The Rich Man and Lazarus - Are we headed to heaven or hades?

Well take your Bible, turn to Luke chapter 16. We are going to be in verses 19-31. So Luke chapter 16 verses 19-31. Now I did say it earlier, you probably know it because I have said it a couple of times. Tonight we are in our last parable in the series that we have been in for quite a time. We have been here in the parables taught by Jesus for well over a year. And tonight we are going to study the last of the judgment parables. And this is the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. Your copy of God's Word, your translation could have a title there. Those things are good. If you are a copy of God's Word your translation does not have a title.

That does not mean that something is wrong with your copy of God's Word. Those things are inserted by man. I like those. It helps me. Now some of you may know this, some of you may not know this. And if you do some listening or studying on your own you will run across this fact. But there is a debate around these verses. There is a debate as to whether this is truly a parable or not. And there is a debate as to whether this was a real life event. That might surprise some of you. Some say this can't be a parable because Jesus uses a name in this teaching.

And if you know or have kept up we know that He never used a name in any of the other parables. Now others say that this is a parable because Jesus starts this teaching just like He did many of His other parables. Well my position is this. It is obvious. The fact that I have included this teaching in our study of the parables tells you my position. I do believe that this is a parable which at its heart it teaches us two things. First these verses, this parable clearly teach the reality of hell and certain aspects of hell. And then second the purpose of these verses in this parable is to express a great warning about going to hell.

Now if we read the parable and we study the parable we will see that at its heart there is a contrast between two men, the rich unnamed man and then the very poor man named Lazarus. Now let's look at the verses. Some of you are familiar with this parable because it is a popular parable. I know some of the parables we have studied you may have never read or paid that much attention to. But we all know this one I would guess. So let's look at the verses. Chapter 16, Gospel of Luke starting in verse 19 down to verse 31.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and he feasted sumptuously every day and in his gate there was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover even the dogs came and licked his sores and the poor man died and he was carried away by angels to Abraham's side and the rich man also died and he was buried. And in Hades being in torment he lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham far off in Lazarus by his side.

And he called out Father Abraham have mercy on me and sent Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said child remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this between us you and me is a great chasm which has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able to and none may cross from there to us.

And he said then I beg you father this would be Father Abraham to send him this would be Lazarus to my father's house for I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets that would be the Old Testament scriptures let them hear them. And he said no Father Abraham but if someone goes to them from the dead they will repent. And he said to him if they do not hear Moses and the prophets that would be the Moses and the prophets to lead them to repentance neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.

Now before I get into the parable and how I want to get at the teaching because there is a lot here I want to point something out. First of all all these things could have truly happened in their day. One of the things the Old Testament prophets did over and over and over all throughout the Old Testament that was to rebuke the rich in the nation of Israel for hoarding up great wealth all while taking advantage of widows, orphans and the poor of the land. And we see these warnings in the prophets. Prophets like Isaiah specifically Isaiah chapter 3, Isaiah chapter 10.

One prophet that you may not have ever read or even paid attention to Amos the little book of Amos. We see this in Amos chapter 2 chapter 4 chapter 5 and chapter 8. Amos is rich with these warnings and then we see this also in Habakkuk, Habakkuk chapter 2. And this was truly one of their national sins. But a question if this could have truly happened in Jesus' day and it could have well then why was that the case? You see the Jewish people under the law of Moses had ways and commandments that they were supposed to ensure that the poor within the nation were taken care of.

And if they did what the Old Testament scriptures commanded scholars and historians tell us that there would have been very little poverty in the land and in the nation. But that was not the case in Jesus' day much like all of the history of Israel. Again this was one of their prevalent national sins. So this situation really really could have happened in Jesus' day. Now here is what I want to do. First I want to note all of the different contrasts that we see in the parable and there are quite a few. And then I want us to examine three of the most prominent contrasts in the teaching. Look at all of the contrasts in the story.

You will see them when I read them because we have read the verses together. "Of course one man was very rich while one man was very poor. One man had a house while the other did not. One man had food while the other did not. One man had no needs and seemed to have everything while one man had needs and really needed everything in life. One man suffered in no way while one suffered in every way. One man was honored in life while the other was humiliated in life. One man feasted like a king in every way while one man was hungry enough to eat what dogs ate. One man needed no help while the other man needed a lot of help.

One man had hope and a bright future in life while the one man had no hope and he had no future in life. One man had all of the dignity that life had to offer while the other man had no dignity in life and as we will see no dignity in death either. But that's not all. Look at how things get reversed real fast after death. At their death the rich man's hopes were gone forever but the poor man's hopes were fulfilled beyond anything he could have ever dreamed. The rich man instantly became poorer than any poor man on earth but the poor man instantly became richer than any rich man on earth.

