What Happens When an Unsaved Person Dies?
Series: The Other Side of Death
Luke 16:19-31
Sermon by Rick Crandall
McClendon Baptist Church - Feb. 28, 2010
*Updated Oct. 16, 2011 for Grayson Baptist Church
INTRODUCTION:
*Red Adair was the oil field firefighter made famous by a 1968 John Wayne movie called “Hellfighters.” After the first Gulf War, Red Adair led the effort to stop the terrible oil fires set by Saddam Hussein’s retreating army.
*Adair was brash and fearless. In 1991, he joked that it would be no different after he died. He said, “I’ve made a deal with the devil. -- The devil is going to give me an air-conditioned place when I go down there, if I go there, so I won’t put all the fires out.” (1)
*Red Adair died at the age of 89, and unless he trusted in the Lord, he has found out first-hand that no one can put out the fires of hell. Hell is no joke. What happens when an unsaved person dies?
1. Jesus wants us to know, so in these verses He shows us the REALITY of Hell. (vs. 22-26)
*We can see the reality of hell starting in vs. 22, where Jesus said:
22. “So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
23. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
*Don’t be confused by the word “Hades” in the NKJ and other modern translations. Verse 23 in the KJV says that the rich man was in hell, and he surely was. But in the original language, “Hades” in general was the unseen place of the dead. And Bible-believing Christians have different views about what Hades contained before the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.
*Here is my Biblical understanding of Hades: Before Jesus went back to Heaven, Hades included a temporary place of rest for Old Testament believers. This place was called “Paradise” or in this passage, “Abraham’s Bosom.” And this is where the Lord’s soul went during the 3 days His body lay in the grave.
*Listen to what Jesus told the unbelieving Jews when they asked for a sign in Matt 12:
39. He answered and said to them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
*At that time, Paradise or Abraham’s bosom was in Hades. In Acts 2, Peter was preaching on the Day of Pentecost, and speaking about Jesus, Peter said:
23. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death;
24. Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it.
25. For David says concerning Him: ’I foresaw the Lord always before My face, for He is at My right hand, that I may not be shaken.
26. Therefore My heart rejoiced, and My tongue was glad; moreover My flesh also will rest in hope.
27. For You will not leave My soul in Hades (the KJ says “hell”), nor will you allow Your Holy One to see corruption.
*The Holy Spirit spoke that prophecy about Jesus a thousand years before the cross. As Peter explained in Acts 2:31, “He (i.e. David), foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.
*When Jesus went back to Heaven, He took all of those Old Testament saints with Him. Listen to how Paul put it in Eph 4:7-9 (from the NASV):
7. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
8. Therefore it (i.e. Psalm 68:18) says, “When He ascended on high, He led captive a host of captives, and He gave gifts to men.”
9. (Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into the lower parts of the earth?
*When Jesus died on the cross, Hades had two compartments: One was Abraham’s Bosom. Then, across a great gulf in Hades was the place we usually think of as “hell.” Sometimes in the original language it was called “Gehenna.” THAT was the place of suffering fire for the lost. And that is where the lost rich man was sent.
*It was a real place. It is a real place. The Bible does not teach that Hell is a mythical or symbolic place. Abraham was a real person in this story. So was Lazarus. So was the rich man, even if we don’t know his name.
*Hell is a real place. And in vs. 23&24, Jesus tells us that it is a place of great suffering.
[1] We see physical anguish:
23. And being in torments in Hades, (the rich man) lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
[2] Then in vs. 25, we see emotional anguish.
-“Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented.’”
*Hell will be a place of continuous regret.
-In Hell you will not forget the things you have lost.
-You will not forget the way you wasted your life.
-You will not forget the missed opportunities to turn to God.
[3] We see physical anguish, emotional anguish, and in vs. 26 we see eternal anguish.
-There Abraham told the rich man, “Besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.”
*People in hell will have the torment of knowing what could have been, -- and what will never be. Forever and ever there will be no possible hope of escape.
*As James Merritt once said, “The road to hell is a one way street.” -- No hope of escape. (2)
*Hell is a hopeless place. And it is a dangerously close place for lost people. The rich man died and he went to hell. How far did he have to go?
