Rich Man, Poor Man. Which are You?

When you have greeted one or two people, just take a seat.

Welcome again to Watermark.

My name is Mike.

I work with the university students here at Watermark.

And being a German this week has not been very interesting.

It's just there's a German pope after a long time,

and then after 800 years, he's the first one to just step down.

That's not the way we would expect him to go.

But in light of the events, I want to tell you another story about a pope.

Because exactly 500 years ago, in February of 1513,

Pope Julius II died, and he was the last pope to die

before the Reformation took its full force

and changed the face of the church forever.

And as a response to the pope's death,

one of the key figures of the reform, Erasmus of Rotterdam,

he wrote a little booklet.

And the booklet was called Julius Excluded from Heaven.

Now today we are talking about heaven and hell,

and it's not a topic that we talk about a lot.

And even at the time 500 years ago, it's a topic that was sensitive,

especially when you write a booklet about Julius the Pope

being excluded from heaven.

And so there was a lot of uproar about this writing.

It actually highlighted that you couldn't enter heaven

just because of your power and your achievements,

but just because of the grace of Christ.

So in the booklet, Erasmus actually describes a little fictional encounter

that Julius and his closest advisor have at Heaven's Gate with St. Peter.

And I want to read to you a few lines of that booklet.

So here we go.

So Julius and his advisor stand at Heaven's Gate,

and there Julius says,

What the devil is this?

The doors don't open.

Somebody must have changed the lock or broken it.

To which his servant says,

It seems more likely that you didn't bring the proper key.

Why didn't you bring both of the keys that you have?

This is the key of power, not the one of wisdom.

To which Julius says,

I didn't have any other key but this one.

I don't see why we need a different key

when we have this one, the key of power.

And his servant says,

I don't know either,

but the fact is we are still on the outside.

And Julius is getting really mad and says,

I'll knock down the door.

Hey, somebody come up and open this door right away.

What's the matter with the doorman?

Is he asleep or else even drunk?

At this point, Peter shows up at the door and says,

Who are you and what do you want?

And Julius says,

Open the door, will you?

And if you were doing your job properly,

it should have been open long ago,

and it should have been decorated with the most beauty of Heaven.

And Peter says,

That's pretty lordly of you,

but first tell me,

who are you?

Now Julius says,

As if you couldn't see for yourself.

And Peter says,

See, what do I see?

What I see is new to me.

And then Julius says,

But if you're not stone blind,

can you not see the triple crown,

as well as my cloak gleaming with gold and gemstones?

And Peter says,

And if you were triply great,

you still wouldn't get in here

unless you were supremely good,

that is holy.

Julius says to this,

Well, if it comes down to comparative holiness,

you have got some nerve to keep me waiting outside.

Because for years,

nobody has called me anything but the most holy.

And Peter says,

The holiness I am talking about

is not given to you by fallen,

is only given to you by fallen men.

But the holiness I am talking about

is the one that the Holy Lord gives you,

that is the Christ.

Now, it's the key of wisdom,

the key of the wisdom of Christ

for the gate of heaven.

It's not by our power and our achievement

that we will gain access to heaven.

It's the grace of Christ.

And the grace of Christ was seen in his crucifixion

and his rising from the dead.

And today we are entering into a time of communion.

We have the elements,

the blood and the bread,

which represents Christ's sacrifice.

And that by his grace,

he has given us access to heaven.

So as we prepare for this time,

I want to highlight three things.

First,

if you are here

and you're not a Christian yet,

if you hold on to the key of power

that you say by my achievements,

but what I am doing,

by the control over my life,

I want to try to gain access to heaven,

then we would ask you

not to take part of the elements.

We believe that the elements are taken

by people that have said,

I'm surrendering my power to Christ.

And I'm relying on the wisdom

that is in knowing Christ

and knowing his sacrifice on the cross

that we participate in this meal.