The rich man was instantly on the outside looking in but the poor man was instantly on the inside. The rich man was totally destitute and deprived but the poor man enjoyed a heavenly banquet. The rich man was the poorest of the poor and liked everything but the poor man needed for nothing. The rich man had none of his desires fulfilled and then some for all of eternity. But the poor man had all of his desires fulfilled and then some for all of eternity. The rich man was cursed and suffering beyond all belief but the poor man was blessed and happy beyond all belief.

The rich man begged for some help and none was available but the poor man needed no help because he had everything and the rich man was humiliated while the poor man was honored. I think you see it. It's obvious and that really covers about everything. Now this is the parable and this is the parable and a story of contrasts and this is a contrast between the rich man and the poor man. I think it's easy to see. Now I want us to look at three particular contrasts that we must see. As a matter of fact all of the resources that I've studied the past couple of weeks, all of the scholars and commentaries point out these particular contrasts.

So this is nothing new. We see the contrast in life, we see the contrast in death and then we see a contrast in eternity. So those are the particular contrasts that I want to focus on. A contrast in life, a contrast in death and a contrast in eternity. So number one, the contrast that we see in life. Now I'm not going to read these verses. We've read them so they should be in your mind. Now like I said earlier, these circumstances could have been real life in the land of Israel. The Jews were notorious for not taking care of the poor according to the Scriptures.

Actually the wealthy were notorious for taking advantage of the poor of the land so as to amass great wealth and even greater wealth for themselves. Now I want to go a little deeper here by contrasting the two men in life. I'm going to go deeper than I did earlier. First the rich man's riches. We can see the extent of this rich man's riches by noticing what he wore, how he ate, and how he lived. You know I thought about this today. It's the same today. It is the same today. We can notice the extent of a rich person's riches by what they wear, by what they eat, and how they live. Nothing really is new anymore.

Now the New American Standard says that he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen. All of the translations mention that. Now this purple garment would have been his outer garment and this fine linen would have been an inner garment. Both would have been very expensive clothing in that day. And the purple garment wasn't expensive because of its color. It was basic economics. The dying process was very, very labor intensive. The dye for the purple in their day came from sea snails and it was very, very labor intensive. So only the rich could afford purple fabrics.

And this linen inner garment would have been made from very expensive Egyptian cotton which was grown only along the Nile River. And the text says that he dressed like this habitually. This was his daily practice. Also the English Standard version says he feasted sumptuously every day. The New American says that he daily lived in splendor every day. Simply this meant that he ate and he lived in a splendid manner, not just on special occasions, but every day. And all of these details pointed to one thing. He lived an excessive and extravagant lifestyle every day for all to see. He wore the best, the most expensive clothing.

He truly dressed like a king, like a prince, like a noble person. He ate the best and most expensive foods and he joyfully lived like this every day. Now notice this one fact in the parable. Jesus did not say nor did he even hint that this rich man was in sin. He doesn't. He did not indicate in any way that he was guilty of any sin or any crime for his wealth. This is a conclusion. This is a mistake that some can make, an assumption. Some can assume that somehow, someway he was guilty of sin. But Jesus doesn't hint at that nor does he indicate that. So first the rich man's riches. Second the poor man's poverty.

We see the depth of this man's poverty by noticing the same thing. What he wore, how he ate, and how he lived. The English Standard says this poor man was not clothed with purple or fine linen, but he was clothed with sores. Now in the original language the phrase and the wording here, it meant oozing ulcerous sores. And the verse says that he hungered to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table. Now it is interesting what these crumbs were. Scholars tell us that in that day rich men like this would use pieces of stale bread crumbs to clean their hands and those bread crumbs were thrown onto the floor for the dogs to eat.

But this picture of the dogs eating bread crumbs was not some cute little picture like we would envision today. In their day dogs were not domesticated pets. They were actually scavenging unclean wild animals. They were hated by the people and as a matter of fact they were even dangerous. And the verse tells us where he lived. The new American says he was laid out at the rich man's gate. This word laid literally means thrown out or cast out. So the picture here is that he was laid out or thrown out or tossed out at the rich man's gate. And all these things tell us one thing. The poor man was extremely poor. He was poor, sick and thrown out.

It is interesting to note that this word poor here in verse 20 is the same word translated worthless in Galatians 4-9. Simply this man was as poor as it gets. He was poor, sick and cast out. He was worthless by society's standards. No one cared for his needs except for the dogs. Jesus tells us that the scavenging dirty dogs were the only ones that attended to his sores. I'm sorry I'm probably not helping you with supper. And notice this one fact here in this part of the parable. Jesus did not say why this man was in such poverty. He did not say that this man had sinned in any way and it was a common belief in their Jewish culture.

