Our final destination. Luke 16:19-31.

well most people enjoy or celebrate

their birthdays I don't know if they

enjoy celebrating their birthdays but

most people do Mark the occasion to some

degree maybe they go out for a meal

maybe they do something much more

exciting than that uh but birthdays are

usually something we celebrate aren't

they but birthdays also Mark our Passage

through

life and just as every life has a

beginning so every life

has an end we all have a final

destination and that's one of two places

that is heaven or hell that's the

reality that Jesus warns us of this

morning heaven and hell are subjects

that many people might feel skeptical

about some might consider them

offensive maybe primitive maybe

mythological and yet Jesus

takes them very seriously so if we want

to take Jesus seriously we need to take

what he says seriously

too we've been going through the Gospel

of Luke Jesus has been teaching about

how we should use our money and our

resources it started with the shrewd

manager where the manager was commended

for thinking and planning for the future

see the trouble is many of us only plan

for us as far as our

retirement but we give little thought to

planning for our eternity

but Jesus Tau we should invest what we

have now in a way that pleases God that

includes uh giving in such a way as to

share the gospel with others so we've

just looked at a video Samaritan's Purse

as an easy way just to give and help the

gospel go out uh we can give to support

our local church we can give in all

sorts of ways to help that gospel go out

and then uh later in the passage Jesus

points out in verse 13 you can't serve

both money and God it's one in the other

he didn't say you can't have have both

it's not having money that's sinful but

it says you can't serve both money and

God and the Pharisees who were standing

around listening to this they didn't

like

it because they loved money they loved

the respect that money brought them and

they were all about impressing

people much more than truly seeking to

live to please

God but now we move on to the the climax

of this teaching where Jesus shows the

consequences of living with no regard to

God and what he says is going to be

uncomfortable and probably distressing

for for some of

us so although many will scoff at Jesus

teaching just as the Pharisees did back

then out of love out of

concern Jesus is warning us with a

serious warning you you can't just go on

living with no regard for God God so

Jesus starts by introducing us uh to two

characters and their life in the here

and now and that's our first point we

only have two points this morning but

life in the Here and

Now money does bring lots of things some

good some bad doesn't it so you pay your

money and you can go first

class you pay your money and you can

probably get a doctor's appointment as

well you pay your money and you get a a

five star

hotel and when you've paid your money

with it comes

respect you know you can eat at places

that address you as Sir rather than um

mate or buddy or bro you know it buys a

bit of respect Mr rich man pulls up in

his uh expensive car and you wonder oh I

wonder who's in there you know they must

be very important to drive a car like

that Mr poor man drives up in his Rusty

Relic and you think is that even

legal there's something about wealth

that makes a statement this person is

important they

matter but for the person who's poor

they can be treated and feel like a

second class

citizen the Pharisees wanted to be those

who were seen to matter who were

important so Jesus introduces us to a

man who is defined by his wealth verse

19 there was a rich man there's nothing

wrong with being rich the Bible's full

of rich people who were never condemned

for being rich so job Abraham David

Solomon Joseph of ARA uh so it's not

actually riches that are is the problem

here it's it's rather what they actually

do with the riches that that's the issue

so verse 19 he's dressed in

purple well so what some of us might be

dressed in purple here this morning but

back then that was the color for Kings

you got purple by squeezing out the

mucus of certain shellfish and so it's

very expensive to have uh purple clothes

that was his outer garment his underwear

is um fine linen so he's got a kingly

coat and silky pants this is the utmost

of luxurious Living For for the day he's

he's there you'd look at him and go wow

what a wardrobe he lived in opulence

every day at the end of verse 19 he

feasted sumptuously every day he didn't

just have a little treat he had the best

every day as for his house we read in

verse 20 he had a gate and so what you

might think but this wasn't just the the

the of wooden creaky thing that you and

me have at the end of our little garden

the word for gate the Greek word for

gate is used of a a porch on a palace or

on a um a temple or a city it's that

impressive his house it's huge this man

is absolutely

loaded so here is a

man who has everything he

wants and he aims to enjoy it to the

max he doesn't care uh that God says he

