Luke 16:22-23

This morning, I invite you to turn with me to the book of Luke once again. Chapter 16, I’m going to read verses 19 to 31, but our focus this morning, it’s going to be on verses 22 and 23. Luke 16, 19 through 21. There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine, linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass. that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried, and in hell, he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Lazarus, that he may take, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveest by good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou are tormented. and beside all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would come from there thence then he said i pray thee therefore father thou would ascend him to my father’s house for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come into this place of torment. And Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, Neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. May God bless to us is sacred and holy word this morning. If you visit Hawaii, one of the places that the main attraction is to stand on the bridge over the remains of the battleship USS, Arizona, which lies just a few feet under the… the water in Pearl Harbor. Thousands of visitors arrive each day and are reminded of the vicious Japanese attack on December 7, 1941. The day of devastation at Pearl Harbor catapulted the U.S. into World War II. Many stand there silently, lost in their private thoughts. some pray. Others take photographs. Beyond doubt, many look at that rusted hawk of the Arizona where thousands of lives were lost and asked themselves, what happened to the people who died here in 1941? Where are they now? Jesus’ declaration that no man can serve both God and Mammon in verse 13 of this chapter did not sit well with the Pharisees. The reason was is they loved money and were covetous, verse 14. So all their talk about God and all their strict religious regulations, when you really get down to it, their God was money. Now, to drive home the imminent danger of their situation, and the urgent need to repent, Jesus tells the parable or the account of the rich man in Lazarus. Our text that I want to focus on this morning, verses 22 and 23, take up the issue of what happens when you die. And that’s… where our focus is this morning. Let me begin by saying this. You should realize death is universal. We look here at verse 22 and we read these words, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died. and was buried. So we find both the rich and the poor dying here. One dith in his full strength, being wholly quiet and at ease, and another doth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure in this life. They shall lie alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them. It’s not surprising, that Lazarus dies first. After all, he wasn’t in good health. It was full of sores. Haryly had enough to eat just the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Not much to survive on. But the rich man also died, and no amount of wealth or influence or position could procure for this man a single more day on the earth. Can you imagine Lazarus dying and his body was probably dumped into some hastily dug hole somewhere with no marker and no mourning? He was given the burial of an ass, so to speak. You notice that the text doesn’t say that the Lazarus was buried. It says the rich man was buried. The rich man, you can imagine, had a proper funeral. No doubt he had. had a pompous funeral with a train of mourners, a funeral oration, and praise of him. Probably a stately monument was set over his grave, something which would cause others to remember him in the years to come. But the key fact here is this. Everyone dies. There is no escaping such an end outside of the return of Christ. just as you had a day of birth, you will most certainly have a day of death. The American statesman Benjamin Franklin used to say there’s only two things that are sure in this life. Death and tax. The scripture tells us here that death is certainly a certainty. Scripture says, what man is he that liveeth and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Psalm 89, 488. Solomon declares, to everything, there is a season and a time, to every purpose on their heaven, a time to be born, and a time to die. Elysiasis chapter 3, verses 1 and 2. Even today, with some miraculous medical advances, organ transplants, microsurgery, wonder drugs, you still will die. All the most brilliant surgeons there are, the most gifted physicians, all they can do is try to delay the inevitable. You know, three people die every second. 180 die every minute. 11,000 every hour, 260,000 every day die. Death comes to the young and the old. Death comes to the rich and the poor. Death comes to the good and the bad. Death comes to the elite of society and the street person who has no home. Find the rich and the poor die. Now you die, according divine apportment. Notice verse 22, and it came to pass, it says here. Repeatedly in Scripture, you find this phrase, it came to pass. Now nothing simply comes to pass by chance. Everything comes to pass by divine purpose. God worketh all things after the counsel of his own will. Absolutely nothing happens in all creation that God has not purposed. There is no such thing as luck. There is no such thing as fate or chance. Did not Jesus say, and fear not them which kill the body, are not two sparrows sold for a farling? And one of them should, not fall on the ground without your father. But your very hairs of your head are numbered. Fear ye not, therefore, you are more value than many sparrows. Matthew 10, 28 to 31. Not even a lowly sparrow dies without the hand of God. How much more value is man? And God controls this as well as we are the of his divine purpose. Once the great missionary David Livingston was asked if he didn’t fear going into remote regions of Africa that were too difficult and too dangerous, he answered, I am immoral till the will of God be accomplished. He says, yeah, I’m not going to die until God says so. So he didn’t mind doing this. that. So Lazarus, as well as everyone