So we were in Luke 12 this morning. We turn ahead now to Luke chapter 16. Gabriel, obey your mother and sit still now. Sit down and sit still and obey your mother now. Good boy. Okay, Luke chapter 12 is where we were this morning. We were reminded to be repent, that we'd be ready for Judgment Day. Now we're gonna be thinking a little bit more about that a few chapters later in Luke 16. If we're not ready for Judgment Day, how scary it is of what the final verdict of execution will be for those who are judged guilty, not in Christ. Luke 16 verses 12 through 31, we'll be focusing on a few verses, but we'll read all the verses right now, verses 12 through 31. And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, oh, excuse me, I think I'm in the wrong chapter here. Luke 16, 12, 31. Verse 19, sorry, I have it wrong on my sermon notes. Did I have it right in the bulletin here? It looks like I need to go on vacation this week. I'm sorry. Okay. Luke 16, 19 to 31, thank you. I'm sorry? The recording? Yeah, I do have the recording on, thank you. Thanks for backing me up, everybody. Okay, Luke 16, 19 to 31. 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 lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus 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 receivest thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art 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 thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send 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. Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nigh, 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. Imagine. After you close your eyes in sleep, you wake up and open them to find yourself in a hot, dark room, like an oven burning your skin, choking your breathing with sulfur and smoke. And you feel something crawling all over your body and all over your face. And it's dark, but as you grab it, it's worms. And you can never escape this place. This is how Jesus describes hell. In Mark 9, 42 to 48, Matthew 13, 42, Luke 13, 28, he talks about there are worms there in hell that never die. And if you look at the Greek word, it has the idea more of like the grubs, you know, those grub bugs. I don't know about you, but anytime I come across them, you know, they're there, you know, a bunch of filth and disgusting stuff, like in a compost. That's really more the idea of what that word worm is. They never die. They're always there. You can't get away from them. The fire is never quenched, he says. The fire never goes out. It's not a warming fire, it's a painful fire. You're too close to it and you can't get away from it. He says there is gnashing of teeth, grinding of teeth. He says there is weeping and there is wailing in hell. That is, there is crying and there is screaming there. There is physical torment, and there is mental torment. Agony, unending, body and soul. And here in the text, it's not even final hell that we're looking at. It's the intermediate state where those who die outside of Christ go in an intermediate state of torment, awaiting their bodies to go to full and final hell. It is the place where the souls of the damned await their final judgment in their corrupted bodies, and see how awful it already is, and how final it already is. Look at verse 23. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Notice some things we see here. First of all, he lifted up his eyes. There is a sense of place or a sense of placement here. He lifts up his eyes. He is below. I believe it is Thomas Watson and something on repentance. I couldn't find the quote. I've been reading a lot of Watson and different sources and other things. I believe it was Thomas Watson that says, we ought not to think too much about where hell is located. However, he did say, and he said, rather we should focus on making sure we don't go there. But he did say, that being said, we can say that hell is below. Hell is deep. We can say in some way that hell is down in the earth. It's under the ground, never released from the grave. We could say that hell is being buried alive in eternal death. There's a lot of people, one person that used to be here I know, who have a great fear of being buried alive. Hell is being buried alive. Notice that in verse 23, it also speaks of torment. It is tormenting to be in hell. The Greek word here could be torture. Just look at the cross, because Christ went through hell for us physically. It's torture. Only in hell it never ends, this torment, this torture. He looks up and he sees Abraham and Lazarus, and so he is conscious. He has conscious awareness of where he chose to go and where he should have chosen to go, and he can see it, but he can never go enjoy it. He has constant regret for not repenting before the judgment and now paying the eternal punishment. And he can see, though it's far away, he can see it. He can see where he wishes he could go that makes it worse, you see. To be in agony of thirst and to see a place to get a drink and you can never get there. It makes it even of a worse punishment. Isaac Watson says, at death, a man sees all those thoughts which were not spent upon God to be fruitless. He spent all his meditations upon the world. He will say, what have I lost? What have I betrayed? I have lost heaven. I have betrayed my soul. Look at verse 24. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. Notice, first of all, he cries out for mercy, but what does he find out? It's too late for mercy. The time to ask for mercy is before death. After death, there is no mercy ever to be had, only punishment, because we didn't turn to Christ to be our punishment, to give us mercy. There's no mercy. It is final. John Robertson describes a young man who saw all the dazzling allurements of a place in Paris, France, where they were, and he almost entered the door. There was all this beautiful music and smells, and it just seemed so lovely. He wanted to go in there, but his older Scotch companion grabbed him by the wrist. He didn't let him go in. And he said in a hard voice, man, that is hell. "'What?' said the young man. "'Hell? With an entrance like that? "'With all the colors of the rainbow? "'With all the flowers and beauty "'and the witching scenery and attractions? "'I thought hell was ugly. "'I thought I would get the belch of sulfur "'at the pit's mouth. "'I