It was deeply ingrained to believe that a man like this was somehow guilty of sin. They would even believe that a man like this whose parents were guilty of sin. But Jesus does not say that that was the case. So we see the contrast in life, a very stark contrast. Now here's the lesson here. This wasn't a social justice issue. You know what it was? Life. Life. Now obviously according to the Old Testament scriptures that there was a provision for a man like this. But what I'm showing you is this. This wasn't a social justice issue. This was and is life. I'm going to speak to this in a minute.

Jesus says in John 12.8 that you'll always have the poor among you. So you can't twist that and make it some kind of a social justice issue. Obviously the Jews could have done better if this was a real life circumstance but it was life. Then number two the contrast we see in physical death. The contrast we see in physical death. One verse, verse 22. The poor man died and he was carried away by the angels. To Abraham's side. The rich man died also and was buried. Now the extreme contrast between the rich man and the poor man's life, really easy to see. And those contrasts were seen in death as well.

They might not be quite as easy but you're going to see them. But as we will see immediately after death things reversed. But I want us to look at the difference in the two. Contrast with the two in their death. First the poor man, Lazarus. The poor man died destitute. Now we do not know if he died from starvation or sickness or both. He probably died from all of the above I would imagine. But notice how he died. There seems to have been no funeral or even a burial. It seems that this poor man did not have the traditional Jewish funeral with mourners and spices to prepare his body for the tomb.

Scholars tell us that in situations like this his body literally could have been thrown out into the city dump with the carcasses of dead animals and the bodies of criminals and the worst outcasts of society. Yes that is exactly what they did in their day. They threw the bodies, the carcasses of animals and criminals in the worst of the worst in the city dump. But then second the rich man. The rich man died but he died as a rich man. Now we do not know what caused his death. The text simply says he died. But notice how he died. He had a funeral and the text hints that he had a funeral worthy of the rich man, a rich man in his day.

In this day he would have been honored with an elaborate and expensive funeral that matched his wealth and status. His funeral would have been attended by many friends and associates and there would have been many paid mourners. That was one of the things they did in their day. There would have been many paid mourners to mourn his death. His body would have been prepared for burial sparing no cost and he would have been buried in a very elaborate and well known tomb. So we see the contrast in their physical death. Now here's the lesson here. It's just a continuation of what I've said earlier. Jesus said you'll always have the poor among you.

Now here's what I want to say here. This is a lesson in God's providence. Why were you born in a wealthy nation like the United States and not in a poor nation like North Korea? Well God's providence. God in his wonderful infinite plan that we cannot understand. God ordains these things. So a man like the rich man and a man like the poor man would have been born into these circumstances because of God's providence. Happens today as well. And we just ponder those things. And then number three and this one will be a little bit longer. The contrast we see in eternity. The contrast we see in eternity.

We'll read those verses a little later but that's found in verse 22. We read that earlier on down to the end verse 31. Now in the contrasts in life between the two men they were clear. Well the contrast between the two are definitely clear in eternity. As a matter of fact it gets shocking. But after death we see their fortunes, their circumstances were reversed much to the shock of those who were listening. And I'm going to speak to the shock of those who were listening here in a moment. Now this is how I want to get at what we see here. I want us to look at their destinations. I want us to look at their conditions in that destination.

And then I want to look at their reactions. First their destinations. Here's where I want to read verse 22 in the beginning of verse 23. "The poor man died and he was carried by the angels to Abraham's side." That's his destination. "The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades being in torment he lifted up his eyes." Now the verse says that the poor man went to Abraham's side but the rich man went to Hades. Now we need to ask what these things speak of. The phrase Abraham's side it's only found in one place in the scripture right here. But this is quite simple.

It could be difficult for us to understand but the Jews would have known exactly what this was. This is a symbolic expression and those listening would have known just what this meant. To any Jew the idea of enjoying eternal fellowship with Abraham simply suggested eternal blessings or heaven. This simply means that the poor man went to the eternal place of the righteous which is where Abraham certainly was and is. And this phrase Hades is the New Testament Greek word for the Old Testament word sheol. Now in the Old Testament sheol was used to speak of the place of both the righteous and the unrighteous.