else, dies by divine appointment. It was his time fixed by God’s eternal decree to die. You are called out of this world according to the timetable of God. And he has set the limits of your life on this earth, and that cannot be altered. It’s appointed on the men wants to die. Hebrews 927, we got a day appointed. God said, this night thy soul shall be required of thee in Luke 12, 20. His time was up. We read about man, his days are determined. The number of his months are with thee. Thou appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Job 14 Fon. So let’s be recognized that your life is in. God’s hands in Him. You live. You move. And you have your being. So you should realize death is universe. Now the second thing we see this morning is this. You should realize death is not final. Your soul exists separate from your body. The Bible teaches and Adam all die. meaning that Adam’s fall had a tragic effect upon the whole human race which came from his loins. As by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin and so death passed upon all men for all have sinned. Romans 512. James tells you what death is. The body without the spirit is dead. James 2.26. Physical death then can simply be stated in this way. It’s separation of the body and the soul. One of the clearest examples of this is found in the death of Rachel, the wife of Jacob, who died, you recall, who were in childbirth. And the scripture says it came to pass, as her soul was departing, for she died, that she called out. his name Benoni, son of Mar Sarah. But her husband Jacob called him Benjamin, son of my right hand. But as her soul was departing, it says. And so while the body like that of the rich man is buried, his soul now separated from the body, continues to exist. You recall the death of Jesus on the cross was pinpointed. as the moment he gave up the ghost. His soul separated from his body. While his body was buried, his human soul continued to exist. You’ll recall what he said to one of the thieves on the cross, Today, thou shall be with me in paradise. So while his body is in the tomb, Jesus’ spirit goes to paradise. Christ made it clear there is conscious existence after death in this parable. Neither the person of the rich man or that of Lazarus was annihilated when they died. The Greek philosopher Aristotle, who died in 322 BC, said that death was the most to be feared of all things, for it appears to be the end of everything. A lot of people think that way. It’s the end of everything. No, it is not the end of everything. What man forgets is that unending existence is an inescapable part of man’s heritage as a creature made after the image and likeness of God. We read in Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Then shall the dust or the body of a man return to the earth as it was from whence it was created. And the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. When Jesus talked to the Sadducees about the resurrection of the dead, which they denied, you recall we refer to God identifying himself to Moses at the burning bush. As I am. the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And as Jesus declared, he’s not the God of the dead, but of the living, for all live unto him. In other words, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still existed. So you’re not annihilated at death. You’re not ceased to exist when your body is very, in the ground, you have an immortal soul. The Bible nowhere speaks of your soul, falling asleep at death, and you existing in an unconscious state. Both rich man and Lazarus were conscious, fully conscious after death. So your soul exists separate from your body. Notice that your soul upon death will reside in either one of two places, heaven or heaven. hell. Let’s look at heaven for a moment. When at last day, where he had of Lazarus fell into the gutter in the silence of death, the holy angels came and carried his soul to Abraham’s bosom, the scripture says. Jesus makes use of this expression, the bosom of Abraham, the bosom of Abraham, For Abraham was the father of the faithful. And this figurative expression was meant to convey the fact that the souls of the righteous were gathered to join their father Abraham, the friend of God. Lazarus is pictured here as being welcomed into the family of heaven. He is carried to Abraham’s bosom. And this implies that the sorrows and troubles of Lazarus are now over. During feast, you know, guests are sometimes said to lean on the breast of others, like John on Christ’s breast at the Lord’s Supper. Being with Abraham after death implied happiness. It’s similar to that expression that we’re going to sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of God, Matthew 8. 11. In heaven, all tears are wiped from your eyes. There is no more sorrow, no more sickness, or suffering. Peace and joy prevail in the presence of God. To be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord is the joy of the Christian. In thy presence is fullness of joy and at thy right hand there are pleasures evermore. Psalm 1611. There is a better one. world beyond this life for those who trust in Christ for righteousness and forgiveness. So heaven is mentioned here that hell is also mentioned in this passage of scripture. The emphasis of this parable is on where the rich man resided after death and suffered great torment. Hell it says. He awakens in hell even while the funeral is being conducted and the eulogies are being given on earth. He finds himself in everlasting torment. His soul is not rundering around in space, nor is it residing at some cemetery somewhere, nor is he in the anguish of a state of limbo. Here you have a clear answer to what happens to the wicked upon death. Jesus used the Greek word Hades, which most cases is used of the place of punishment. Torment indicates that you are conscious in hell and you feel the pain. I am tormented in this flame. Verse 24. Hades is the place of imprisonment, of ruin, of torment, of fire, of darkness. The picture here is grim, where their worm dith not, and the fire is not quenched. Scripture reveals no other options than these two. Heaven or hell. the righteous Jesus lie to you about