism. Now he's ready for the apostle
because the term of apostolo means to be said, I need mercy. And will you send a preacher
to show mercy to me? Show mercy to me now and watch
this. He's calling for a preacher to
come preach the gospel to him and he's not calling for any
preacher. I want Lazarus. I want Lazarus. Do you know why
he wants Lazarus? Because Lazarus points to Christ. Christ is our Lazarus. That's
the person that God lays at the gate of the hearts of men to
look upon the miserable master who in his sufferings and womb
hanging on Calvary's tree is able to mediate comfort to hell-bound
sinners like this man. Only it's too late. okay if it's
too late to me send the gospel to my family now he's ready to
reach his family when we should have always been ready to reach
our family when we should have first received the gospel for
ourselves saw this poor lowly afflicted lazarus as the only
hope of the world drake from his blood lick his wounds find
our healing in him then take him to our family members and
tell them you need Lazarus. You need the mediatorial work
of Lazarus. You need mercy from Lazarus. Watch this. And he plainly says
that they might be delivered from this torment in hell. See he believes the gospel now. He believes in hell and He believes
in Lazarus. He believes in mercy. He believes
in evangelism. He believes in preaching. He
believes in salvation. But it's too late. It's totally
too late. It's totally too late. What this
man did for you and me is to affirm why we preach Christ. Do you see the sovereignty of
God taking the wicked, proud, arrogant sinner giving him his
just dessert, and then forcing him by his sovereign hand to
open his mouth and preach the gospel from hell. To preach the gospel from hell. That's our point. Preaching the
gospel from hell. Send Lazarus. I need a mediator.
Comfort for my soul. My family needs Lazarus. This
place is real. Hell is real. The gospel is true. mercy to be found in the misery
of our master, the wrath of men will praise the Lord one way
or the other. And saints, isn't it good while
you and I are still walking on this terra firma? Breathe in,
pinch yourself. Thank God that you're still alive
now because I'm getting ready to share something with you.
Listen to me now. Listen to me. Now is the day of salvation. Right now is the day of salvation.
Now, if you will hear his voice and call on him right now, God
will save the sinner that says, Lord, have mercy on me and send
Lazarus. I know this because the Bible
says all that the father giveth me shall come to me and he that
cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out. The soul that flees
to Christ right now will receive Christ as his only hope for glory. But let me share something with
you. Tomorrow is not promised. I just put a man away. A brother
we knew for years who died of an aneurysm just fell down dead
last week. He was planning to take his family
and move to New York and finish out his life. Less than 50 years
old. Nobody knew. Nobody knows. Only God knows. Only God knows. I thank God for mercy, see, don't
you? I thank God he's revealed Lazarus to me, don't you? I thank
God he's sent the gospel preacher. in the power of the gospel to
break my heart and to change my life and to open my eyes and
to show me the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Thank
you, Lord, for your mercy. Thank you for your grace. Thank
you for your redemption. Thank you for your salvation.
Thank you, Lord. Even today, thank you, Lord.
We're going to have our offering at this time and then we'll have
the Lord's table.