This story teaches SO many things. BUT...mainly it teaches the danger of an unrepentant life.  The rich man had everything but a repentant heart.  After he died, he knew the reason he was in torment was because he did not repent. From hell he clearly saw that what his 5 brothers needed, was to repent. His one request was “send someone back from the dead, then they would repent of their sins and turn to God.”

Repentance is the hallmark of saved people.  And the absence of repentance is the hallmark of the unsaved.  The unvarnished message of this story is that unrepentant people end up in hell.  

Frederic Godet said, Jesus’ aim in the story of the rich man and Lazarus “is self examination in which the heart is broken at the thought of it’s sins.  And (this brokenness over your sins) impresses (on you) an entirely new direction (for your) life…this is the arrow point, shot by the hand of Jesus at the conscience of his hearers.” 

The first demand of Jesus’ ministry was “Repent!”.  Jesus knew that repentance was the foundation of real salvation. Wait a minute I thought we were saved by believing in Christ!  That’s right!  But no one will truly put faith in Christ, who has not had faith in themselves thoroughly destroyed.

This story strikes at the problem of faith in ourselves, of thinking we are right, or okay, or just fine, or good.  It strikes down the lie, that we can go to heaven, unrepentant, unhumbled and unchanged.

Specifically here Jesus was striking a death blow to the complacency of the self-righteous rich Pharisees.  He was ripping the rug out from underneath them. He was shocking the rich with a story of future torment and agony. His message was “If you don’t repent, your future will be spent in the flames of hell”.  Jesus had just said, “No servant can serve two masters;  he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” Verse 14 “The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and scoffed at him”.  So this was directed at them! 

Their problem was not merely riches, but a proud assumption they were okay. They were hardened toward God by their prosperity on earth. And that happens a lot! They didn’t worry about God, they weren’t troubled about life after death, they certainly felt no need of repentance.  They were rich, comfortable, righteous and did not need Jesus.  But they did!  

So Jesus disturbed their complacency by giving them a terrifying preview of life after death.  He demolished their false sense of security.  And that has to happen!!  To you!  Before anyone can be saved they have to have their own sense of spiritual safety destroyed. No one who is content with themselves, their things, their comfortable situation, their own goodness, will come to Christ in a saving way the truly puts faith alone in Christ alone for their salvation.  That is the danger of all men, but especially those who ARE well off in this life. 

This story shows the need for ALL people to repent. BECAUSE there is a reckoning with God after death. There are the flames of torment, OR the pleasures of Paradise. Paul said, “God commands all men everywhere to repent for he has set day in which he will judge the world with justice through the man he has appointed...” Acts 17:30,31

Just before Jesus left the earth to go back to heaven he told his disciples, “Repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in my name...”  Luke 24:47 

So I say all that to emphasize from Jesus, from the apostles, from all the scriptures that repentance IS part of the process of salvation!  When people think they are saved but show no change of life, this is what is missing!  A Christian without a repentant heart is not a Christian.  A Christian is someone who has been undone by the law of God and the fear of judgment, and driven into the arms of Christ for safety and relief.  That needed to happen to the Pharisees and needs to happen to all of us! 

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The story begins, “there was a rich man”.  There is an old saying that some people’s purpose in life is to serve as an example to others.  That is this man’s purpose certainly in this story.  His life is a warning.  He is what NOT to be like. Here is what happened to this rich man.  Don’t let this happen to you!

We don't know his name, only that he had lots of money.  He “was dressed in purple and fine linen”.  Purple dye was the most expensive to make so only the rich could have purple fabrics.  So even his clothes let people know he was rich.  

He “feasted sumptuously every day”.  He lived in luxury.  NASB “Joyously living in splendor every day”  He ate the best food, had the finest things.  He was living the dream.  He would have told you he was happy.  But he was headed for agony in the flames!

Rich people in those days and still today often had a large impressive gate out in front of their home to show their wealth.  And this man had one of those. Vs 20 “And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.” 

The rich man had everything, Lazarus had nothing.  He laid there; he couldn't walk.  His body hurt.  He didn’t have enough to eat. Dogs that roamed the streets licked his sores.  

Clearly ONE evidence of the rich man’s unrepentance was his callous indifference to Lazarus’ desperate situation.  The prophet Isaiah said, “This is the kind of fasting I want to see in your life... to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them.  and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Is 58:6,7 But the rich man didn’t take God’s word seriously. He was hard and cold and had no compassion. 

But the time came when they both died. Vs 22,23  “The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.” The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, he found himself in torment.  Hades was the place of the dead, but for the unrepentant it was a place of torment.  He said, “I am in anguish in this flame”.  This clearly is what we call hell or what Jesus called hell in other places.  It is translated hell in the NIV, KJV and some other translations. 

