When the Roll is Called Down Yonder
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, 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, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’ 27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family, 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.’ 30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’ 31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-31
Intro: One of the main beliefs that all Christians agree upon is that there is life after death.
That is one of the central teachings of the Bible.
Jesus died so that “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” John 3:16.
Jesus Himself said, “I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live, even though they die” John 11:25.
So, every Christian believes that there is life after death.
Baptism is a symbol of the death burial and resurrection to eternal life.
So one of the first things you do as a new believer
is affirm your belief that you have been saved from your sin
and have been raised to from the death that sin causes to eternal life in Christ Jesus your savior.
Beyond this life is life everlasting are two places.
Heaven and Hell.
After you die you are going to spend eternity in one of these two places.
You might be thinking, preacher I am a Christian, I am going to heaven, why should I be thinking about hell.
Understanding that there is both a heaven and a hell
Gives you an appreciation for what you have been saved out of.
That you don’t have to go to this terrible place.
One of the reasons we need to learn more about hell
is because the more we understand how awful hell is
the more we will want to do all we can to make sure that other people don’t go there.
Another reason is one of the biggest excuses for people not coming to church is because
They say, “they don’t want to go to church because it is full of hypocrites.’
Just ask them, then why do they want to go to hell, do they understand that hell is going to be full of hypocrites?
I fear that way too many people believe that God is too good and God is too kind to send the unbeliever to hell.
There is nothing wrong with walking in the fear of the Lord.
There is a lack of the fear of the Lord in the Church today.
Many Christians live like there is no hell to avoid or fear.
Psalms 89:7 says “In the council of the Holy ones, God is greatly feared.”
In the church of believers God is greatly to be feared.
The Hebrew word used for fear there means to shake and tremble.
So how many of us really shake and tremble at the Lord?
How many of us have a healthy fear of the Almighty God?
There are many people who try to explain away hell.
They will say, “Hell is just a state of mind. Hell is not a real place.”
Hell is just separation from God.
That doesn’t sound so bad.
After all they have lived all their life separated from God.
So what’s the big deal?
Some people even believe that after death you just cease to exist.
That life is all there is.
When you die you just die and there is nothing more.
There are a lot of people who buy into this belief but they are absolutely wrong.
Even if they are right I don’t want to steak my eternal life on the possibility that they are right
And come to find out they and I am wrong
And now I end up spending eternity in hell.
For they are wrong. Jesus said in Matthew 25:46
“And these shall go into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal.”
The same Greek word used to describe life eternal
is the same Greek word used to describe everlasting punishment.
So both everlasting life in heaven
And everlasting life in hell are described using the same word.
There is less and less preaching about hell in the main stream churches.
Particularly in the United Methodist Church I would guess you would be hard pressed to find a sermon
Published recently by a United Methodist on the subject of hell.
After all we don’t want to scare the children.
We certainly don’t want to run off any adults either.
So, most of the time we avoid teaching and preaching about hell all together.
I would hate to have to stand before God and have to answer to Him
When He asks, “Why did you not warn my children about hell?”
And my only answer be, “I thought it was too scary to talk to them about.”
So, today we embark on the subject of “When the Roll is Called Down Yonder.”
I. It is far more difficult to go to hell than what most people think
“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day.
20 At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores
21 and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.
The rich man had every means to do good.
He had purple clothes which purple was expensive.
So he was a person of great means and ability.
He was accustom to fine dining.
Every day he lived in abundance and luxury.
Lazarus was laid at his gate daily.
22 “The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side.
Carried by angels in Luke 16:22 “The poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s side.”
The bible often tell us how God uses His angels to take care of us.
One story that stand out in my mind is the story of about Elisha and his young servant in 2 Kings Chapter 6.
The King of Aram had just sent a great army of horses and chariots to surround Elisha’s house.
They stuck up in the middle of the night and had it totally encircled.
In the morning when Elisha’s servant went out.
He saw all the horses and chariots and army of Aram, he nearly passed out.
He ran back in totally panicked.
Elisha wake up. We are surrounded by the enemy.
What are we going to do?
Elisha said, don’t be afraid.
There are more for us than against us.
I can hear him saying, “What do you mean Elisha? It is just you and me. I saw thousands of them.”
Elisha prayed, “Lord open his eyes and let him see.”
All of a sudden the young man looked out and saw hundreds of thousands of warning angels all across the mountain side.
He thought he was surrounded by the enemy.
The truth is the enemy was surrounded by our God.
I’m not surrounded by the enemy.
The enemy is surrounded by our God.
Like him you may be surrounded by trouble.
Surrounded by a sickness.
Surrounded by addiction.
What you have not seen is the Most High God is surrounding what is surrounding you.
When you understand that God is surrounding what is surrounding you
You want go around discouraged because of problems
Worried about finances.
Upset because someone is against you.