this. Robert Service, the bitter rhymester, mocked the idea of hell. He ridiculed those who would speak of it like his character, Pious Pete. He portrays the response of this so-called righteous maniac in this manner. I started to tell of the horrors of hell when sudden his eyes lit like coals. Chuck it, said he, don’t you persecute me with your can and your saving of souls. Many today show the same knee-jerk reaction when you ever mention hell. There’s a contempt for all talk about hell. Academics often look down upon Christians for affirming hell is real and eternal. Yet Jesus talked more about hell than anything else. His descriptions are scary. People wish to have hell to be considered a fantasy. A ancient myth that our enlightened society can cast off today. In the 1970s, John Lennon, the ex-Beedle, had a smash hit with a song, including these words, imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try. No hell below us, above us, only is God. Let’s do away with heaven and hell. Can you readily dismiss hell? There’s only a figment of a theological imagination. Will you ignore Christ’s teaching here? Because if you do, you do so at your own prayer. You should realize death is not final. Thirdly, you should prepare for death now. Your present suffering should make you look beyond this world. Did Lazarus’ earthly suffering merit and procure for him? Heaven? No. That never is the truth. Affliction in and of itself cannot take anybody to heaven. What affliction does, however, is teaching that it’s useless to seek happiness in this world. All Lazarus is suffering, his worldly portion of this life, caused him to seek something beyond this life. Lazarus being unsatisfied. feeling that temporal things should never satisfy. Seeks refuge in spiritual. We don’t know how much he knew, but evidently from the scriptures, at least he knew this, God being his teacher. He found satisfaction in having a relationship with Christ. Affliction is like a talent that’s given to you by God, and you’re supposed to make something of it. You’re supposed to be benefited and gained by it. Sorrow, sickness, trial, poverty, bereavement should cause you to realize happiness is not found in this world. You begin to look heavenward. You seek those things which are above. You find in the promises of God’s word your peace and joy. So that in the end, you proclaim with the psalmist, it was very good. good for me that I was afflicted. Lazarus was much better off being afflicted than the rich man was, being surrounded by wealth and pleasures and worldly goods. Are you driven by your earthly suffering to seek satisfaction in the things of the Lord? Don’t you realize this is the good which can come out of all affliction? Your present suffering should make you look beyond this world. Notice you should consider the value of time. What is the length of your earthly life? Well, the psalma says maybe 70, maybe 80 years. The sand is running out of God’s eyeglass and soon will be gone. What are you doing with your time? You realize you must prepare for eternity. for when you die, as all will, your immortal soul is going to have to go somewhere. And you need for you to be prepared to go to heaven. Should not this fact make you think, every man is a fool who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. The greatest delusion is to profess to believe you are an immortal soul, and yet live only for a mortal soul. the temporal things of this one? What were his purple and fine linen? What were his delicious foods to the rich man? When his doctor told him he must die, could he buy another minute on earth with all as well? And what will be, to you, the hour of death, if you’ve gained the whole world? and you lose your own soul. Time is your day of salvation. As long as you have time, you can repent, even as the greatest sinner, and believe on the gospel and be saved. Eternity is before you. Redeem the time allotted to you now. So you should consider the value of time. You should realize Christ is the way to heaven. How is it that Lazarus was a true sign of Abraham? I suggest to you we read it in Galatians 3. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith the same of the children of Abraham. This means that Lazarus was a child of Abraham by faith in Christ. Let it be clearly understood. that the promise of God which prompted Abraham’s faith was about Christ, for Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day. The Old Testament saints all look to Christ as the Savior. Moses spoke of Christ. David wrote of him as His Lord. Jeremiah declared him the Lord our righteousness. And so Lazarus knew Christ, He believed. in him and was saved by Him. For Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but by Him. For Scripture makes it clear, if ye be Christ, then are ye Abraham’s seat, and heirs, according to the promise, Galasians 329. Nothing but Christ’s blood and righteousness can take you to heaven. Has the Holy Spirit taught you. to know Christ, that’s the important thing, should prepare for death now. Let me close this morning by saying this. The hawk of the U.S.S. Arizona evokes a lot of emotion. Questions arise of where are these people now? What happens when you die? The answer is found in scripture. But upon death, You either go to heaven or hell. That you still exist, and you will upon death continue to exist. Scripture declares, prepare to meet by God. Are you prepared to die? Have you found in the Lord Jesus Christ a Savior? For that is your only hope in this life. And I trust that God will drive this truth home to you. Let’s close with a word of prayer this morning. Heavenly Father, we see this solemn passage. We are reminded, Father, of the fact that we will not live forever. We pray, Lord, our hearts are prepared to go to heaven. Forgive us, Lord, of our many sins and shortcomings. Grant us your grace. your peace and your blessing in this life. And while we may suffer in this life, may we look forward to the next, where there will be fullness of joy. Now let’s stand for the benediction. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy in believing. You may abound in the hope through the power of the Holy Ghost. Amen.