But here it is obviously used to speak of the place of the unrighteous because it clearly says that he is in a place of torment. And if we look at this phrase this language throughout the New Testament we clearly see that Hades is the place of the unrighteous prior to the final judgment in hell or the lake of fire. We see this in Revelation 1. 18, Revelation 1.20 and also in Revelation chapters 13-14. So it's simple here. The poor man died and was immediately in heaven with Abraham who was and is the father of the faith. And all those Jews listening would have understood that. But the rich man died and he was immediately in Hades.

And we will see that he was separated far from heaven and he was in a place of torment and those Jews listening would have understood this as well. Now here's where I want to speak of the reactions. The reactions. I love how John MacArthur puts it. He taps into the reaction and the reactions of the religious leaders. And I'm reading, I'm quoting him. Listen to what he says here. "That such a low life as Lazarus was taken to heaven by angels would have been a greater shock for the Pharisees.

But not only was he taken to heaven, he was also given the place of honor and immediate fellowship at the sight of Abraham, the friend of God, the father of the Jewish race, and of the faithful, the greatest figure in Jewish history." To the Pharisees this would have been stunning, incomprehensible, and a direct affront, an assault on their theological assumptions. This man who was humiliated on earth, a man whom no self-respecting Pharisee would have anything to do with, he was honored in heaven because the Lord helped him and the angels delivered him there. Now what is my point there in mentioning that?

These destinations were shocking, shocking to those Jews. The religious leaders would have been mortified. The disciples would have been surprised. The Jews would have been surprised. And you may say, "That's sad. That's cruel." Yes, but it was typical. Remember what we learned in the parable of the Good Samaritan? The Jews, especially the Jewish religious leaders, disdained the social outcasts, and they were shocked when God expressed his love towards them. So we see their destinations. Second, we see their conditions, and we see that in verse 23. Now we have actually covered this son.

The poor man was in blessing and bliss with Abraham in heaven, but the rich man was in torment and in Hades. But here I want to point out a few specifics that we see here about Hades, and by no means is this exhaustive because we see some teaching that fills in a few more gaps in other places in scriptures. First, we see that Hades is a place of separation. For the rich man Lazarus was seen far off. Also, there was a great chasm fixed between the rich man and Lazarus, between Hades and heaven. And what do we see? No one could traverse that chasm. So Hades is a picture, Hades is a place of separation.

Second, we see that Hades is a place of torment. This word used for torment literally spoke of torments plural. Also, it is a place of great suffering because we see in the verses that it is a place of torturous, never-ending fire. And because we see in the verses that it is a place of torturous, never-ending thirst. So Hades is a place of torment. Third, it is a place of no escape. The rich man could not pass from Hades to heaven. He could not. Nor does he even ask to escape. And I'm going to mention that a little more later. So Hades is a place of no escape. So we see their conditions. And third, we see their reactions.

We see their reactions. Now, I want to read these verses. Look for their reactions. Verse 24 to 31. "And he," this is the rich man, "called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and to cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish.

Besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' And he said, 'Then I beg you, Father, Father Abraham, to send him. That would be Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them. At least they also come to this place of torment.' But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets. That would be the Old Testament Scriptures.

Let them hear the Scriptures.' And he said, 'No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' And he said to them, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'" So there are reactions. First, Lazarus. How does Lazarus react to being in heaven with Abraham? We don't know. The text doesn't say. He was too busy and blessing and in bliss to say anything. That's my hunch. But then second, the rich man. If we read verses 24 to 31 and we have, we see that the rich man has many, many reactions. There's this going back and forth.

First, he cried out for mercy for himself in verse 24. But notice he does not cry out to God. He cries out to Abraham. This can show us a few things. Possibly he knew that there was no mercy from God available because the time of God's mercy was long gone. Albert Barnes says that lost spirits, lost souls know that their sufferings have no end. Also he does not cry out to be released from Hades. Notice that. Maybe this shows us the warped mind and the warped soul of the damned. Barnes says he had no desire to be in a holy place. So he cried out for mercy for himself. Then second, he cried out for mercy for his brothers in verse 27.

Notice in eternity he quickly became an evangelist. He was an evangelistic or even compassionate on earth. But now he wanted someone to go warn his family and his brothers about the torture of Hades. See the back and forth? Now notice Abraham's reply. Abraham says they have the Old Testament scriptures and that is enough to warn them against Hades and to prepare them for heaven. And then notice the rich man's rebuttal. He contradicted Abraham. He said that if someone would go to them from the dead they would surely repent. And then notice Abraham's rebuke. He says no.

If they will not repent after hearing the Old Testament scriptures then they will never repent even if someone should come to them from the dead. So we see a lot in this contrast between the two in eternity. Lazarus died and he was carried by the angels to heaven. But the rich man died and he went to Hades, the place of torment or torments. In heaven Lazarus seemed to be busy with blessing and bliss. But the rich man was busy in delusional reasoning and questioning as well as torments and sufferings. Now in application I've got a question for us. Is this fact or is this fiction? Many would say this is hocus pocus fiction.