should love his neighbor and give to the

poor he's just going to take what God's

given him and make the most of it then

Jesus introduces another man where is

this rich man he's not even given a name

he's just defined by what he has a rich

man this man has given a name Lazarus

which means God has

helped God has

helped which is a bit odd really isn't

it if you look at his

circumstances after all he's wh the NIV

has he's a

beggar if we were going to choose one of

these men to say who God had helped I'm

not sure we would have said well it's

the beggar obviously you would say well

no it's the rich man he he's been

blessed isn't

he so this rich man is in stark contrast

to the the poor man whereas the the the

rich is is dining in in in one long um

Indulgence

Lazarus longs to eat what falls from the

table the scraps and we're not told that

he even gets given the

scraps whereas the rich man is is

clothed in the

best

Lazarus is clothed in

sores the only act of kindness he seems

to get is from the dogs an act of Mercy

as they come and lick his swords

apparently I don't own a dog but

apparently this is what dogs do they

they lick instinctively their own wounds

and they can be known to to lick the

wounds of others it's a sign of

affection so here's a man who's wretched

no one cares no one gives him anything

he gets no mercy except from these

dogs but I guess the real shocker is

this this poor man who is in an awful

state is on the doorstep of of someone

who has more than enough for himself it

seems

really unfair doesn't

it pouring s salt into the wound there

is lazarus's own name God has

helped

really didn't look that way did it to to

Lazarus it wouldn't have felt that way

it's almost a

mockery but it seems Lazarus despite it

all does seem to trust God

but for us if these two men turn up on

our doorstep we would probably welcome

one of course you can come in Rich Man

and hope the poor man would go away

because it's awkward we don't know what

to do with with people like

that now remember Jesus is telling this

is the Pharisees Who Loved money and who

despised Jesus for befriending the

outcast Sinners so this isn't just an

interesting story it's a direct

challenge to those who think they're

good and look EX erally good but in

reality ignore God's word which commands

them to help the helpless and love their

neighbors they weren't helping the needy

they were avoiding them and judging

Jesus for for welcoming

them well as is the case of all

people the beggar

dies notice he dies

poor the rich man has done nothing to

help him there's no mention for burial

for him why would there be the locals

will probably just side a side of relief

no more beggar lurking around making the

place look untidy making us feel guilty

you know I'm glad he's gone out of there

we'll just forget him

now but what happens to Lazarus is quite

remarkable Jesus says he carried by

angels to Abraham's side the the Greek

phrase is Abraham's

bosom we don't we don't really talk like

that anymore we find might find the term

bosom vaguely humorous uh but it's a

term that refers to a close um

relationship it's a place of honor a

special place it's a place of intimacy

you are close to that

person as for the rich

man he doesn't have long to enjoy his

beggar free gate because he also dies

now we we see from there he is

buried you can imagine some great mus

and the VIPs turning up to mourn his

passing but despite all his privileges

all his wealth and position and all the

respectable things that he had and all

the respect he had in life despite all

that he is not escorted by the

Angels in fact he doesn't even make it

to Heaven he ends up in Hades the place

of the Deads for our purposes but we

refer to that as

hell so there's two very different

people two very different lives one is a

success one is a failure one is an

object of respect one is the object of

ridicule and they have two very

different

destinations and the question that

surely should be pressing in on us right

at this moment is what made the

difference if this is a

warning what's the

warning how do we get to go to the good

place

and avoid the bad

place well the warning is we need to

listen to God now we need to take

seriously what God says and we need to

do that now because how we live now

dictates where we will live

then so having looked at their Earthly

life in the here and the now let's move

on to our final point and look at their

life in the here after life in the

hereafter

we've already thought about um

Lazarus and we're going to linger on him

a little bit more so remember what his

name means God has helped well suddenly

that name doesn't seem so dared anymore

does it because if we we judge life just

by the here and now we'll end up with a

lopsided view of things but when you

take in eternity as well suddenly it

goes the other way there is much more to

life and existence and this life that we

have

now and it seems that despite his pain

his poverty his physical suffering in in

Earthly life Lazarus trusted in

God where do I get that from well if you