thought harpies of infernal wing "'would be hovering over the pit. "'But here, like this?' As if he was looking closer, Yes, I saw above the gate and I knew French enough to know what it meant. Nothing to pay. That is, hell looks so great and it's free entrance. That was on the gate. But though there be nothing to pay to get in, what have you to pay to get out? That is the question, character blasted, soul lost, mind that. Look with me back at chapter 12 where we were this morning, but at verse 59, Luke 12, verse 59. Jesus says, I tell thee thou shalt not depart thence till thou hast paid the very last mite. But of course, you're never done paying what you owe to God, because our sins against God are eternal offenses because he is an eternal God, which is why we need Jesus, who is eternal God, to pay for our sins in a moment, or we pay for them in eternity. In this place, we're learning about hell. So of course, the rhetoric there with Jesus is you never pay the last. You're always paying your debt to God. And you'll be looking across and seeing Abraham's bosom and saying, all I had to do was turn to Jesus to pay my debt for me. I could have had free grace, and now I'm paying an eternal debt. Back to verse 24. In chapter 16, what else do we see here? He is so thirsty, but he's never quenched. You know how horrible it is to be so thirsty? Our young ones, especially when they're thirsty, they let us know, and they don't stop until they get it, right? That idea of never being able to quench your thirst is horrible. That's hell. You're thirsty all the time, and you can never get a drink. Because he did not eat and drink of Christ's righteousness to be satisfied. And so he's never satisfied in hell. He's in flames. He's in flames. There's a burning sensation that never ends. You never get healing from that burn, and it's always licking at you. You know, I was sitting in the van yesterday waiting for Mr. Klukas. I just pulled around a curb rather than going to the parking garage because I was going to swing back around to the front to be able to go in and get him so he wouldn't have to walk far. And I just started to sit and read. You might notice I'm using some extra illustrations this week. I had my sermon illustrations book I haven't looked at in a while, and sometimes it's nice to go take a look. So I was looking through and highlighting some possibilities for today, and I hadn't been doing that very long. But the sun coming in at 2 o'clock, the Southern California sun just coming through the window on my arm, and I had a long-sleeved shirt. It was painful. I was like, wow, that is hot. And I'm like, I can't stay here. I've got to move. And I pulled the visor, and I had to do something. It was so hot just for a little while. Can you imagine just never being able to get away from that? Jesus says, this is hell. Again, in verse 24, tormented. And here the Greek word for tormented means to be in pain. What is the first thing we all want to do when we're in pain? Medicine, please. Give me an IV, please. There's nothing wrong with that, by the way. To seek relief of pain is not a bad thing. There is no relief of pain in hell. There isn't anything you can do about it. You just will be in pain forever and ever and ever if you are not in Christ. Now notice this is a theme. Have you noticed we already saw it in verse 23, here in verse 24, but we also see it again come up in verse 25 and 28. Hell is a place of torment, torture, and pain. Now, maybe some would argue, well, that's horrible of God. Well, we know enough to say about God. No, it's righteous judgment against those who've offended a holy God. We're not going to spend a lot of time dealing with that tonight. We're just going to focus on the fact that this is hell. We're going to focus in on hell. It's a real place. This is what it's really like. And we don't want to go there. Look at verse 26. back in chapter 16. 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 thence. So you see, there's no chance to change the situation. There's no chance to change sides. It's over. The opportunity to come to Christ and have heaven is over. After death, in the intermediate state, there's heaven and hell, and there's no crossing over. And then in the final judgment, it's just the same, only with our bodies. Heaven and hell, and there's no crossing over. Though we can see it, those who are in hell will be able to see it and wish they had it, but there'll be no crossing over. It is final. There'll be no negotiating. There'll be no excuse making. There'll be no ability to seek mercy. There'll be no opportunity to come to Christ after death. It's final. Thus, beloved, would you join with Psalm 1610, quoted in Acts 2 27 of Christ's resurrection, on how blessed it is not to be left in hell and corruption. That's what we sang outside. How blessed In Jesus Christ, Psalm 16 being quoted in great detail by Peter in Acts chapter 2 to say, this is David, he knows he's a prophet, and he knows he's preaching about Jesus and his resurrection, and it says, you did not leave my soul in hell. You did not leave my body to corruption. Thus, this is Jesus Christ, because he was raised from the dead. And in him, praise the Lord, we are raised from the dead, and we need not fear this awful place. He's saved us from it. Matthew 5 verses 29 and following, Jesus says, it's better to go to heaven after you cut some of your body members off and pluck out your eye. It's better to go to heaven with only one eye and an arm and a leg than to go to hell with your whole body and both your eyes. That's how horrible it is. You will be so happy in heaven with one eye and a leg and an arm. You go to hell with your eyes and your body full intact, it'll be the most horrible place. Don't be the rich man in chapter 12, we looked at this morning, who spoke to his own soul about this life, and he had himself covered for years with all his riches, and then he heard God call him a fool that very night in the afterlife. You don't want to wake up in hell after death. Take the warning from this rich man in this chapter of Luke. His message, his cry may not have ever made it to the ears of his family, but the warning has entered yours this evening. May it enter your heart and turn it in tears to Christ, so you won't be crying out in agony in hell for the tormented body and soul. So that you may only know in eternity Psalm 16, verse 11, at death. In thy presence is fullness of joy, and at thy right hand are pleasures forevermore. Matthew 10, verse 28, Jesus says, and this is what sends many people to hell, I think. Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Beloved, let Jesus in Gethsemane and Jesus at Golgotha save your soul and body from what this rich man is crying out warning you about this evening. Don't go to hell. Go to Jesus on this earth so you go to heaven when you die. You know, it's interesting. Think about this. You know, a lot of people say, well, I look forward to going to hell because I'll have a lot of friends there. And, you know, you see pictures of a bunch of celebrities at a diner. I'm not sure if it's meant to depict hell, but it is meant to depict the afterlife. And you know enough about these people, there's no reason to think it's depicting heaven. Looks like fellowship and fun, right? This is not where you want to be. Hell is no place to go and it's no place to joke about. Like when Steven Tyler, lead singer of the rock band Aerosmith, dedicated his performance of one of their classic songs, Dream On, to radio shock jock Howard Stern on his birthday. It was a birthday concert honoring him. And Steven Tyler looked up to the balcony from the stage. He was about to start the piano. He looked up and he says, this is for you, Howard. Here's to you. And then he says, I couldn't believe it. And here's to hell. And then he said, may we have as much fun there as we had getting there. And Howard Stern was smiling, standing up, nodding. And then he said, and we'll be there. And it's interesting because you look at the lyrics to Tyler's song, Dream On, and it's sang of sin. It talks about sin. It talks about having dues to pay, debt. And it has a haunting refrain regularly in this song. It says, maybe tomorrow the good Lord will take you away. Well, God is good and he will cast the impenitent to hell, but hell won't be good. and they won't be having any fun. If they find themselves there, there won't be fellowship for them with one another or with anyone else. It'll be solitary confinement. Their only companions, the lick of the flame and the bite of the worms. They'll only be hearing the screams and not the singing of others down the hall outside their cells that they can never exit. Hell is no place to joke about journeying to for fun. Hell is horrible. Hell is hideous. I can understand why some people believe in annihilationism. What's annihilationism? Oh, when we die, there's no hell, we just stop to exist. Our bodies and souls don't exist anymore. Well, clearly that's not what Jesus is teaching. Even after death, before the resurrection, intermediate hell, just like there's an intermediate heaven that we studied in Philippians, right? But I can understand why some people choose to believe in annihilationism. It's such a horrible thought, what we've studied tonight. You know, sometimes when I think about this, I almost faint. It's so horrible, I can't even possibly consider it for anyone. And I want to deny it, because it's so horrible, and it literally almost makes me faint. But there will be no relief with fainting in hell. There is no annihilation. It will be constant, eternal agony, body and soul, conscious of the heaven they can see and the distance they should have taken, but they cannot. There'll be no end to the physical and mental torture to pay their debt to a holy God for their sins. Friends, escape hell, for it is horrifying. And I originally had in your bulletin, avoid hell. But as I was finishing this up, I said, that is far too weak. Friends, escape hell, for it is horrifying. And be sure to lead your brothers, your sisters, your friends, your coworkers, be sure to lead your children far away from it, because it's horrifying and there's no coming back. Escape hell, for it is horrifying. Let us pray. O Lord God Almighty, put the fear of hell in us, the fear of your judgment and wrath due to us for sin. It is a real place and it's hideous and horrifying. It's horrendous. Lord, let it be a motivation to make us run to Jesus and in him into heaven, that we would be citizens of heaven in this life, that in the afterlife, as soon as we die, we are like Lazarus and not the rich man. in the comfortable, blessed presence of God, in the bosom of Abraham, in the presence of Jesus, where your pleasures are forevermore. Lord Jesus, indeed, let this true doctrine of hell be something the church is not afraid to preach, so that we would not be afraid to preach repentance as our confession emphasizes needs to be preached just as much as faith. As R.C. Sproul has said, when someone asked him, are you saved? The question is, saved from what? The answer is here tonight, saved from hell. The wrath and curse of God due to us for our sins against his holy eternality. And we do thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, great shepherd of the sheep, that you have saved us from hell. And you will raise us from the grave, which will only be our bed as our souls are in heaven with you. And on the last great day, you will raise us up and we will enter into your father's house to enjoy forever. Let us remember this is what the gospel is all about. The good news includes the bad news of where we're headed and what it will be if you do not pluck us out from it. Sinners in the hand of an angry God. We do thank you that through Christ you have been reconciled with us and we with you. We do thank you that the gospel offers Christ to all who would repent and believe, and all who would repent and come to Jesus. He says, I will in no wise cast out. Whosoever will come to me, I will in no wise cast out. But Lord, let us respond now. Today is the day of salvation. We do not know when our soul will be required of us. Lord, let us take this so seriously and let us be ready to share it with others that they would take it seriously. And if they would laugh and mock, there's a good possibility that later on they would tremble. And we pray that it would be the trembling that would be of faith and salvation, not of those who almost become Christians in the book of Acts, but it would lead to salvation. And we do thank you again for saving us from hell and giving us heaven in Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray and all your people said, amen.