Secondly,

if you are here

and you have children with you,

then you probably know the best

where they are spiritually,

whether they have accepted Christ

in their lives or not.

And so if they have not done that step,

then we would ask you

to bring them to the front

and explain to them

what this meal is about,

but not for them to participate.

And finally,

if you're here

and you're a Christian

and you're about to participate,

we would ask you

to take a moment

to think about where you are,

examining your heart,

see how the journey has been,

and come before the Lord

in renewing that relationship with him.

So as the communion stewards

get ready,

we'll just take a minute

and pray

and prepare your heart

for communion.

on that night

before Jesus was betrayed,

he had a last meal

with his disciples

and in that meal

he took a piece of bread

and he broke it

and he gave it to his disciples

and he said,

this is my body

broken for you,

the body of Christ,

take and eat.

And in that same meal

he took a cup

and he held it up

and he said,

this is my blood

shed for you

for the forgiveness of sins,

the blood of Christ.

Let me pray.

Father,

we live in a city

that so often relies

on the key of power

and achievements

to open every door.

We just repent from that,

we repent that,

we just try to do everything

by our own strengths

and try to be in control

of our lives so often

and just pray that

we would so much more

turn to the key of wisdom

that is you

and realizing that only you

could close that gap

between us and God

and so just pray that I,

yes,

as we go out

into this week

that just that

the sacrifice

that you brought

would be penetrating

every area of our lives,

our marriages,

our friendships,

our jobs,

our decisions,

and that we would rely

on that key of wisdom

of your death

and resurrection

and how it reconciles us

to us.

We pray this in Christ's name.

Amen.

We now want to

dismiss the kids

to their classes.

So,

if you are

10 or under,

then go this way

and Eric,

the youth are with you

as well.

Okay.

Let me pray

for the kids

as well as they go.

Father,

just pray for the kids

as they go to class

that they would see you

more brightly

and that you just do

your work in their lives.

Amen.

The scripture reading today

comes from the Gospel of Luke.

Please follow along

in your bulletin.

Now,

there was a rich man

and he habitually dressed

in purple and fine linen,

joyously living in splendor

every day.

And a poor man

named Lazarus

was laid at his gate

covered with sores

and longing to be fed

with the crumbs

which were falling

from the rich man's table.

And besides,

even the dogs

were coming

and licking his sores.

Now,

the poor man died

and was carried away

by the angels

to Abraham's bosom.

And the rich man

also died

and was buried.

In Hades,

he lifted up his eyes,

being in torment,

and saw Abraham far away

and Lazarus

in his bosom.

And he cried out

and said,

Father Abraham,

have mercy on me

and send Lazarus

so that he may dip

the tip of his finger

in water

and cool off my tongue

for I am in agony

in this flame.

But Abraham said,

Child,

remember that during your life

you received

your good things

and likewise

Lazarus received

bad things.

but now he is being

comforted here

and you are in agony.

And besides all this

between us and you

there is a great chasm

fixed

so that those who wish

to come over

from here to you

will not be able

and that none may cross over

from there to us.

And he said,

Then I beg you,

Father,

that you send him

to my father's house

for I have five brothers

in order that he may

warn them

so that they will not

come to this place

of torment.

But Abraham said,

They have Moses

and the prophets.

Let them hear them.

But he said,

No,

Father Abraham,

but if someone goes

to them from the dead,

they will repent.

But he said to them,

If they do not listen

to Moses

and the prophets,

they will not be persuaded

even if someone rises

from the dead.

This is God's word.

How are you guys doing?

Come on.

How are you guys doing?

Good?

Is everybody back

from a great

Chinese New Year holiday?

Seems like people

are kind of trickling back in.

I met some people today

the first time here

and they're kind of

trickling back in.

If you are here

for the first time,

wow,

you are like

the nightmare sermon ever,

right?

So you heard it read out there,

it's my first time ever

and we're going to talk

about hell today,

which is everybody's

favorite topic, right?

My name is Tobin Miller.

