THERE ARE NO ATHEISTS IN HELL
Luke 16:22-29
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: ONLY HEARING ONE SIDE
1. A Judge was about to swear in a member of a jury when he was told that the man was deaf in one ear.
2. “You really can’t serve on the jury.” “Why not?”
3. “Because you can only hear one side!” We’re going to look at an area where people often only hear one side.
B. TEXT
22 The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he was in torment, HE LOOKED UP AND SAW Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, HAVE PITY ON ME and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’ 25 But Abraham replied, [he couldn’t.] 27 “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers. LET HIM WARN THEM, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.’
C. THESIS
1. PEW Research Center did a survey of religion in America (Aug. 2021) and found that those who identified with NO religion have grown to 29%, up from 23% in 2016, and 19% in 2011. This segment is growing rapidly and some experts say it may become the largest segment of the population.
2. What can you do about this? First realize that these aren’t evil or bad people, but just people who haven’t found a reason to believe in God. Maybe WE can give them a reason!
3. Probably everyone here knows someone who would call themselves atheists or people with “no religion.” As Peter said, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” 1 Pet. 3:15.
4. So tonight we’re going to step back and size up these people and hope to learn how to reach them before it’s too late. “There Are No Atheists in Hell” because all of them became believers, just too late!
I. 3 REASONS THERE’S NO ATHEISTS IN HELL
A. BECAUSE ALL IN HELL ARE FINALLY “SEEING”
1. Intellectuals, scientists, and common people have signed-on to the concept of denying anything beyond the physical realm: Heaven, Hell, spirits, angels, life after death, and God. This creed is their religion; it frees them from ‘morality’ and ‘accountability to God.’ This life is all there is; after that is extinction. So they don’t have to even think about God.
2. But the Bible clearly teaches all these are real. After death believers are escorted to Heaven and unbelievers suddenly wake up in Hell. That’s what Jesus described in comparing two men who died (Lk. 16:19-31).
3. The rich man, waking up, found himself in the Hell he had before mocked and ignored. Now this practicing atheist was a believer; he “looked and saw” it all. The Bible says that even the “demons believe—and tremble,” Jam. 2:19, GW.
B. BECAUSE ALL IN HELL ARE PRAYING
1. Hell is not a place of “no prayer.” There are more prayers offered in Hell than in most churches. People who never prayed much on Earth will pray often in hell. Sad Truth? -- their prayers will NOT be answered!
2. NOW IS THE TIME TO PRAY! If you're ever going to pray, PRAY NOW! Now is the time God will hear & answer your prayers. We ought to flood these altars with prayer. Don't wait until you get to hell to pray!
C. BECAUSE ALL IN HELL WANT TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL
1. The rich man had never cared about lost souls or missions before. He’d probably never sponsored a missionary. But when he woke up in Hell, he suddenly cared if people went to hell or not. He wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to warn them (vs 28).
2. The rich man became very fervent about his family's salvation. He wanted to send a missionary to his brothers, so they might be saved and not join him in Hell!
3. Some of you haven't been concerned for the lost. Maybe you need a quick trip to Hell to give you some incentive! Maybe then you’d become burdened, unable to rest until they’re won. Maybe then you’d give generously or go yourself to win them for Jesus!
II. CHRISTIANITY IS A RATIONAL FAITH BASED ON EVIDENCE
GOD HAS LEFT US SUFFICIENT EVIDENCE TO MAKE A RATIONAL DECISION TO SURRENDER OUR LIVES TO HIM.
A. GOD’S EFFORTS TO INFORM US OF HIS LAWS
1. GOD WROTE HIS LAWS IN CREATION ITSELF. Rom. 1:20, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.”
2. GOD INTERVENED IN HISTORY TO LEAVE A LASTING LEGACY. God used the nation of Israel to establish His faith and show how He deals with us as humans. 2 Sam. 7:23, “Israel—the one nation on earth that God went out to redeem as a people for Himself, AND TO MAKE A NAME FOR HIMSELF, and to perform great and awesome wonders…” & SENT HIS SON!
3. GOD PUBLISHED HIS WORD IN THE BIBLE. More Bibles have been printed than any other book, in more languages than any other book, and is older than any other religious book! More than 5 billion (as of 1/1/19) copies into 3,350 languages.
4. GOD WROTE HIS LAWS ON OUR HEARTS. Even those who’ve never heard the Gospel have it written on their hearts, “...written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness...” Rom. 2:15. We all have an innate sense of right and wrong, at least, when born.