look at Romans chapter

4:1 Abraham is the father of all who

believe you see Abraham believed God

even when it appeared Bonkers to believe

what God was promising him he believed

what God promised and God credited his

faith to him as

righteousness and so to all who follow

in Abraham's footsteps all who believe

God we can be referred to as Abraham's

children and this is why Lazarus was

taken into God's care sorry to Abraham's

care not because he was poor or had a

hard time or because he was particularly

deserving he is taken there he is

Justified because he has Faith he

believes

God and he lived in the light of that so

even though for his Earthly life to many

he's holding on to God it looked like

what a pitiful thing to do why you why

are you trusting in God what has he ever

done for

you you people could have been like

job's wife and just said Curse God and

die you know what's the point but he

didn't he believed God despite how

things

looked and perhaps there's some

here who've been walking with the Lord

or following the Lord and you look at

others and you wonder why you get such a

hard

time and others who don't know God don't

care for God at all seem to be blessed

with so much and yet you get so

little you think i' I've put my faith in

Jesus and and it seems to suck you know

what what what do I get perhaps some of

you are beginning to think that way and

if you are then let me encourage you

think longer term see life in the length

of Eternity when we judge it with just

that much we're going to get a lopsided

view but when we take in eternity and

everything we have in Christ suddenly

the scales go that

way this life is not all there is this

is only part of our story Lazarus was

helped by God and he was treated as

precious when a couple are um planning a

wedding um I'm I think a lot of thought

goes into and probably expense often to

what the transport is for the bride to

get to the the church or wherever it is

that they're getting married so often

they'll have a sports car or some

vintage car you know a nice Rolls-Royce

or something really wacky or something

it's just something isn't it something

special to make a statement of some some

sort imagine if a bride arrived to

church in the arms of angels imagine if

you could arrange that that would be

amazing is that Halo yes is a Halo that

would be fantastic no one could top that

could you what a way to

travel this is how Lazarus is

transported in the arms of angels and

when he gets there in verse 25 he's

being

comforted he may have had nothing in

this world but in the next he's welcomed

by Abraham this is an honorable

welcome he doesn't miss out Psalm

Psalms 116:15

116:15 precious in the sight of the Lord

is the death of his Faithful Servants

precious and God says when we go to be

with him he will wipe away every tear

there will be no more crying or pain the

Bible speaks about an inheritance that

is going to is is Kept For Us in heaven

that cannot be

destroyed whenever we read about heaven

the Bible it's never spoken about as a a

dull place or a boring place or a place

people are thinking oh I wish I'd gone

to the other place is a place that is

full of joy and

Glory it's Heaven is a place that human

language is inadequate to describe

because it is so

glorious but perhaps we are so cynical

in this day and age that we think well

can we really believe all that

place is really happy good Paradise can

we I don't know about you but I found

parts of this world could be pretty

amazing or inspiring and I I don't know

if you you sort of gone to a place and

you take a picture and then you bring it

home and you show it to the person and

you say it just doesn't do it justice

you're looking at that picture it's just

not conveying the the beauty of the

place you ever done that you know he's

like you need to go there to see to

smell to feel it's like wow and there's

places on this planet like that that you

think that's just amazing I can't I

can't explain to you how wonderful it

was Heaven surely is like

that this life is not all there is it's

only part of our

story Lazarus um uh was treated as

precious and what he's got for Lazarus

is amazing you see if if God made this

world and there's some pretty good

things in this world what's it going to

be like in heaven what's it going to be

like when he makes the new heaven what's

it going to be like when we live on a on

a world that isn't spoiled by

sin and since to be in heaven is to be

in the presence of God you know it would

be strange if if it wasn't glorious

wouldn't it you're going to be in the

presence of the most wonderful glorious

being ever who is described is love

itself is going to be

amazing and if we know things are hard

to convey some beautiful things on this

world are hard to convey in this broken

world how much better when God brings

about the new heavens and the new Earth

brothers and sisters this world can be

great but it pales before what God has

promised to yet do for us to yet give us

to bring us

into into the presence of God in an

unspell on unspoiled New