After death, everything has suddenly changed for these two men.  Lazarus is pictured sitting next to Abraham, the father of the faith.  He is enjoying rest, comfort, and fellowship.  He is given the best seat in Heaven.  But...The rich man is in hell, He is in torment and in agony in the flames.  These words are hard to hear but we can’t soften them or ignore them. Jesus presented hell as a place of severe physical and mental anguish and suffering.  And he meant for people to know that.  

Before we go on, there are some important truths Jesus taught here that are not the main point of the story but are still very important.  

*Life does not end at death for anybody.  We are special people, created in the image of God. We are created with eternal souls, accountable to God with eternal consequences for our choices in this life.  The unrepentant may hope death is the end!  Jesus said no...it’s not.   

*Jesus taught (not only here but clearly here) there are two destinations for people after death. Heaven and hell.  The Father’s Kingdom or weeping and gnashing of teeth.  There is either torment or glory.  John Lennon wrote, “Imagine there’s no heaven; it’s easy if you try..No hell below us, above us only sky.”  If you are a Christian, please do not sing that song!  That song calls Jesus a liar.  

*Third: Jesus destroys the teaching of universal salvation, the belief that all people end up in heaven.   A W Tozer said, “The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.”  It’s not only a lie; it’s a deadly lie.

*Fourth: Jesus taught the immediacy of pleasure or agony after death.  The Great White Throne judgment and the lake of fire is still out in the future.  But the rich man’s agony was experienced right then, upon death. 

In the same way the resurrection of our bodies, the New Heaven and Earth is still out in the future but, the pleasure of being with God is immediate upon death. Jesus said, “Today you will be with me…” Paul said, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. 

JC Ryle  “All who fall asleep in Jesus, are in good keeping. They are not houseless, homeless wanderers between the hour of death and the day of resurrection. They are at rest in the midst of friends —  And, best of all, Paul tells us that they are "with Christ." (Philippians 1:23.)  

*Fifth: The “after death” experiences of the rich man and Lazarus dramatically show us that the truly blessed life is only the life that will experience eternal pleasures.  Who is the blessed person in this story?  Lazarus!

We tend to evaluate our lives, our worth, even whether we are blessed by God or not, based on our circumstances in this life.  This story shatters that kind of thinking. You cannot think rightly about life without taking eternity into view.  

If you are right with God, have repented of your sins, come to Christ to save you, YOU are the blessed person, not Bill Gates or Elon Musk.  You have the right to the tree of life!  You have the right to enter the gates of the New Jerusalem!  EVEN if you suffering, eating scraps, and in terrible circumstances in this life, you ARE blessed.  It is always better to be on God’s side, even if your experience in this world is really hard. 

Back to the story line.  Now the rich man is keenly aware of his own torment and the pleasure of Heaven he has missed. And he asks that Lazarus would come from Heaven and bring him some relief. Vs 24,  “So he called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.”

Amazingly Jesus tells us something about the thoughts and feelings of those in hell. The rich man is desperate for relief.  He is filled with regret and agony. He asks for water, to cool his tongue.  He finds hell a place of torment.  

Vs 25 “But Abraham replied, Son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony”.

Abraham turns down his request because there is justice about the way things turned out.  The rich man was cruel and heartless in his neglect of Lazarus. (That was a symptom of his unrepentant heart!) Now, that sin is being justly dealt with.  Lazarus suffered years of pain and hunger and humiliation and mistreatment. Now he has pleasure, peace and honor.  As Leonard Ravenhill said, “God does not pay all his dues in this life.”

Jesus said “Many who are first will be last. Many who are last will be first.”  The day of judgment will change the status, the experiences of a lot of people.  We think highly of the apostle Paul today, but in his lifetime, Paul said, “we are treated like the world’s garbage, like everybody’s trash—right up to the present moment.”  But he is honored in heaven.  You can come in last in the world’s game and yet be under the supreme blessing of God and be greatly loved by God and that will be fully revealed someday in heaven.  Everybody is going to see that you are God’s special son or daughter.  

*One other thing to clear up. Some teach that poverty qualifies people for heaven and wealthy disqualifies. But  Jesus was not teaching that poverty is the way to get to heaven. Or that all rich people go to hell. If that were true then Lazarus would not be sent to the side of Abraham, the richest man in Israel.  So that is not the point.  We’ll see what it is in a moment.

BUT there is another reason his request is denied..Vs 26, “And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”

Abraham said people from Heaven cannot go to Hell.  And people in Hell cannot cross over to Heaven.  Our eternal experience is fixed by choices made in this life and nothing can be done later to change them. That is why there is urgency to respond to God NOW.   There is nothing in the scripture to give the hope of a second chance.

