Surprised to be in Hell, Part 5

If you have a Bible, turn with me to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, we have spent the last four weeks looking at this parable that Jesus told about a rich man and a poor man. The rich man died and he went to hell. The poor man died and he went to heaven. And so we've examined why the rich guy would end up in hell and why the poor guy would end up in heaven. Coming to realize that the rich man truly believed he was on his way to heaven but he ended up in hell. That is what's going to happen to the majority of people in the church today.

They think they're going to heaven but in reality will wake up in hell. Just simply because of what this parable teaches and the power of this parable centers around its message for us today and the message that Jesus was trying to convey to the Pharisees on this day in Luke 16. Let me read it for you one more time just to set it in your memory.

Now there was a certain rich man and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores, longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. Besides even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and he was buried. And in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried out and said father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said child remember that during your life you received your good things and likewise Lazarus bad things. But now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. Besides all this between us and you there was a great chasm fixed in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able and that none may cross over from there to us.

And he said that I beg you father that you send him to my father's house for I have five brothers that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them. But he said no father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent. But he said to him if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. The story that Jesus tells emphasizes one particular aspect that needs to be reiterated over and over again.

Now we live in a world where we believe that methodology is the key to helping people come to Christ. We live in an age where in the church it's the mood, it's the music, it's the methodology and the Bible speaks of none of that. But we believe that if we can set the right tone, if we can make people feel comfortable they'll believe the message. Not true. The Bible has exhorted us, commanded us to go into all the world and preach the gospel. The Bible does not speak of methodology. The Bible speaks just of the message because it's the message it saves.

This rich man believed it was about the method. Send somebody back from the dead. They'll believe then. Really? They had Jairus's daughter. She had died. Christ raised her from the dead. They had the widow's son at Nain. He died. Jesus raised him from the dead and soon they're going to have one of Jesus's best friends. His name is Lazarus. Not the Lazarus in Luke 16 but Lazarus of Bethany. He will die and he will be dead for four days and Jesus makes sure that when he hears that he's sick that he lets him die because Jesus wants him to die so that he can do a resurrection.

And Jesus shows up four days later. Lazarus is raised from the dead and you would think that someone would say to Lazarus, hey Lazarus we got an idea why don't you write a book 96 hours in heaven. Write a book and you can tell about your experience in heaven and I guarantee that everybody who reads that book they're going to get saved. But nobody ever did. In fact, in fact, Lazarus was raised from the dead and they wanted to put Lazarus to death. If all these people who went around writing books about heaven is for real and 90 minutes in heaven and if people threatened to put them to death they'd stop writing those books.

They wanted to put Lazarus to death because he was a living testimony to the power of Almighty God. But Lazarus never spoke about his death experience. So we're recorded in scripture because it's all about the message. So Jesus dies. Jesus is raised from the dead. In fact, the religious establishment and the Roman government decided to put guards there at the tomb for fear that he would rise from the dead. And sure enough he did and so they paid off the Roman soldiers and said you tell them that the disciples came and stole the body.

You tell them that. And that's what they've been telling everybody since then. If someone arrives from the dead they're not going to believe because the essence of salvation is simply this. You must believe what Jesus says.

That's it. There is no miracle. There is no method. There is no mood. There is no makeup of any facility that's going to save someone's soul. It never works that way. God didn't design it that way. It's all about the simple message of the truth. And yet this rich guy says you know what if you send somebody back from the dead because evidently I didn't have enough evidence. But if I would have seen a resurrection I'd have believed. And Abraham says no. They have Moses and they have the prophets. If they don't believe them they won't believe anything else no matter how supernatural it is or how miraculous it is.

So let me ask you a question. You know someone, a family member, a relative, a friend that's not saved. What do you do? What do you do? Do you hope and pray that they experience some supernatural revelation? Or do you consistently tell them the truth, the message of the gospel? Because that is the only thing that will save them. Nothing else will. The Bible says these words, whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

Romans 10 verse number 13. How then shall they call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who bring glad tidings of good things. So faith comes from hearing and hearing by the word of Christ. We need preachers. That's why Paul told Timothy, preach the word. That's why Christ told the world and make disciples.

Make them, teach them to observe all that I've commanded you. Because it's the message that saves. It's the preaching and teaching of the word of God that saves souls. Peter said it this way. Since then you have an obedience to the truth, purified your souls for a sincere love for the brethren, fervently love one another from the heart for you have been born again, not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable. That is to the living and abiding word of God for all flesh is like grass and all its glory, like the flower of the grass, the grass withers and the flower falls off.

But the word of the Lord abides forever. And this is the word which was preached to you. It's the preaching of the word. James says it this way. James 1 verse number 17. Every good thing bestowed and every good gift or perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. In the exercise of his will he brought us forth by the word of truth. In the exercise of his will we were born again by the word of his truth. Psalm 19 seven, the law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.