I'm one of the pastors

here at Watermark.

Watermark has been around

for about two and a half years.

We're kind of on a journey

exploring and walking

with the Lord

and seeing what that means

to fall in love with Christ

as we walk with Him.

If you know anything about me,

a couple things

to start off with.

I'm deaf in one ear.

So I'm deaf in my left ear.

So if you're talking to me

on my left side

and I ignore you

and I walk away,

it's not a guy thing.

It's just a,

I just cannot hear.

I had a massive staph infection

and so,

and even today it happened

and so it's great in bed

because you're sleeping

and you're really tired

and you just lay

on your right side

and you can't hear

what your wife is saying,

right?

And so you go,

I love you.

You go to sleep really well.

So that's,

it's good from that standpoint.

So another thing

that you need to know

about me besides

that I love Diet Coke

occasionally

is that I'm a creature

of habit.

I don't really watch TV

that much,

but when I do,

I usually end up

watching series

or because I want

to understand the journey

into people's stories

and get to know

the characters

and so I get hooked

every once in a while

on a series

and before Christina

and I got married,

I was in seminary

studying

and I got hooked

on this TV show

that I thought

was really unusual.

The idea behind it

was very unique.

The show is called

Early Edition.

I don't know

if you've ever heard of it.

It was 1996

to about 2000.

It lasted four years

and in this movie show,

it takes place

in Chicago

and this guy

named Gary,

Gary is a stock trader,

broker,

and he gets fired.

So I know that never happens

in Hong Kong at all,

but he gets fired

and so he's trying

to figure out

what he wants to do

with his life.

He comes home

and he's no longer interesting

so his girlfriend

leaves him

and so one day

he wakes up

and there is

a morning edition

of Chicago Tribune

in his front door.

And when he pulls

that Tribune out,

he realizes

for some weird reason

that it's the next day's

newspaper.

And so he looks in it

and he sees the news

that hasn't already

happened yet.

He knows what's going

to happen the next day

and so the series

evolves as,

and he still doesn't know

how it gets there,

this orange card

just drops it off

and it's there

and so he spends

the next 24 hours

trying to right

all the wrongs

that are going to happen

that next day

because he already

knows all the wrongs

that are going to happen

in the city

and so he's just

chasing around

trying to get things done

and get people

from getting killed

and corruption

and all these things.

He's trying to prevent

all these things

and it's really interesting.

He has two characters,

two friends.

One is a blind lady

and it's interesting

because it's the blind lady

who always sets him straight

and talks to him

about truth

and then he has

one friend named Chuck

and Chuck always wants

to know

the lottery ticket number.

He wants to know

who won the game

the next day.

He wants to know

what the big lottery number is

so he can place a bet on it

and he can just make millions, right?

He wants to know

what stocks go up 40%

the next day

so he can place money on that

and so Gary is,

he's just kind of

going through life

trying to figure out

and how to stop

and how to change

all these things

that are happening

and I thought about

that passage, you know,

what if we had

an early edition

in our life,

what if you could figure out

what was going to happen

to you

the next day?

Would you want to know?

What if you could figure out

what was going to happen

to you

five minutes

after you died?

Would you want to know that?

That's what the passage

is about today.

The passage today

is an early edition

of Scripture.

Remember,

we're on this journey

in Luke

and we're in Luke 16

and so far,

right now,

contextually,

Jesus is talking

to the Pharisees

and he's getting

in this big argument

and discussion

with the Pharisees.

I didn't write

the verse in here.

I probably should have

verse 15

but verse 15

basically encapsulizes

this whole passage

and Jesus is talking

to these Pharisees,

these leaders

and they're debating them

and they want to live

their life

not according to God's word.

They want to change

God's word

to fit their life.

And Jesus is talking

to them over and over again

that you need to allow

God's word

to change you.