But we have to answer that question. Is this fact or is this fiction? But you see if we say that this is fiction, if we even lean towards this could be fiction, the ramifications are this. Any and all of the Bible may be fiction. We can just pick and choose what we think is fiction. You see? So we have to ask ourselves is this fact or fiction? But if this is facts the ramifications are this. These things are real. The characters may be parabolic but what is taught here is definitely real. And if these things are fact the destinations are real, the conditions are real, the reactions are real and the people who go there are real.

You know usually good statements, things like that, pastors have, they are usually borrowed. A little joke among pastors is this. Pastors will say stuff like this. You know the first time you hear something you quote them. The second time you hear something you say it. You say well I've always said and then by the time you say it the third or the fourth time you say well I've always said. You get it? Well here is something that I have said for years. And I don't know when or where it came to me but it really came out of frustration. I have said for years and I want you to think about it.

No one goes to hell at a funeral or in a country music song. I've never been to a funeral when someone told the truth about someone going to hell. Now I've been to a funeral where a lot of people were preached on in the glory and I'm not really sure they went there. But you listen no one goes to hell in a country music song. Now that might be a little humorous and a little sarcastic but it's true culturally. But listen people do go to hell from the scriptures and in real life. This is either fact or fiction and we must see that it is fact. It is not fiction.

Again these things may be parabolic but the truths that are being taught here are fact. They are real. And I did say that there are other things we can learn by looking at other scripture. Now as I move away from the parable the verses I want to offer some lessons. These are general lessons, observations from this parable and there is some other scripture here. I could have fleshed these things out but it would have made this maybe a little too long and maybe turned it into a part two. But I wanted to be quick here. The first lesson Jesus preached on hell more than anyone else in the scripture.

You might say well he was a little negative wasn't he? He preached on hell more than anyone else in the scripture. He preached on money a lot too. But then second here and in other places Jesus clearly explained that hell is a real place. He didn't believe it was fiction. He believed it was fact. And then third Jesus third Jesus clearly explained that hell is a place of real conscience, eternal, physical, emotional and spiritual punishment for people. Let me say that again it is a mouthful.

Jesus clearly explained here and in other places that hell is a place of real conscience, eternal, physical, emotional and spiritual punishment for people. Warren Wearsby says it is a permanent prison not a temporary punishment. And if the rich man was truly a rich man and Jesus had a particular rich man in mind he is still there today. And then fourth the fourth lesson here Jesus meant this teaching to serve a twofold purpose. I mentioned this in the introduction. First that hell is real and second that this should be a warning for people. And as we close we have to ask the question how do people keep from going to hell? How?

Oh does Lazarus need to come back from the grave and speak to you? Does the rich man need to come and speak to you about the reality of hell? What does the parable say? No. We know how to keep from going to hell from the scripture. The scriptures are sufficient folks. All people keep from going to hell the same way. By repenting of their sin and trusting in the finished work of Christ from the cross for their salvation. The sinner needs to believe that salvation is from God and by God and by grace alone. There is nothing they can do to earn their salvation.

All they have to do is trust and believe when God equips them with the ability to do that. Ephesians 2, A, 9. By trusting and believing that God does in fact forgive the truly repentant sinner. Why? Because God by nature, God by nature is a forgiving God. God desires that law sinners savingly believe in Him. He desires to forgive and to save the lost. By also believing by faith and faith alone that the sinner he must believe that God's holy justice was satisfied by transferring God's judgment meant for them to the one and only substitute which is Jesus.

So how do people keep from going to hell like the rich man went to hell by the new birth being born of God, born of the spirit of God and therefore savingly trusting in Christ. Now the text doesn't say it but that's the only way that the poor man went to heaven and that's the only way the rich man kept from going to heaven. You see they didn't earn it or miss out on something mystical. It's the same way for all. Now the title of the message is this, the parable of the rich man in Lazarus. Are we headed for heaven or for Hades? That's the question.

And tonight if you're here and you're not converted to Christ you need to seek the Lord while He may be found. Tonight if you're here and you don't know, you're not secure, you don't have the witness of the spirit in your life, the spirit of God doesn't take the word of God and show you that you're really converted to Christ, you need to seek the Lord while He may be found. Search the Lord out in the scriptures so that you may be secure in your faith and know that you're headed for heaven and not for Hades. So the parable of the rich man in Lazarus. Let's pray. We'll commit this to the Lord and then we'll look at some prayer needs.