My friends, the simple preaching of the word is all that is necessary. That's what the parable teaches. It's the message. And you see the rich man refused to believe the message. His brothers have refused to believe the message, but if they see something miraculous, they'll believe. And Abraham reiterates, no, they won't. They won't believe because it has nothing to do with the methodology, has nothing to do with the miraculous, has everything to do with the message itself. The truth of God proclaimed, that's what saves the unsaved.

So important to understand that modern evangelical church has missed that tremendously. And that's why we say there are many people today in churches, even like this one, even like this one, who one day will be surprised because they will wake up not in heaven, but in hell simply because they did not listen and believe the message. Isn't that what the parable of the sower and the soil is all about? The most pivotal, pivotal, pivotal, pivotal, excuse me, parable that Jesus teaches because it sets the tone for all the other parables.

The sower went out to sow some seed, Mark chapter four, Matthew chapter 13, Luke chapter eight. It's reiterated in those three gospels. The seed is the word of God. And those who listen and receive the message and believe the message are the ones who are saved. It's all about the seed. It's all about the word and how it takes effect in the lives of people. It's absolutely crucial. That's why Paul says, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

It is the power of God unto salvation. Do you believe that? I do. I truly believe that. I actually believe that the simple preaching and teaching of the word of God will change people's lives. I don't have to do, you know, all kinds of gyrations up here and tell jokes and stand on my head and, and drink a cup of coffee while I'm preaching to you about what the truth is. All I gotta do is tell you the truth. In fact, that's all I'm required to do before the Lord God to make sure you understand what Jesus has said.

And Abraham says to the rich men, they have Moses and the prophets. It's all they need. So we're coming together this morning to partake of the Lord's table. So unique how the Lord works things out because the Lord's table is all about what Jesus said, what the prophet said, what Moses said. And when Jesus would break the bread, he was doing that in fulfillment of all that was taking place in the old Testament. This becomes absolutely essential for us to understand. Listen to what Peter said in Acts chapter three, Acts chapter three.

Peter says these words, this is his second sermon. He says in verse 13 of Acts chapter three, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers has glorified his servant, Jesus, the one whom he delivered up and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him. But you disowned the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses. And on the basis of faith in his name, it is the name of Jesus, which has strengthened this man whom you see and know.

And the faith which comes through him has given him the perfect health in the presence of you all. And now brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance just as your rulers did also, but the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ should suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Peter reminds them that everything that the prophets said about the Messiah and how he would suffer has been fulfilled. He reminds them of the law. He reminds them of the Old Testament and the prophets.

Remember it wasn't called the Old Testament then, it was just the law and the prophets because there was no New Testament. So he reminds them that the Old Testament or the prophets and the law spoke about the fact that the Messiah must suffer. So they knew what the Old Testament said. In fact, the Bible says in John's gospel, in John chapter 5 verse 39, Christ says, you search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life and it is these that bear witness of me.

And you are unwilling to come to me that you may have life. Verse 46, for if you believe Moses, you would believe me for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? Jesus says, Moses already told you what I'm telling you.

You say you believe in Moses, but Moses said everything concerning me. If you believe Moses, you believe me. If you believe me, you believe Moses. Why? Because we say the same thing. Then over at John 7, John 7 verse number 40, some of the multitude, therefore, when they heard these words were saying, this certainty, this certainly is the prophet. Others were saying, this is the Christ, the Messiah. Still others were saying, surely the Christ is not going to come from Galilee, is he? Has not the scripture said that the Christ comes from the offspring of David and from Bethlehem, the village where David was?

They knew Micah 5 verse number 2. They knew second Samuel chapter 7. So they say, wait a minute. We know that the Messiah is the offspring of David. We know that the, that the Messiah will come and be born in Bethlehem. You see, they knew those things. And that's why, that's why Abraham says all they need is Moses and the prophets to believe in the true message. Remember Romans 3, verse 21, but now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe for there is no distinction.

Paul says there is no righteousness that comes from the law. How do we know that? Because the prophets told us that. See that? It's all in the old Testament. The gospel is clearly presented in the 39 books in the old Testament. Paul reiterates that. Listen to this, first Corinthians chapter 15.

Now I make known to you brethren the gospel, which I preached to you, which also you received in which also you stand by which also you are saved. If you hold fast the word, which I preached to you, unless you believe in vain. This is first Corinthians 15 verses one to four.

For I deliver to you as of first importance what I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

What scriptures? Old Testament scripture. New Testament scripture is not complete yet. That's all old Testament stuff. And that he was buried and that he was raised on the third day.