I don't know

if you've ever experienced

that in your life

but usually

as you're talking

or you're journeying

or you're going on a walk

and something happens

and you have this choice

and you know

that it's not against,

you know that it's against

what God wants you to do

but inside,

in your heart,

you feel these words

come up,

but I really want

to do this.

and if I do this,

I will,

I'll be happy.

And it's important

to be happy

and I want

to be happy

and so often

I

change God's word

to fit my life

and my desires.

And Jesus says

that's not how

it should be.

We should allow

God's word

to change us.

In verse 15,

he yells out

at the Pharisees

and he basically

says to them,

you are just men

who are trying

to self-justify

yourselves.

You're trying

to find your identity,

you're trying

to find your value,

you're trying

to find your worth,

you're trying

to find your significance

in what men

think about you.

And then he goes on

and he says,

you know,

God sees your heart

and the things

that please men

are not necessarily

the things

that please God.

Be careful

when you try

to self-justify

yourself.

Be careful

when you try

to get your acceptance

in your identity

from things

besides God.

In verse 19,

he starts off

this story.

And he tells

this story,

it's a parable,

and it's a parable

about a rich man

and a poor man,

and it's about hell,

and I know we don't

like to talk about hell.

Most people,

I think if we took

a survey,

most people don't

believe in hell.

Hell's uncomfortable,

and if there is a hell,

for sure I'm not

going to go there.

Other bad,

bad,

bad people

are going to go there

because I'm 51% good,

and 51% good

is a pass,

and God and I

have this thing

going on,

and God understands me,

and so no one

wants to talk about hell,

but Jesus wants

to talk about hell.

In fact,

he talks about it

more than almost

anything else in the Bible.

He talks about it

over and over and over.

40% of the time

he talks about things.

He talks about money,

he talks about his

kingdom coming,

and he talks about hell,

and so I want to

really briefly look

at this passage,

and the intent of this

is I want to kind of

talk a little fast.

I want to put this

out there.

I want to talk about

three points that I see

in this passage

that are significant.

We will come back

to this passage again,

I promise you.

I won't tell you when

because you won't

want to come if we

come back to it

because you don't

want to talk about hell,

but I think there's

three things that we

see here,

and then my hope is

at the end,

we'll have a Q&A time

because we want the

church to be a family.

We want you to be able

to ask questions.

No question is a bad

question,

so if I say something

that confuses you

or doesn't make sense,

write that down,

ask a question at the end,

so my hope is that

we'll have enough time

to go about talking

and having questions

at the end,

and let's see how that

goes.

There's three things

that stick out to me

in this passage.

The first thing is

that we all have

eternal destinies.

The second thing is

that the choices

that we make today

determine that destiny,

and the third thing

is that Jesus is very,

very concerned

about our destiny.

We all have

eternal destinies.

The choices that we

make today determine

that destiny,

and Jesus is very,

very concerned

about that destiny.

The story goes

that there's a rich man

and a poor man.

They're living very,

very different lives

in verses 19 and 20,

and then they die,

Lazarus,

the poor man,

his body is probably,

according to Hebrew tradition,

his body is probably

picked up,

and it's thrown

in a dump heap,

physically.

But spiritually,

we're told that

he's lifted up by angels

and he's taken to heaven,

and he's in Abraham's bosom.

He's in heaven.

The imagery there

is just like the Last Supper,

that Jesus is laying down

and he's reclining,

and John is laying

on his chest,

and there's this banquet,

there's this party,

and everybody's excited

and they're rejoicing,

and it's an amazing,

amazing time.

And he's being comforted.

It's very interesting.

It doesn't say

he's given a lot of things.

It says he's given comfort.

Now, I don't know

if we think about heaven

very much.

I mean, just think of

the greatest place

you could ever imagine,

the neatest thing

here on earth,

and heaven is a billion

times greater than that

because you're in the

presence of God.

We're going to have jobs.

We're going to have chores.

We're going to do things.

We're going to have fun.

All the great things

that are on earth

are going to be in heaven.