Creation so Lazarus believed God despite

the painful long-term challenges to his

face and he is taken to Paradise in the

arms of

angels but as for the rich

man he goes to a place of

horror the sad thing is people often

joke about

hell as if it's some kind of laugh or as

if it's not that

bad and I'm sure you've heard it said

but people say things like oh well my

friend or my family or my husband's

there so so that's where I want to

go perhaps they imagine that's where all

the fun

is but this is why Jesus is giving us

such a warning he's not trying to keep

us away from the fun or the family or

the friends Jesus is warning us because

hell verse 23 is a place of not pleasure

it's

torment verse 24 a place of

fire an Agony the picture Jesus paints

is a place that no sane person would

ever want to go

to it doesn't sound very nice and that's

why Jesus is giving us such a a serious

warning there's nothing good about hell

there's no nothing nice about hell I

know we don't like to think about these

things but it's so serious that we have

to think about

this in the absence of God's grace there

is unfiltered unrestrained Justice and

it hurts horribly it's

hell we only know this nice life because

of God's grace and mercy to us right now

you take that away and we're in

trouble now in this Parable we we should

avoid reading too much into the details

so Jesus main point here is to warn us I

don't think he's divulging specifics

about spiritual um geography rather he's

painting a picture of spiritual

reality so quite which of these details

are literal or metaphoric it's not

always obvious but I think we be wise

about not trying to make too much of

some of these story elements of this

because he's telling a parable

some of these elements might be there

just to make the parable work it's it's

not entirely clear but we can stick to

the clear things so Jesus uh says the

rich man can see from Hell To Heaven he

sees Abraham and Lazarus and he calls

out for mercy so just just get What's

Happening Here the one who showed no

mercy is now calling for

mercy and his Agony is such that he

wants even a drip of water on his tongue

that would be a relief can you imagine

what that to be in that situation where

you think just one drop of water on my

tongue would would would

help Abraham replies you have had the

good things and now you're in agony in

other words you're getting what you have

deserved the way you lived living for

you not showing Mercy not listening to

God this is what you get he speaks of

this Great Divide Between Heaven and

Hell a great chasm which no one can

cross so the rich man he ignored God he

showed no mercy now he's getting

eternity without Mercy himself it's a

horrific

thought and to make matters worse

there's no exit signs there's no

emergency exits no evacuation routes

there's no indication that you can just

pay for your sin and then then get to

cross over Abraham's not saying well

just just stay there for a 100 years and

then that will pay for your sin and then

you can come over here he doesn't say

that does

he now where you go you stay it's final

there is no Second Chance in the

afterlife if your concept of hell is

anything other than absolute horror then

you've missed what hell is

like there will be no glimmer of

hope there will be no relief

maybe even now some of us can't really

take it too seriously which sort of

blocking it out of our minds by the time

the rich man took it seriously it was

too late and when the rich man realizes

the reality he wants Lazarus to go and

warn his brothers do you notice that he

doesn't want his his brothers to come

and join him to give him some company in

Hell actually no that that would just

make it worse wouldn't that he wants his

brothers to be warned if the ones he

loved came to join him in hell that

would be worse cuz he has to watch them

suffer as

well do you see that it's not come and

we can have a party together it's no

this is this is

horrendous warn

them but Abraham points out well they've

already got Moses and the prophets in

otherwi in other words the Old Testament

the Bible to tell them about this let

them listen to that but you see so did

the rich man he had the Old Testament

but he didn't listen he wouldn't believe

perhaps that's like some of us this

morning

we hear the warning we hear the warning

and we still won't

believe we might get to to hell and

wonder if it was this bad Why did no one

ever tell

me why did no one ever warn me it was

going to be this bad but you have been

warned right here right now you're being

warned you can choose to ignore it like

the rich man just live for the here and

now or we can listen to What God Says

and ask Jesus to save

us well the rich man he wasn't satisfied

with just having the word of God and

thinks he's in a possess position to

correct Abraham well if someone from the

dead goes to them then they will repent

won't they he wants a special miracle

special treatment just for his brothers

Abraham disagrees verse 31 if they do

not hear Moses and the prophets neither

will they be convinced if someone should

