What Happens When I Die?

What Happens When I Die?

Luke 16:19-31

Online Sermon: http://www.mckeesfamily.com/?page_id=3567

While death is not a subject we like to talk about, its rushing guaranteed occurrence forces each of us to consider what will happen to me when I die? While it might be convenient to believe in total annihilation to justify one’s carefree, pleasure-seeking living; all of creation, God’s holy word, and the testimony of the saints’ points to the truth that upon death one will be rightly judged whether or not one made Jesus the lord of one’s life! Time is of the essence for many both young and old, ready, or unprepared will die this very year! Upon returning to the dust of the earth in which we came, one’s soul will be judged and either placed in heaven or hell. The choice of either destination can only be made while one is alive on this earth. Today’s sermon is based on one of Jesus’ parables entitled “The Rich Man and Lazarus” taken from Luke 16:19-31. A parable is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning that teaches us the truth concerning a topic. It is a story about two men, one rich and one poor who have two diametrically opposing lifestyles, deaths, and eternal destinies. It is not only an indictment against the rich who ignore the needs of the poor but more importantly a warning that those who do not respond to God’s gracious gift of salvation will spend an eternity in a lake of fire, where anguish, torture and desperation will be their only friends! As I will walk you through seven horrifying characteristics of hell my intent is not to just frighten you but also to invite you to deal with eternity now by answering the question where I am going upon my death? Like God my desire is that none of you perish so before I speak the words God has laid upon my heart let’s pray.

Lord, may You open their eyes that they might see, their ears that they might hear, and their hearts that they might feel how urgent it truly is that each person listening make You the lord of their lives before it is too late. Lord, as the horrifying realities of hell are described in detail may this not crush their souls and leave them with sense of desperation, but instead may they rejoice for Your love, compassion, and mercy for each of Your lost sheep has no limits. May they know no one is beyond redemption and the angels will rejoice this very day for each one of them who in faith believes in your atoning sacrifice on the cross. Since this may be their last chance to say YES to You Lord, with a sense of urgency and with great humility give me Your wisdom, power, and love to tell them the truth that that by Your grace and faith in You they can choose their destiny to be heaven, not hell!

Two Men Before Death

“There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” (19-21)

Jesus begins His indictment against the Pharisees by telling a parable of two contrasting lifestyles. To begin with there was a rich man who lived like a king. His everyday clothing consisted of a robe made of imported Phoenician wool dyed by hundreds of small snails (murex) and even his undergarments were made of imported Egyptian fine linen that felt like silk next to his skin! He likely “lived in a grand house with an ornamental portico to the front entrance, the kind that adorned temples and palaces!” Although he likely got his riches by immoral means we are told the only crime Jesus accuses him of is his treatment of a beggar that has been thrown at his gate. Although the rich man is not given a name likely to “invite any money-loving listeners to provide their own,” He ironically calls the beggar by name, Lazarus which means “God helps.” I say “ironically” because Jesus now proceeds to describe the “wretchedness of the beggar as vividly as the opulence of the rich man.” As the rich man walked in his expensive robes and his perfumed aroma collided with the beggar’s stench” one can’t help but see from society’s perspective that the beggar had no life at all! Covered with ulcers that “would likely brand him an unclean leper at that time,” like the Prodigal Son who longed to eat the food reserved for pigs (15:16), how this beggar longed to receive a crumb from the rich man’s table or at very least the grease soaked bread that he used as a napkin at his luscious table. If this were not degrading enough, even the “pariahlike mongrels” the street dogs had so little regard for his life that they refused to be his friends but abused him further by licking his sores and intensifying his pain! As the rich man ate the most expensive food money could buy while he was literally starving to death, how the beggar must have wondered how could one who likely heard the “late antiquity view that “luxurious living results in ruin” and a “son of Abraham blessed by God be so heartless?” There could not be a greater disparity between the “wealthiest man and the poorest one in all of Palestine!”