Diet Coke's going to be

in heaven,

and M&M's are going

to be in heaven,

York peppermint patties,

please,

they're going to be in heaven.

All the great things

will be there.

And so,

but our imagination,

God is using these words,

and our minds are like this,

and God's mind is like this,

and he's using these words

that we can try to grasp

our minds around these things.

But he's speaking God talk,

but he's talking to us

as a little child.

And so Lazarus is there,

and he's being comforted.

And then we're told

the story about the rich man.

And the rich man dies,

and he probably has

this incredibly impressive funeral

because as you look

at his lifestyle

and the way he dressed,

he dressed like a king.

He acted like a king.

He ate banquets every day.

He was so busy

with his lifestyle

that he didn't even have time

to go to the church

or to the synagogue.

It says in Scripture

that every day he feasted,

and he did these amazing,

amazing things.

But spiritually,

what we see is that

he runs up,

he ends up in hell.

Now when Jesus' listeners

heard this story,

they would have been

very, very, very disturbed.

They would have been offended.

Because what they would have

wanted to hear was

there was a poor man,

he was poor because

he was sinful,

he was bad,

he didn't trust the Lord,

and when he died,

he went to hell.

And then there was a rich man,

and he dressed finely,

and he had great parties,

and everybody loved to go to them.

He did those things,

of course,

because he was righteous,

and because God loves them,

and God loves righteous people,

and God blesses people with money.

And so when he dies,

he goes to heaven.

I don't know if you think that way,

but a lot of people think that way today

in our world,

and the Pharisees really,

really thought that way.

But it says that the Pharisees

went to hell,

and that would have really

disturbed Jesus' listeners.

There's some things that stick out to me

about this passage

that I want to share with them.

Here's my observations.

The first thing is that hell exists.

It's a real place.

But Jesus isn't just talking about

to scare people.

I mean,

it's not talked about much

in the Bible,

but almost every time

that hell is talked about,

Jesus is the one talking about it.

Did you know that?

Jesus is the one

who talks about love,

and peace,

and joy,

and compassion.

He's the one who's almost

always talking about hell.

He's balancing out those things,

and so it's a real place.

We see that it's a real place.

It's not just an imaginary place.

We see also that it's a place

of pain and suffering.

Verse 24,

he's in agony.

The word is just like

you're getting your skin

flayed off.

There's fire,

but the fire doesn't consume

the person

because the person

is still there.

He's in pain.

Incredible,

incredible pain

and suffering

and destruction,

but he doesn't get destroyed.

He just continues.

It's like a Greek tragedy.

He just continues

to be renewed

and to be destroyed

and renewed

and to be destroyed,

and it's your worst nightmare.

Just think of your worst place

ever you could be.

Think of that terrible place

like South Africa

or Australia.

Where's Graham?

I heard you picked on me

last week, dude.

Or yeah,

even Texas.

Think of the worst place

you could be.

Hell is so much worse

than that.

Hell is so much worse

than that.

Verse 26 says

that hell is a place

of separation.

There's this massive chasm

that separates

good people

from people

who are lost.

And it's eternal.

It's there.

It can't be moved.

People can't go back

and forth.

And when they read this,

people were thinking,

well, who would want

to go back there

to help them?

And there's almost

this understanding

in the literature

that Lazarus

would have done it

if he could have.

but he didn't

because he can't.

And so there's

this massive separation.

You're all by yourself.

It's not that you're

partying there

with all your buddies

and it's a great time

and hell is this

great place,

but you're by yourself

and you're separated.

We also see in this passage

and throughout scripture

that hell is a place

of self-denial,

self-deception.

In verse 28,

he says it over

and over again.

C.S. Lewis wrote

a great book.

It's called

The Great Divorce.

I got it on my Amazon.

I've been reading it again.

Probably the fifth time

I've read it.

I probably should read

about once a year,

once every other year.

It's 144 pages.