rise from the

dead but we think is that

true if Abraham got that

right surely that would convince some of

the doubters imagine if someone could

come in here you know having been raised

from the dead I mean like you would

believe it wouldn't you if you knew

they'd been previously

dead well Jesus did right raised someone

from the dead it was a different guy

with the same name Lazarus quite a

common name back then Lazarus had been

dead for four days everyone knew it they

were at the the Wake um they were still

mourning him but Jesus went in there he

raised him to life right in front of

many witnesses what was the result of

that well yeah many did believe probably

the ones that were going to believe the

word of God anyway but actually there

were others who didn't believe in fact

what they did was they went to the

religious leaders

and snitched on Jesus and said you know

what Jesus is doing he's raising people

from the dead the religious leaders they

couldn't deny Jesus was doing amazing

things but rather than believe the

evidence like you'd think they would

they became jealous and plotted to kill

Jesus do you see how stubborn our

unbelief is if you're not believing me

right now what is it there's something

in you isn't it it's going I'm not going

to believe I don't want to believe I

don't want to hear

this our unbelief is

stubborn but that's not

all Jesus

himself predicted that he would die and

be raised to life

again hundreds of people saw that there

was no denying it what was the

result well yeah some believed many did

but despite there being over 500

Witnesses many of whom were still alive

when the New Testament was uh written

despite no one having been able to

disprove Jesus's resurrection

no one could produce a dead Jesus no one

could say you're telling lies because he

is the dead body and no one has

disproved it

since many refus to believe and they

still refuse to believe perhaps this is

the feeling that You' got going on right

now in your minds you can see some sense

in what I'm saying you you feel the

warning perhaps there's a little bit of

dread in your soul as you contemplate

these things

things and yet you won't believe you

won't put your faith in Jesus and my

voice is a bit like an annoy Annoying

fly that keeps buzzing around your

conscience and you wish I would stop and

I will do soon just a couple of things

to

say all the way through this Jesus has

been warning us not to just live for the

here and now um we need to be planning

for the future we need to be reading

God's word listening to him obeying him

we need to be seeking Mercy now before

it's too late if that rich man had

listened to God's word if he treasured

God rather than treasuring the money if

he loved his neighbor and sought

forgiveness he could have been saved

hell didn't have to be his final

destination it doesn't have to be our

final destination

either so out of

love out of concern Jesus is warning us

he confronting us with this disturbing

story

because right now we are all in the life

in the Here and Now stage of

life so so what can we do to be safe

from hell and to enter

Heaven it is to believe what God has

revealed in his son in

Jesus see Jesus knows about death not

only because he's the son of God but

because he died on the cross and he rose

again and you know on the on the cross

he took our sin on

himself on the cross he endures Jesus

endures our hell right then he took our

hell so that we didn't have

to he took the Wrath and Justice of God

poured out on him on that place he

received no

mercy so that we could receive all Mercy

so what do we do in the here and now we

need to listen to him now we need to

call out for Mercy now we need to put

our trust our faith in him now today is

the day of warning today is the day of

Mercy today is the day of salvation so

repent and believe in

Jesus and you know I think when we've

sort of thought about these things and

comprehended just what he saved us

from when we understand his great Mercy

to

us when we understand this world isn't

all there is there there's more to come

when we understand that in Jesus we have

a second chance now we have a warm

welcome we have eternal joy we have

comfort and peace and and rest I think

that will liberate us to be generous now

when we know we've got so so much in

Christ that makes us free with what we

have we can be free to show Mercy to

others we're we're free to forgive to

love to be generous because we've got

something better to come then we have

one life now don't we but there's

there's two destinations the rich man

and Lazarus they they were neighbors but

they ended up in different

destinations you and the person you're

sitting next to

you're either heading to Hell or Heaven

so I wonder which one you are going to

be like the rich man was defined by what

he had Lazarus was defined by his name

God has helped to be a Christian is to

be defined by what Christ has done for

you and at the end of the day that's all

that matters that's it what Christ has

done for you let's be quiet before the

Lord