THE ETERNAL TIME OUT
LUKE 16: 14-15, 19-31
SUNDAY OCTOBER 14, 2001
INTRODUCTION: A note from Jesus: You say you will never forget,...
TRANSITION THOUGHT: Our text for this day speaks of the reality of the afterlife. The only problem with our text is that it is predominantly bad news. It seems that Jesus is trying to make a point with those that don’t see things His way and with graphic detail He lets them in on a scene from their not so distant future. As well as for the Pharisees, this text may be for us a picture of the not too distant future. SO, with great fear and trembling let’s look into this text to try to avoid the outcome of the ETERNAL TIME OUT that Jesus has so painfully spelled out!
THESIS SENTENCE: Failure to understand and accept Jesus and His teaching results in an eternity of separation from Him and His comfort.
THE ETERNAL TIME OUT COMES FROM
I. A MISINTERPRETATION OF GOD AND HIS WORD (VV. 14-15)
A. The Pharisees misinterpreted the Law and the Prophets
1. Jesus is now talking to the Pharisees and not the general populace.
2. The Pharisees where among the Religious right of the Jewish Faith (Judeo Synagogue). They believed in Life after death, therefore they were not sad, you see (Sadducee).
3. The Pharisees had read Deuteronomy 28: 1-14 and had surmised that since they were people of wealth, they must be obeying God fully.
4. Jesus begins to tell another story.
B. The Pharisees misinterpreted Jesus and His Message
1. In verse 14 it says, “The Pharisees, who loved money, heard all this and were sneering at Jesus. He said to them, ‘You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of men, but God knows your hearts. What is highly valued among men is detestable in God’s sight.’”
2. The Pharisees or at least some of them, no stereo typing here, where more concerned with how men viewed them than with HOW GOD VIEWED THEM! 3. In Mtt. 9:34 the Pharisees believe that Jesus heals by the power of demons. In Mtt. 12: 2 they see Jesus’ disciples picking heads of grain on the Sabbath and accuse them of doing something Wrong. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus says repeatedly, “You have heard it said…” From whom would the people have heard it said?
4. The real point here is that people who want to follow after the Living God can get so caught up in the world around them, that even though they are very very religious, they can misinterpret everything they should have seen and known.
5. One of my biggest fears is that one day I am going to look back over these years of ministry and say, “Oh, NO!” I missed it completely. This is why we have to yield to the HOLY SPIRIT in everything. He is our guide!
6. HOW are you at interpreting God’s word and the reality of the life of Jesus? Are you walking as Jesus did? Do you even know anything about Jesus? How is your Sunday school attendance? How is your Scripture reading Going? HOW is your Prayer life? Do YOU GET IT?
7. The misinterpretation becomes clearer as Jesus tells the parable.
THE ETERNAL TIME OUT IS MADE EVIDENT BY
II. A MISTREATMENT OF OTHERS (VV. 19-21)
A. The Pharisees mistreated their own people.
1. In Matthew 23 and Luke 11 we have the seven and six woes concerning the Pharisee.
2. In Verse 42 of Luke 11, Jesus tells the Pharisee, “Woe to you…because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God.”
3. In Matthew 23 Jesus says of the Pharisee, “But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. They tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not will to lift a finger to move them (verses 3 & 4).”
4. There is even a scarier verse in this passage. In verse 13, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to. They blocked the reality of Heaven, eternal life from God from those who wanted to enter therein. May it never be said of you or me!!!!
B. The Pharisees mistreated Jesus
1. In Mark 12: 13 it tells us of the Pharisees seeking to catch Jesus in his words. This attempt was to discredit him and prove his blasphemies.
2. In Luke 11: 53 it tells us that the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say.
C. The Pharisees mistreated the poor
1. It is now evident as we look at the lives of the Pharisee, or at least the ones Jesus knew, saw, and understood, that they were not concerned with the needs of the people, but with their own reputation of righteousness.
2. SO, Jesus tells a parable, possible a true story, since names are used in this parable.
3. The reality of the parable is that the wealthy did not care for the poor beggar at his gate who was longing for what fell for the table.
4. Now remember, according to verse 14 and 15, Jesus is addressing the Pharisee in the telling of this parable.
5. After contrasting the rich with the poor, Jesus shares what is unseen, the reality of the afterlife. For Lazarus, the poor man, in the end it only gets better. BUT, for the rich man, Dives, in the Greek, it only gets worse.
THE ETERNAL TIME OUT CONCLUDES WITH
III. AN ETERNITY OF MISERY (VV. 22 - 31)
A. The pleasures of this life cannot compensate for the pain of eternity.
1. No matter how good the Pharisee or the Rich man had it, this life cannot compare to the life to come.
2. Regardless of what we have now, it cannot protect us from the pain of being separated for eternity from Jesus.
B. The Blessings of this life do not indicate the place of eternity.
1. Just because we are blessed now, does not mean that we will be blessed in eternity.
2. Psalm 92:6-7 states, “The senseless man does not know, fools do not understand, that thought the wicked spring up like grass, and all evil doers flourish, they will be forever destroyed.”
3. Psalm 37:16 says, “Better the little that the righteous have than the wealth of many wicked;…”
4. Psalm 73:12 makes the case clear, “This is what the wicked are like – always carefree, they increase in wealth.”
5. Blessings and wealth do not make one righteous or promised paradise in the world to come!
C. The Pain of eternity cannot be quenched!
1. Hear again verses 23-26 of our text, Luke 16, of Dives, the rich man, “In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Lazarus by his side. 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.’ 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. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’”
2. There is so much here, did you get it all. There is no pity for those who find themselves in hell. There is no way to cross the chasm between the two locations even if you wanted to. I am sure all those in hell want to get out!!
3. The torment of hell is great! The pain must be unbearable! “Let Lazarus dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue.”
4. In all this pain Dives begins to finally think of others!
D. The reality of eternity cannot be transferred to the living
1. Once you enter hell or heaven, there is no way to communicate back to those you love or are in fear for.
2. Dives begins to think of his family. It is now too late Abraham replies. 3. Back to my first point, Jesus in telling the parable states that all have Moses and the Prophets and must understand that they all speak of the coming of Jesus and of what it means to belong to the Kingdom of God. Jesus came to fulfill the law! 4. Finally, did you catch that little phrase? “They will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead (verse 31).”
5. Jesus knew there would be those who will refuse to believe in Him regardless of the information. Maybe this is the whole point to the parable. The Pharisees would not listen to Jesus regardless of what He said. BUT, out of His great compassion, Jesus has communicated a truth to these religious men with the hope that their religion will become a relationship with Him that will lead to eternal life and not eternal punishment and torment. Jesus hopes that these men will not wait until it is too late to share the GOOD NEWS.
ILLUSTRATION: A LETTER FROM HELL
CONCLUSION: Are you walking in line with the Spirit of God? How is YOUR SERVE? Are you prepared for the Final day?