It's a very quick

and easy read

and the story

talks about people

who take a bus ride

from hell to heaven

and what C.S. Lewis says

in hell

is that everybody

is angry

and arguing

with each other.

Everybody blames

each other

for the reason

that they're there

and the passage

says the same thing

in verse 28.

Abraham is blamed

for the rich man

being there.

He says,

if you had told me

all these things,

if you had sent

an image to me,

if you had sent

somebody from the dead

like I want you

to do to my brother,

then surely

I wouldn't be here.

It's your fault

that I'm here.

It's not my fault.

You didn't give me a sign.

I wish you had given me

a sign.

We also see that

hell is this place

where you're

totally self-deceived.

You notice the rich man,

he's still ordering

Lazarus around?

Do you see that

in the passage?

He's still saying,

hey, send him here,

send him there,

do these things.

I mean,

it's almost like

your boss who's fired,

he comes back

into your office

and he keeps ordering

you around

and you're like,

you're fired.

But that's what

Lazarus does.

I mean,

the rich man,

he thinks he's still

in control.

He's totally self-deceived.

He doesn't realize

where he's at.

Do you see the rich man?

And this really

is amazing.

The rich man,

you see what he doesn't do?

Abraham,

he never asks

for forgiveness

from Abraham

or Lazarus.

Do you notice that?

He never asks

for forgiveness.

He never apologizes

to Lazarus

for how he treated him.

He doesn't ask

to get out of hell.

I mean,

he can ask

any question

and he doesn't ask

to get out of hell.

It's almost as if

he's happy

to be there.

Paul in the book

of Romans

says it this way.

He says that

people are in hell

because they want to be.

People are in hell

because they choose it.

We see later on

that he says

that hell is eternal

and it means

that there's no universalism.

Sometimes in the church

you hear these words

called universalism

and it basically is

God is love

and in the end

love wins

and eventually

everybody goes to heaven.

No one goes

to the bad place.

It's great.

We're all universalist.

But the Bible

doesn't say that.

The Bible doesn't say that.

The Bible says

it's appointed

on the man

once to live

and then judgment.

The passage

doesn't say

that we're just

annihilated.

Sometimes in church

and especially

in the mission field

when you see people

and they're lost

and you're crying

and you're hurting

and you're thinking

how can this happen?

I don't understand this.

Maybe God's just

going to send people

for a while

and he's going

to suffer them

for a while.

My family

and my mom's side

are all Jehovah Witnesses

and this is what

they believe about

everybody else

who's not a Jehovah Witness.

Eventually

you just get annihilated.

You just get destroyed.

Which isn't that bad, right?

I mean it's better

than burning forever.

But the Bible

doesn't say that.

The passage

doesn't say that.

There's no such thing

as annihilation.

The passage

doesn't say that

there's such thing

as purgatory.

Maybe some of you

grew up in a church

and you realize

I died.

I go to this little

holding area

and then I work off

my sins.

We were walking

through Switzerland

right after Christine

and I got married

and we walked up

to this Catholic church

and on the outside

it said

this is the year

of Jubilee

and everybody

who enters

into this church

you get

two million years

off of purgatory.

I figured

well hey

what's going on in?

I got that going

for me, right?

Purgatory's the place

where you go

when you work off

your bad deeds.

But the Bible

never says

anything like that.

That's adding on

to grace

in Christ.

And the Bible

doesn't say

we can go to purgatory.

The Bible says

that there's no such thing

as reincarnation.

That when you die

there's just a judgment.

It's final.

It's just there.

And the last thing

I want us to see

about hell

when you go there

and I think we need

to talk about this

in a church

because I have

a really hard time

with this.

God isn't laughing

at people in hell.

I mean I think

sometimes in a church

we get so prideful

and smug

and I'm there

so you should be there

and if you're not there

you deserve to go to hell

and the pictures

we see in the museums

are God

dinging people

over the fire

and oh no no

don't burn me up

and we just think

well God's really happy

that everybody's burning

and everybody's going to hell

and the Bible

and the Bible doesn't say that.