Listen to this. According to the scriptures, the death burial and resurrection of the Messiah was all prophesied in the old Testament. It was all there. So the new Testament writers and the new Testament preachers took the Jewish people back to Moses and the prophets to let them see that this Messiah, the Christ, the King was the fulfillment of everything that had already been said. See how powerful that is. This is so crucial, so crucial. And so what do we tell you? That they had to believe. They had to believe in the identity of God.

According to the book of Genesis, the book of Exodus, who is this God? He is holy, holy, holy. That's why the writer of Hebrews said, he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he's a reward of those who diligently seek him. Salvation begins with the identity of God, which leads to the necessity of repentance. They all believed in repentance. The rich man did. Send, send someone back. My brothers will repent. He knew of the necessity of repentance. To believe in the necessity of repentance necessitates a belief in a law that you violated, which necessitates a belief in a law giver.

That's the God of the universe. He believed all those things. And so he believed, or the Old Testament Jews had to believe in the identity of God and the necessity of repentance. They had to believe, number three, in the receivability of grace, because no one is ever saved by works, ever.

Nowhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament do you see someone saved by works. In fact, the Bible says, all your works are as filthy rags.

All your righteous deeds are as filthy rags. They make no difference because salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone and God alone. And so they had to believe in the receivability of grace, because if they came and repented of their sin to a God who was holy and just and punished sin, how would they ever be saved unless God in his grace would save them from their sin. And that's why God told Moses in Exodus 34 that I am a God of graciousness and compassion and loving kindness and forgiveness.

They had to believe in the centrality of the new covenant, Jeremiah 31, the book of Ezekiel. Why? Because a new covenant promised a transformed heart, a new heart. And whenever God saved anybody, Old Testament or new, it was all based on new covenant promise. Christ came, ratified the new covenant, but Adam and Eve were saved by the new covenant because he would revolutionize their heart and transform their heart. They had to believe in the beauty and the liberty of forgiveness, because God was a forgiving God, the victory of faith.

According to Genesis 15, verse number six, Abraham believed God and it was reckoned unto him as righteousness. They had to believe in the certainty of a substitution, the certainty of a substitution. That's what makes this communion so crucial. Why? Every Jew understood substitution. Why do you think they sacrificed animal after animal after animal after animal, millions upon millions upon millions of them throughout the Old Testament? Because it was all about a sacrificial system. Someone had to die in your place.

Someone had to, someone had to take your place. And that was reiterated in Genesis 22, which every Jew knows because they know about father Abraham. They know about Isaac. And God said, I will provide myself as lamb. And on that Mount Moriah, there was a substitute provided instead of Isaac. It was a ram caught in the thicket. And it reiterated the symbolism of substitution. And there was sacrifice after sacrifice at the sacrifice, because they were looking, listen carefully. They were looking for that one substitute that would come and remove all sin.

How do you know that? Listen carefully. Because every Jewish rabbi until the 12th century taught that Isaiah 53 was about one person who would die for the sins of Israel. Without exception, you can tell that to your pop, by the way, without exception until the 12th century, every Jewish rabbi taught that Isaiah 53 was about a substitute. And when you talk to a Jewish person, you tell them simply this, Israel can't be the interpretation of Isaiah 53, because that's what they tell you. It's Israel who is a suffering servant.

No, because you can't get around grammar and the personal pronouns make it an individual, not a nation. It's as simple as that. Surely our griefs, he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon him and by his scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned for his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on him.

Folks, you can't get around the grammar of Isaiah 53. It's one individual who dies for the sins of a nation. But better yet, it says this, his grave was assigned with wicked men, yet he was with a rich man in his death because he had done no lawlessness. That can't be Israel. Ask Israel when you were sinless. Ask Israel when you did no sin. Answer, no, you can't do that because you are sinful. But this one who suffered, suffered because there was no sin in him. It's as simple as that. And everything in the Old Testament pointed to a substitute and every Jew knew it.

That's why there was a sacrificial system. They all understood that. The certainty of a substitute was absolutely crucial to be saved in the Old Testament. There was a humanity and the divinity of the Messiah. To be saved, you had to believe that Messiah was God, not just a man. Isaiah 9, 6. It's so clear in the Old Testament. Ezekiel chapter 13, my associate is my equal. My servant is my associate who is my equal. They're one and the same. You can't get around it. And so every Jew in the Old Testament believed in the divinity and the humanity of the Messiah and the essentiality of forsaking everything to follow that Messiah.

Isaiah 55 says very clearly, forsake everything and follow me. Any of that, nothing in the Old Testament is different than the New Testament, except we look back on the cross and realize what Christ had done and they look forward to the cross in hopes of what will one day come to be. And that's why Abraham says, they have Moses. They have the prophets. They must believe them. Folks, that's as true today as it was then. It's all about listening and obeying what God says.