5. GOD ALSO GAVE THE HOLY SPIRIT TO SPEAK TO US and to try to persuade us to do what is right. Gen. 6:3.
B. CLEAR WITNESSES OF GOD IN NATURE “God has not left himself without witness...” Acts 14:17.
1. COMPLEXITY POINTS TO DESIGNER
a. BRAIN. In man is a 3 pound brain which has a 100 billion neurons intricately linked to each other. The total number of connections in the brain approaches 1015 or 1,000 million million.
b. DNA. A one-celled bacterium, E. coli, is estimated to contain the equivalent of 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica, (1012). This is more information than the total writings of the classic Greek civilization (109), and the holdings of the three largest libraries in the world (Oxford, New York, Moscow) have only 1013.
c. EYE. Your retina is thinner than paper, yet its tiny surface (only 1 inch square) contains 137 million light-sensitive cells. These retina cells perform up to 10 billion calculations per second in determining the nature of the image transmitted to the eye by light photons. No supercomputer on earth is capable of matching these virtually instantaneous calculations.
2. PHYSICAL LAWS: NOT COINCIDENTAL
a. “The universe and the laws of physics seem to have been specifically designed for us. If any one of about 40 physical qualities had more than slightly different values, life as we know it could not exist” Stephen Hawking, Austin American-Statesman, 10/19/97.
b. “[O]ur own universe...appears to be fantastically well designed for our own existence. This specialness is not something we can attribute to lucky accidents, which is far too unlikely. The apparent coincidences cry out for explanation.” Leonard Susskind [The Cosmic Landscape (2005); he is a father of String Theory].
3. VASTNESS OF OUR UNIVERSE
a. On Mount Palomar, there’s a 200-inch telescope. Astronomers looked through it at the cup of the Big Dipper. In the cup of the Big Dipper they estimate there are one million galaxies like our galaxy, the Milky Way. One of the furthest stars is a quasar; it generates enough power, in one second, to fuel all the needs of the world for one million years—just in one second. It’s 90 billion trillion miles away. Who made it all? How did it get there, so orderly?
b. This is what turned a young atheist, Albert Einstein, into a believer in God. In 1932, Albert Einstein was an atheist; but, in 1950, he said, “I cannot be an atheist. There is a God; there has to be a God.”
4. God HAS NOT left Himself without witness. He has put the evidence of His reality before all the world, if they care to examine it with an open mind.
III. WHAT SHOULD WE SAY TO UNBELIEVERS?
A. YOU HAVE A COURT APPEARANCE SCHEDULED
1. "For we all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ" (2 Cor. 5:10). God has set this date for YOU!
2. In God's courtroom, all people are sinners. And the only way to be "justified" before God is to have your sins washed away. This is why the Son of God left Heaven and came to Earth. Only Christ could pay for our sins and wash them away with His blood. This is why He died. He was punished in our place. Forgiveness is only granted to a person who trusts in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins.
3. Your sins may not seem like a big deal to you right now, but the Bible makes it clear that it IS a huge deal. In fact, nothing is bigger. This is why the cross is so important for your day in court. You need the benefits Jesus earned on the cross. These benefits are given to those who repent of their sins and accept Christ as Savior. Without Christ, you don't stand a chance!
B. THIS IS A LIMITED TIME OFFER
1. There are plenty of atheists and unbelievers on Earth today, but there is not one atheist in Hell!
2. EVERY SINGLE PERSON WILL CONFESS JESUS AS LORD, EITHER NOW, OR IN JUDGMENT. At the Judgment, it will be too late to save yourself. It’s better to do it now.
3. “God exalted him to the highest place...that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and EVERY TONGUE acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” Phip. 2:9-11.
4. The Bible tells us that once we die, we can’t change the direction we’re going (Heb. 9:27). Now is the time to make that decision.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: Waiting Too Late
1. True Story. A lady who had been a street madam and drug dealer was gloriously saved by Christ. She began attending church.
2. Her husband’s name was Chuck, and he started coming to church with her, most of the time. He was under heavy conviction & the pastor made several attempts to speak to him about his soul.
3. He was receptive, but wouldn’t take the final step of asking Christ into his heart. He finally told his wife that he was going to go forward and be saved the next Sunday. That was on Thursday night that he made the statement.
4. On Friday at about lunch he was preparing his lunch and home alone and needed another ingredient for his meal. So he got in his truck and drove about four blocks to the corner market. He was a notoriously fast driver.
5. On the return trip, a semi truck was across the street backing into a drive, and Chuck came around the corner at a high rate of speed and crashed.
6. He was instantly decapitated. The Pastor met the wife at the emergency room. He’ll never forget her cry; "Pastor he waited too long!" (James Avery)
B. THE CALL
1. How many people will miss heaven because they waited too long to fully surrender to Christ? How many will cry from hell for one more chance, but it will not be given.
2. Q – What can you do about this? Who do you know who call themselves atheists or “no religion?” We have a mission – to reach them. Don’t fear witnessing to them; you just plant the seed and God will make it grow!
[Some thoughts are from Dan Delzell in his article of the same name.]