The Bible says

that God weeps

at people going to hell

and we need to also.

So everybody has a destination.

The next thing

that sticks out to me

is that our choices today

determine our destination.

It's very interesting

because again

he's almost going back

to verse 15

about where are you

finding your identity?

Who are you finding

your significance in?

These are the choices

that justify yourself.

There's almost a sense

what he's asking is

what names you?

What names you?

Because Lazarus

in this passage

he's the only person

in 38 parables

and stories

that Jesus gives a name to.

Lazarus' name

Eleazar

Lazarus' name

means

God is my help.

And when you look

at Lazarus' life

he has nothing.

He has no choices.

He has no significance.

The only thing he knows

is he's laid at the door

and he's praying

that someone

would take care of him

and I always

that weird

that name weirds me out

because you go up to him

and he's covered with sores

and he's begging

and you go

hey dude

here's some food.

What's your name?

Lazarus.

What?

God is your help?

Come on.

Your parents

could pick a better name

than that.

What?

But Lazarus knew

that the only thing

that he had to rely on

the only thing

that he could depend on

the only thing

that he could trust

was God.

The only thing

that he could find

his identity in

the only thing

he could find

his significance in

the only thing

he could find

his purpose in

was God.

He had nothing else.

I often ask my questions

like myself

this question

when I go through my day

is

who is my help?

What am I depending on?

What am I asking

to get my significance

out of?

What do I want

to get my approval from?

Who's my help?

Well the rich man

you know where

his help is.

We're told in verse 19

that his help

his hope

his identity

is found in his wealth

and in his lifestyle

and his comfort

his status

his reputation

his heritage

he says

Father Abraham

I'm a Jew

come save me

Father Abraham

he's playing the race card

he's playing the heritage card

save me

save me

I mean he dresses

in such a way

that only kings

would dress this way

habitually means

always continually

purple was a very rare color

only for kings

the linen

when he says fine linen

the Greek word

is busos

which it actually

means is his underwear

so his underwear

is from the finest linen

in Egypt

the linen

was so fine

that one ounce

of that linen

cost more than

one ounce of gold

in Jesus' day

so he's wearing

expensive underwear

he's wearing

expensive everything else

and his hope

his significance

his personality

his identity

are all found

in what people

think about him

and how he's viewed

and what he does

why is the rich man

in hell?

is it because he's rich?

no

Abraham was one

of the richest people

in the Bible

he's talking to Abraham

Abraham had money

more money

than you could count

he's in hell

because he turned

away from God's word

he turned away

from God

his actions

and how he lived

out his life

pointed to a problem

that was in his heart

God gave him

God gave us

all these resources

and he wants us

to use these resources

to love

and care

and reach out

to the people

who don't

have

those resources

and the rich man

didn't want

to do that

why is Lazarus

laid out his door

every day?

in Greek

it says

every day

he's laid there

why?