It's always been that way. The simple presentation of the gospel is all you need when it comes to leading others to Christ. You don't need anything else. Everything else is irrelevant. What God's word does is save because it's the power of God unto salvation. Why? Listen, when you preach the word, it will crush the soul. Jeremiah 23, 29 says, is not my word like a fire? It is not my word like a hammer. Listen, no one was ever saved with a hard soul. It's got to be crushed. It's got to be smashed.

It's got to be blown up. The only way you can do that is to preach and teach the word of God. That's it. No, there's no other way. You can't soften the heart. You must crush the heart. Is not my word like a hammer that shatters the heart? It's got to be shattered. So you constantly give them the word of God. It crushes the soul. That's why in the book of Hosea, Hosea chapter six, God says, I will slay you with my words.

It's the word of God that slays the soul, right? It crushes the soul. And the reason people aren't saved is because their souls and hearts are so hardened and so calloused that the only way you can break through is through the repetition of the preaching of the word of God. There is no other way. That's it. Because God's word crushes the soul. And on top of that, God's word is that which brings conviction. Remember first Corinthians chapter 14.

I love this so much because it just, it just obliterates people's thinking about what's going to happen in the service. And somehow we must have all these wonderful things that take place in the service, because that will cause people to get saved. Listen to first Corinthians 14.

It says, if therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say you are mad? But if all prophesy, if all are preaching and teaching the truth and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all. He is called to account by all. The secrets of his heart are disclosed. So he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. How do you know God is in a church? How do you know God is among his people?

Because the people of the church speak forth the gospel and preach the truth. Not because there's a certain kind of setting in the church where the lights are dimmed and the music is a certain way and the drama presentation really excites the soul. None of that. It's all hogwash from the Greek word, hogowatow. All that is ridiculous, but we have been so swayed by Hollywood and the Western media that we think we must create a mood. We must create a scene. We must use music and drama and all kinds of theatrics to make people want to receive the gospel.

Paul says, you can be doing all these miraculous things in your church. The unbeliever comes in and says, you guys are crazy, crazy. But if y'all preach, he's convicted because only God's word can do that. Nothing else can, nothing else can, because it crushes the soul. It convicts the soul so that it can convert the soul. Psalm 19, seven, right? The law of the Lord is perfect. Converting the soul. Wow. That is so powerful. That is so rich because it's so true. Exactly what Abraham said to the rich man.

God's word comes and it's the only thing that can cleanse the soul. Ephesians 5, 26, you're cleansed by the washing of the water of the word of God. Christ says, it's by my word, John 15, verse number three, that you are cleansed.

God's word cleans the soul, but you know what's so good? God's word can, can crush the soul and it can convict the soul. It can convert the soul. It will cleanse the soul, but God's word is the only thing that can conquer the soul. Listen to this. First John two, verse number 14.

I have written to you fathers because you know him who has been from the beginning. I have written to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one. Wow. The only thing that overcomes the evil one, the only thing that conquers is the word of God. That is it. This whole story in Luke 16 is about one thing. The rich man is hell, is in hell because he missed the message. Not because he missed the miracles. He missed the message. Didn't listen.

That's why anybody goes to hell. They refuse to believe in the message that Jesus Christ is exactly who he says he is. And he did exactly what he said he was going to do and fulfilled everything that the old Testament said. People go to heaven because they believe in the identity of Jesus Christ as God. They believe in the necessity of repentance based on the fact that he is a holy God and they are sinful. They are saved because they believe in the receivability of grace. Somehow God through his grace will save them, have mercy upon them, have compassion on them.

It's our job to preach the word. That's it. And that's why Jesus said how many times over and over again, oh, you foolish generation, slow of heart, so as not to believe all that the prophets had said. You see, the Christian life is just simply this. It's believing in what Jesus Christ God has already said. That's faith. That's all it is. Our problem comes when we refuse to believe that. And Jesus would break the bread on that, that, that eve of the crucifixion in the upper room. It was the last Passover celebration, officially last one, because he would take that cup, that third cup and say, this cup is the new covenant in my blood.

I'm ratifying everything now. So you understand that everything pointed to me, everything is about me. And now you understand everything that the prophets said. This is so crucial. And we come together and we celebrate it. We celebrate that last Passover. We celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ is our substitute. Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us, right? You know what Paul said in first Corinthians?

Our, our Passover is Christ. He was sacrificed for us. He is the fulfillment of that substitute. He is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Luke 16 is about just believing in the message that has already been spoken. If they don't believe that, they won't believe the most incredible miracle known to man, a resurrection. They won't, because it all comes down to the message. Let me pray with you.

Father, we thank you for this day and the opportunity we have to celebrate you. Our prayer is that as we partake of the Lord's table, we will be reminded once again of the beauty of your sacrifice and the greatness of your forgiveness in Jesus name. Amen.