*The worst battle of the Civil War was Gettysburg. Between 8 and 12 thousand men were killed in the terrible battle that took place early in July of 1863. Over 30,000 more were wounded and another 10,000 men went missing.
*As the Confederate army retreated, one overwhelmed soldier yelled out, “Hell is not a half-mile from here!” (3)
*No one can locate the exact location of hell on a map. But it’s not more than a half mile away from any unsaved person. In fact, it may be only one breath away or one heartbeat away.
*People we know are headed to hell. Jesus Christ cares about these people, so He shows us the reality of hell.
2. And Jesus shows us the way to be RESCUED by God.
*Why did the beggar get to go to Abraham’s Bosom? How was the poor man saved? -- In this story we find 3 keys to being rescued by God.
-The first key is in vs. 27-30, where the lost man pleaded for his brothers.
27. Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
28. for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
29. Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’
30. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’
[1] How was the poor man saved? -- He repented. This word means he changed his mind. At some point the beggar changed his mind about sin, and he changed his mind about God. He turned away from selfishness, sin and self-righteousness. And he turned to God.
[2] How was the poor man saved? -- He not only repented, he also responded to God’s Word. We see this second crucial key in vs. 31, where Abraham told the lost man, “If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’
*No one can be saved without responding to the good news of salvation contained in God’s Word. -- In the Old Testament it was the promise of the coming Messiah who would save all who trusted in Him.
-For example in Psalm 22, he was the suffering Messiah who went through agony for His people. There we read these prophecies of the coming Christ:
1. My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? Why are You so far from helping Me, And from the words of My groaning?
16. The assembly of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet;
18. They divide My garments among them, And for My clothing they cast lots.
*These prophecies and hundreds more were fulfilled by Jesus Christ when He came into the world and died on the cross for our sins.
*Another great place to see the Messiah in the Old Testament is in Psalm 23, where He is the Good Shepherd who will take care of His flock forever. So believers can say:
4. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
5. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
6. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.
*We can say these things, but only if we respond to the Word of God.
*Listen to this testimony from Timothy Proctor:
-One day when I was sitting down in the Park, a young man walked up to me while I was reading my Bible. This man shared with me that he had no faith in the Bible. And he said, “I believe the Bible is nothing more than a book of escapes.”
*I replied, “I agree with you. The Bible is a book of absolute escape.
-People who read and believe the Bible can escape death, for the Bible says that whosoever believes in Jesus “shall not perish, but have everlasting life.’
-People who read and believe the Bible can escape loneliness, for God said, ‘I will never leave you, nor forsake you.’
-People who read and believe the Bible can escape fear, for the Bible says, ‘God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and a sound mind.’ (4)
[3] How was the poor man saved? He repented and he responded to God’s Word, but he also relied on God.
*We even see a hint of this in his name, because the name “Lazarus” in vs. 20 literally means “God is my helper.” This poor beggar was trusting in the Lord, so he was saved! And when he died in vs. 22, he “was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.”
*When you die, you will be carried by the angels straight to Heaven, if you have repented, responded to God’s Word, and relied on God.
-Jesus shows us the way to be rescued by God.
3. And He shows us the ROAD to hell.
*How did this rich man wind up in hell?
-Yes, he ignored the beggar at his gate, but other than that he seemed like a pretty nice fellow.
-He was probably well respected in his community.
-He seemed to genuinely care about the salvation of his family.
*How did the rich man wind up in hell? -- We have to look at the background to this story. In Luke 16 Jesus was talking to His disciples. Notice what He said in vs. 13-15:
13. “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (or worldly riches).”
14. Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and they derided Him.
15. And He said to them, "You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
*When Jesus told the story of the rich man in hell, He was responding to these hard-hearted, self-righteous, money-hungry, Christ-rejecting Pharisees. Just like the rich man, they were on the road to hell.
*How did the rich man wind up in hell? -- James Merritt explained the difference between the lost rich man and the saved beggar:
-“The major difference between these two men was not that one was rich and the other was poor. Don’t get the idea that one man was condemned because he was rich, and the other man was condoned because he was poor. It is not a vice to be rich and it is not a virtue to be poor.