because culturally

everybody expected

the rich man

to take care of him

it's the reason

God gave him

an abundance

of everything

not so that

he can keep it

for himself

and spend it

on himself

and use it

on himself

like he did

but it was so

he could take care

of people around him

who couldn't

take care of themselves

that's why Lazarus

is laid at his door

every day

that's why Lazarus

is laid

at our door

every day

I wonder what

the rich man

felt

or thought

when he saw

Lazarus

there

every day

and he walked

over him

I wonder

what the excuses

were that he used

every day

not to reach out

to him

you know

if I help him

who knows

how many more

people are going

to come

because you just

help a beggar

and more beggars

come

and if I help

Lazarus

then just how

many more

people are going

to come

it's going

to get overwhelming

I'm not going

to be able

to control it

I mean

if I really

don't have

the time

for this

I'm so busy

running from

appointment

to appointment

in banquet

in food

I just don't

have the time

to focus

on him

what if

he's cheating

me

what if

he's really

not sick

won't I

look foolish

what if

it's God's

will

for him

to be

starving

that's it

God's

will

for him

to be

starving

if I

help

I'm

going

to

mess

up

God's

will

I

better

not

do it

I'm

going to

walk

on

I wonder

what excuses

the rich man

used

every day

as God

continued to

give him

resources

to reach out

to the

people

and he

hoarded

them

to himself

we're told

in verse

25

as Abraham

talks to

the rich man

you've made

your choices

remember child

that during

your life

you receive

these things

and now

Lazarus

is

the rich man's

problem was

his heart

his heart

was cold

and hard

to God

it wasn't

that he

was wealthy

the book of

Romans says

it like this

that eventually

God gives

everybody

their heart's

desire

whatever

you desire

eventually

God will

give that

to you

C.S. Lewis

in his book

again says

that's what

hell is

sin is

saying

go away

God

I want to

do this

by myself

I don't

need you

and hell

is eventually

God saying

okay

you can do

whatever you

want

I'm not

going to

be around

you anymore

the rich man

struggled

with the

resources

that God

gave him

he didn't

want God

to be

Lord

or King

or he

didn't

want to

obey

God

and God

said

okay

you don't

have to

some people

would say

that hell

is your

final choice

that God

gives you

fully

and truly

my experience

in life

is

that if I

live

with my

eye on

comfort

if I

live with

my eye

on comfort

and wealth

I tend

to bend

God's

word

and I

don't

obey

what he

wants me

to do

the other

thing that I

see in this

passage is

basically that

your outward

appearances

are not

very good

indicators

of our

eternal

reality

your outward

appearances

are not

good

indicators

of where

you spend

eternity

the choices

you make

today

determine

your destiny

and the

last thing

that sticks

out to me

and it

sticks out

to me

and hits

me in the

head

is basically

this

is that

Jesus

is very

concerned

about our

destinies

he's so

concerned

I mean

think about

this

Jesus

is telling

this story

he's telling

it to us

and he's

telling it

to men

who eventually

within a

week

they're going

to crucify

him

so he's

basically

telling this

story

as a

warning

as an

early

addition

to men

who are

eventually

going to

kill him

we're told

that he's

going to

approach

Jerusalem

and when

he sees

this city

he laughs

at everybody

in it

who's going

to go

to hell

no

we're told

that he

weeps

when he

sees how

lost

people are

without

God

he enters

the city

he weeps

he's falsely

accused

he's beaten

he's tortured

he's mocked

he's crucified

we're told

that the

physical pain

which is

amazing

and incredible

if you ever

study about

being crucified

it's terrible

but we're

told in

scripture

is that the

physical pain

is nothing

compared to

the spiritual

pain

he's on the

cross

my God

my God

why have you

forsaken me

he doesn't say

the nails hurt

really bad

he doesn't say

the crown makes me

feel uncomfortable

he says

God

how come

you've turned

your back

on me

and as he

does that

he's looking

at us

and you

can almost

hear

for Tobin

for Susie

for Andrew

for Mike

for Gary

the passage

says that

Christ

is totally

forsaken

by God

he dies

and many

people believe

that for three

days he goes

to hell

so that you

and I

will never

have to

the question

is

do we

accept that

do we

accept it

we all

have a

destiny

the choices

we make

today

determine

our destiny

Jesus

is very

very

very

concerned

about our

destiny

so what

does this

tell us

about Jesus

love for us

you know

if hell

isn't real

then Jesus

love and

sacrifice

on the cross

it really

doesn't mean

that much

does it

I mean

if we're all

just going to

get to heaven

it's kind

of stupid

I mean

his love

if it doesn't

involve a

sacrifice

all true

love

involves

sacrifice

just try to

love your

kids

and love

your wife

and love

your husband

but if

his love

for us

doesn't

involve a

sacrifice

then it

means nothing

but if

hell is

real

and the

crucifixion

is real

then his

sacrifice

and his

love