You will be like Elisha able to live in peace, knowing that there is more for you than against you.
If God were to pull back the curtain like he did for this young man.
You would see all the powerful, warring angles who are working on your behalf.
Standing guard.
Protecting you.
Pushing back forces of darkness.
You would see God moving the wrong people out of your way.
God putting the right people in your life,
People who see your potential.
People who encourage you in the faith.
People who help you become a more positive Christian.
Don’t get discouraged by what you see with your physical eyes.
If you stay focused on the negative, always seeing the downside, listening to the voices of disapproval.
You will always live defeated.
You will give into the negative.
You will start thinking the way they are talking.
Pretty soon you will have reduced your faith in God to a God who can’t do anything.
But through faith you can begin to see everything around you
as an opportunity for God to release his power into your life.
Your worry may seem strong.
But it is surrounded by something stronger.
Today you are surrounded by the Most High.
We all have times when we feel like we are surrounded by difficulties. Surrounded by sickness. Surrounded by debt and bills. Everywhere we turn struggles are facing us.
We think to ourselves how can I get out of this it has me surrounded?
We all have times when we feel like we’re surrounded by difficulties.
It’s easy to get discouraged and think, “I’ll never get out of this trouble.”
In the natural, all you may see is your troubles and obstacles, but take another look.
The Most High God is surrounding you!
Psalm 91:11 says He will command His angels to watch over you. God stands watch over your life.
You’re surrounded by favor, surrounded by healing and surrounded by angels.
Learn how to stay in peace knowing the forces that are for you are greater than the forces that are against you.
It was custom to bring the poor to the gate of the rich in hopes that some mercy would be shown them
So, like it or not the rich man made a decision every day not the help those in need around them.
Moreover when the rich man died, “He shouted, ‘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.”
There is a lot going on in this verse.
1. The rich man knew who Abraham was.
Fatherhood of Abraham.
Abraham icon of the covenant relationship with God.
The rich man was a Jew like Abraham. Etc??????
2. There is a doling out of judgment and justice.
There is a recurring theme in the bible: Over and over again it teaches us
For with what manner of forgiveness and mercy we give is the manner in which judgment we receive.
There is no such thing as setting on the fence.
You can’t have one hand holding on to sin
Unless the other hand has let go of God.
That’s just the way it works.
3. We have the image of agony in this fire.
So, he had the means to make a difference in the life of those living around him.
He had the knowledge of who Abraham was so he knew teaching of law and right and wrong.
Again we have the reality of hell as an awful place.
Look at all the things we have around us warning us about hell.
Bibles are a dime a dozen.
Free on the internet.
Church on every corner.
No excuse for not knowing.
The choices is a daily choice that people make either to accept God or reject God.
If you want to have nothing to do with God
If you want to deny Him there is a place prepared for you.
God gives us a choice because that’s what love does.
Love gives us the ability to choose.
Jesus is the only way.
There is no other way.
I am not telling anyone to look at me and be persuaded
I am just a messenger.
You have to read the bible and make the decision for yourself
do you believe that there is a heaven and there is a hell?
If you do how does that believe affect the choices and actions in your daily life?
It is a lot more difficult to go to hell than people think.
Once the Roll is Called Down Yonder
II. There will be no changing your mind
25 “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things,
while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place,
so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’
Some judgments are final.
They can’t be changed.
But the Good News is there is still a chance for you to make the right decision today.
As long as there is breathe in you.
You still have the opportunity to get right with God.
27 “He answered, ‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my family,
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.’
30 “‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,
they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Luke 16:19-31
III. What about your family?
Before the Apostle Paul was converted
he was very reluctant and very stubborn about his unbelief in Jesus of Nazareth as the world's Redeemer.
One day Paul stood and presented the reasons of his faith before the men of Caesarea,
and also before King Agrippa II, the last of the Herods.
Paul described the heavenly vision that at first had filled him with unspeakable terror,
but afterward proved to be a source of the greatest comfort.
--a revelation of divine glory,
With great clearness and power Paul outlined before Agrippa the events in life of Christ on earth.
He testified that the Messiah appeared as a man named Jesus of Nazareth.
How in the life of Jesus had been fulfilled every prophecy outlined by Moses and the prophets.
For the purpose of redeeming a lost world,
the divine Son of God had been nailed to the cross,
buried in the grave, even descended into hell itself and preached to those under the Old Sacrificial Law.
Jesus ascended to heaven triumphant over death and the grave.
Paul went on to explain that he himself had seen and heard the risen Christ at the gate of Damascus.
The same Jesus who had walked the streets of Jerusalem, died on Calvary, broken the bands of death,
and ascended to heaven.
Cephas, James, John, or any others of the disciples, he had seen and talked with Jesus.
Because Paul had declared these things, "the Jews caught me in the temple, and went about to have Paul killed.
The whole company had listened spellbound to Paul's account of his wonderful experiences.