When the rich man realizes any change in his misery is impossible,  he makes another request:  Vs27,28  “Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus to my father's house, for I have five brothers.  Let him warn them, so they will not also come to this place of torment.”  He knows his five brothers are headed for Hell just like him.  And he wants Lazarus to appear to them and shake them up, and get them to repent.

Vs 29 “Abraham replied, they have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.” IE Let them take to heart the information God has already given them in the OT scriptures. 

Moses especially refers to the law, to God’s commandments.

Romans 3:20 says “through the law we become conscious of our sin.”  The law of Moses is sufficient to break a person’s self righteousness, to humble them before God.  The prophets warned Israel of their sins and proclaimed a coming Savior.   Abraham was basically saying, there is enough in Moses and the prophets to bring the brothers to repentance. The scripture is God’s way of bringing hardened sinners to repentance.  

But...the rich man said...Verse 30 “No, father Abraham, he said, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.”  In hell he sees clearly that what his brothers need is repentance. The question was “what would it take to make them repent?”  He knew his brothers already had the Old Testament Scriptures!  And he knew they ignored them. He knows it is their indifference and unrepentance in the face of the law and the prophets that exposes his 5 brothers to future agony and torment, just like him

But he thinks they would listen to someone who came back from death. So he urges Abraham to try something else!  They need more than the scripture. But Abraham said to him...Vs 31 “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”

That is the punch line of the story and it is meant to get at the heart of the Pharisees resistance to Jesus.  Their failure to believe in him is not due to lack of evidence but due to a hardened heart.  Repentance is a change of heart. That is what they need!  NOT more evidence! The same hardness that won’t respond to the scripture, won’t respond to a miracle either.  Jesus would soon rise from the dead.  The Pharisees still won't believe. 

*Jesus exposes the false idea that people just need more evidence in order to get saved, or to repent and believe.  People don’t turn to God because of inner resistance to God’s message and his messengers.   If they do not believe based on what God has already given, more evidence will not change that.

Bertrand Russell a famous atheist said, “If God appeared to him after death and demanded to know why I failed to believe, I would say, “Not enough evidence!  God you didn’t give me enough evidence”.   And he felt that would exonerate him at the day of judgment if there was one. 

But Paul said, in Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.”  Somewhere inside you there is a stamp that says, “Made by God”.  Everything in creation says, “Make by God”. It is not lack of evidence but suppression of the evidence, God has already given that will bring God’s wrath.

Someone said, “Evidence is not the problem, we are”.  And a big reason for choosing unbelief is that belief in Jesus has consequences! Belief in Jesus impacts your life.  And many people don’t want their lives to be impacted by Jesus.  Belief in Jesus requires turning from our sin. Belief in Jesus means dying to self. “He himself bore our sins in his body, THAT we might die to sin and live to righteousness”.  Believing in Jesus means you sign up for that process.  And a lot of people don’t want that. 

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Well what do we take away from this?  Perhaps the most important message is the tremendous seriousness of life.  You can imagine life has no eternal consequences but the Bible says there are! The outcomes are Glory and honor or God’s anger and wrath.  If there is one man or woman, one boy or girl, here this morning who has not repented of their sins and turned to Christ to save them, then this message is to move you to do that!

I myself got down on my knees and received Christ into my heart after hearing a Sunday night message about hell. It’s not the only reason to turn to Christ but it is a big one. 

*Make paying attention to the scriptures a big deal.  If you are going through life, spiritually complacent, generally disregarding the Bible.  Let this story shake you, and drop you to your knees in repentance.  Begin to take God’s word to heart like never before.

*Flee from self righteousness.  Some church people do not seen to have hearts broken by their own sin and neediness. Their own life or home can be a disaster and they aren’t shook up about it at all.  They might be very aware of the sins of others, but don’t seem humbled by their own neediness before God.  That shouldn’t be.  Some may be in the condition of the rich man in this story. Feeling safe, but headed for eternal disaster and agony. 

*Don’t wait for God to shock you. Some people are waiting for something mystical, surprising, supernatural to get them on track spiritually. Don’t wait for someone to come back from the dead to wake you up spiritually.  Don’t wait for a special messenger to come to you with a prophetic message. God may give you a sign.  But he isn’t obligated to.  He has given you his Word!  

Respond to the scripture you hear today.  Take the scripture as God’s wake up call.  You have your wake up call!  Don’t wait for something spectacular to happen to get you on track with God.

*Given the realities of Hell, Christians should overflow with gratitude that we are not destined for wrath but for salvation and heaven through Jesus Christ our Lord.