*Some of the greatest and godliest men in the Bible were rich. Joseph was the Prime Minister of Egypt. -- David and Solomon were two of the richest rulers who ever lived, but they all had a deep love for God.
*The difference between these two men was not what they owned, but what owned them.
-You see, the problem was, the rich man had everything except God and he was satisfied. -- The poor man had nothing but God, and he was saved.
*The rich man was in hell not because he did not give bread to Lazarus, but rather because he had never accepted the Bread of Life. The rich man never repented. He had never placed his faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
*These two men were divided by a spiritual decision. -- One had decided to surrender his life to the Lord, and the other one had decided not to.
-One loved gold and the other loved God, and it was that difference that made all the difference in the world. (2)
*Jesus shows us the road to hell.
4. And He shows us our RESPONSIBILITY to help people avoid hell. (vs. 27-28)
*The urgency that we see in vs. 27&28 is real. -- What man could know better than someone who was already in hell? -- And the lost man told Abraham:
27. ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house,
28. for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’
*There was great urgency.
-But sadly, it was too late for the rich man to do anything to help.
-It was also too late for the saved beggar to help.
-But it’s not too late for us to help!
*God wants us to see our responsibility to help keep people out of hell.
-God wants all people to be saved.
*This is what He clearly said through Peter: “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
-And when Paul asked Timothy to pray, he said: “God wants all people to be saved!” (1 Tim 2:1-4)
*We can tell people that they don’t have to go to hell.
-We can tell them that God loves them so much, He sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross for their sins.
-We can tell them that Jesus rose from the dead and wants to give them everlasting life.
-We can tell them that all of their sins will be forgiven, if they will turn to God and receive Jesus as Savior and Lord.
*There is great urgency.
-Herschel Hobbs once told about Pastor Roger Shelton from Nashville, TN.
*Roger was in Pusan, Korea, on an evangelistic mission, when he visited a man who had creeping paralysis.
-Both of his legs were paralyzed and the disease was threatening his life.
*Roger entered the dimly lit room and found the man crouched on the floor.
-Through an interpreter, he told the Korean he had come to talk with him about Jesus.
*The Korean man replied, “I know. I have been waiting for you a long time.”
-The interpreter responded that they had arrived at the appointed time.
-But the Korean man explained: “That is not what I meant.
*My people are Buddhist and I have been a Buddhist, but Buddha gives me no comfort.”
-Then he pointed to a Korean Bible. He noted that he had read through it twice.
-“It tells of a great One. I have waited for someone to come and tell me more about him.”
*He said that he had believed that if the Bible was true, God would send someone to tell him.
-Roger told the man about Jesus, and he trusted in the Lord.
*As they were leaving, the man thanked them for coming.
-But Roger said that the man’s final words shook every fiber of his being:
-The Korean man said: “You almost waited too long.” (5)
*There is great urgency. No one knows this better than God. This is why Jesus shows us:
-The reality of hell.
-The road to hell.
-The way to be rescued.
-And our responsibility to help.
*If you are a Christian, start praying that God would give you a greater sense of urgency. We all need a greater sense of urgency. I need a greater sense of urgency.
*Make a fresh commitment to do all you can to reach people for Jesus.
*And if you have never trusted in the Lord.
-Now is the time to repent.
-Now is the time to respond to God’s Word.
-Now is the time to rely on God by receiving Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
*You can do that right now, as we go to God in prayer.
1. Lee Eclov, “Obituaries,” Chicago Tribune, 8/10/04, preachingtoday.com - Found in “Taking the Lid off Hell - A Preview of Things to Come – Part IV” by Stephen Davey - Revelation 14:10-11 - 4/12/2009 - Copyright 2009
2. Adapted from ChristianGlobe.com sermon “The Great Divide” by James Merritt - Luke 16:19-31
3. Adapted from story by Cecil Taylor found in “Proclaim” -- Original source unknown
4. Adapted from SermonCentral sermon “Who Do You Think You Are” by Timothy Proctor - Luke 18:9-14
5. Herschel H. Hobbs, My Favorite Illustrations (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1990). (Found in Dynamic Preaching sermon “NOBODY WANTS TO MAKE COLD CALLS” by King Duncan - Luke 10:1-11, 16-20 - July 8, 2001) (DPjul201)