Then Paul turned to "King Agrippa, and asked do you believe what I have just told you?
Deeply affected, Agrippa for the moment lost sight of his surroundings and the dignity of his position.
he answered involuntarily, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian."
Almost thou persuades me.
Almost but lost
Stop serving the things of this world
Start serving the things that are eternal.
Notice the theme: It’s about a reversal of fortunes in the afterlife.
The rich man lives sumptuously in this life, but in the next life he’s tormented,
while Lazarus is miserable in this life, but in the next life he’s in bliss.
The question is, why did Jesus tell His story about the reversal of the fortunes of the rich man and Lazarus?
When Abraham refused to send Lazarus to cool the rich man’s tongue with water,
the rich man asked that someone return from the dead to warn his brothers
about the ultimate destiny they would face if they didn’t mend their ways.
Abraham replied that the rich man’s brothers had Moses
and the prophets to instruct them about how to prepare for the next life.
“No, father Abraham,” the rich man said.
“If someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”
To which Abraham replied, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets,
they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”
Jesus told this story after he had spent at least three years teaching the people and healing their diseases.
During this time He’d done His best to win the minds and hearts of the Jewish leaders,
but they had resisted all His efforts.
To the contrary, they did their best to get rid of Him, even to the point of plotting His death! Matthew 12:14.
So Jesus gave them a warning. He told them the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
I don’t think it’s mere coincidence that one of the main characters in Jesus’s story is named Lazarus.
Only a few months after Jesus told this story He in fact raised a man named Lazarus from the dead.
And following the resurrection of Lazarus,
some of those who observed the miracle reported to the Pharisees what happened.
“Then the chief priests and Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.
What are we accomplishing?’ they asked. ‘Here is this man performing many signs.
If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him,
and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.’
“Then one of them, named Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, spoke up, ‘You know nothing at all!
You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.’ . . .
“. . . So from that day on they plotted to take his life” (John 11:46–50, 53).
These people were a perfect example of the point Jesus made in His story of the rich man and Lazarus.
Even the raising of a dead man from the grave didn’t lead them to change their minds.
To the contrary, it only hardened their hearts.
It caused them to dig in their heels deeper and more stubbornly resist His efforts to win them over.
As His medium for conveying this lesson Jesus adapted a story about a reversal of fortunes
that was popular in the culture of His day,
and He made sure to include enough absurd details that no one would take His narrative literally.
And the spiritual lesson in Jesus’ story applies as much in our day as it did in His.
You and I are in as great a danger of assuming that we’re on God’s side,
only to discover too late that we aren’t,
as were the Pharisees and Sadducees in Jesus’ day.
It’s as imperative that you and I make the Bible the foundation of our faith as it was for them.
And that will take time.
I urge you to set aside the time each day to study God’s Word and talk to Him in prayer
so that when you enter the next life, you’ll join Lazarus in heaven rather than the rich man in hell.
"When James Milton Black came home, his wife saw at once that he was deeply troubled.
Tears filled his eyes as he entered his gate.
Now he sat down at his piano and in a few minutes wrote the words and composed a song
that is familiar to most American church-goers: "When the Roll Is Called up Yonder."
James Milton Black was born on this day, August 19, 1856 in South Hill, New York.
Around 1881, he moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania
where he carried on Christian work through the Methodist Episcopal church.
Teaching music during the week,
he was a song leader, Sunday school teacher and youth leader in his spare hours.
In addition to all this work, he edited hymnals.
He loved young people and tried to win them for Christ.
One day, as he passed through an alley, he met a ragged fourteen-year-old girl.
She was the daughter of an alcoholic.
He invited her to his Sunday school and youth group and she began to attend.
However, one day when he took roll, the girl did not respond.
Each child had to say a Scripture verse when his or her name was called.
James saw a lesson in her silence. "I spoke of what a sad thing it would be when our names are called
from the Lamb's Book of Life, if one of us should be absent."
He was not the kind of man to let the matter die with a moral lesson.
After Sunday school, he went to his pupil's home to find out why she had not showed up for class.
He found her dangerously ill and sent for his own doctor--they still made house calls then.
The doctor said that she had pneumonia.
Since that was before the days of antibiotics, death was highly likely.
James returned home.
He tried to find a song to fit the thought of a heavenly roll call but could not locate one.
An inner voice seemed to say, "Why don't you write one." And that is what he did:
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the roll is called up yonder, I'll be there.
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll, is called up yonder,
When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there.
A few days later, he had the sad opportunity of explaining in public how he came to write the song
when it was sung at the funeral of the girl whose absence at roll call had inspired it.
Today’s scripture lesson causes us to think about the opposite type of roll call.
One that I don’t want to be there for.
Closing: When the “Roll is Called Down Yonder” I don’t want to be there.
I just want to ask you one question today.
Do you know that your name is written in the Lambs Book of Life.
