One Moment After You Die
Luke 16:19-31
October 3, 2004
Heaven Week Service
Introduction
A man had a friend who enlarged his business. His sales had increased to the point that a larger warehouse and sales office were needed. Even though the move was a rather complicated and burdensome process, it was really a thing to be celebrated. For this reason, the man sent his friend some flowers on the day of his grand opening. The flowers, however, were poorly handled and the businessman received a bouquet that was intended for a funeral. It was accompanied with a card which said: "My deepest sympathy during this time of sorrow." When the man called his friend on the phone to wish him well, he was confronted with the error, "Why in the world," said the businessman, "did you send me these sympathy flowers?" The man went immediately to the florist to demand an explanation. The florist met him outside the shop and was obviously upset. "I am terribly sorry about the mixup with the flowers," he said, "but I hope you will be understanding. Your situation is not half as bad as the one down at the funeral home. The folks there received your flowers accompanied by the card which said: BEST WISHES IN YOUR NEW LOCATION."
Man’s life is made up of 20 years of his mother asking him where he is going, 40 years of his wife asking him where he has been and one hour at his funeral when everyone wonders where he is going.
Death has an amazing success rate: 1 out of 1 people. The sad fact of life is that one day it will come to end here on this earth for each one of us and there is nothing we can do to avoid it. We can eat healthy, exercise, and do the right things to extend our lives but there is nothing that we can do to keep from dying. One of the saddest things about life is that many people have no clue as to what awaits them when they die.
Our society buys into three primary un-Biblical perspectives on death
1. Reincarnation: This belief states that once your life ends you immediately start another life and you will climb the stairs to attain oneness with the universe.
2. Annihilation: This belief states that there is nothing beyond this life and once it is over there is no more existence.
3. Universalism: This belief states that God will allow everyone into heaven no matter how they have lived their lives because He is good.
“man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,” Hebrews 9:27
This one verse of scripture blows most of this rational thinking about death out of the water and sets a more direct course for us to follow in our understanding about life, death and the afterlife.
What happens one moment after you die?
One moment after you die…
I. Your earthly prosperity and earthly suffering end (19-21)
There is a huge contrast being made here between the life of the Rich Man and Lazarus. These two men have nothing in common during their lives.
The Rich Man is wealthy, thus the reason he is called rich man. He is extremely wealthy. His wardrobe is made of purple clothing, which was highly expensive to make and was usually reserved only for royalty, and fine linens. This man had the best clothes money could buy. He also had a large home. The fact that he had a gate would likely make his home some type of mansion. The Rich man lived in luxury everyday, which tells us that he was flamboyant and flashy with his wealth.
The Rich Man is assumed to be healthy because there is no mention of any kind of physical problems. He is living life to the fullest never thinking about what might happen when life comes to an end.
The Rich Man is unknown in this story. His name is not mentioned for a specific reason, he is not in relationship with God.
Lazarus lived an extremely different life. He was poor beyond our ability to truly understand. Lazarus was forced to become a beggar and would have had nothing but what was given to him for that day. He wanted to eat the burnt, broken and discarded pieces of bread from the rich man’s table.
Lazarus was very sick. He was so ill that his body was covered in sores that would have been incredibly painful. He would have been unable to work to support himself and started a life of begging. He was also weak because he was unable to stop the dogs from licking his sores.
Lazarus was blessed in one key way, he knew God. The name Lazarus means God is my helper. There is a direct connection between his name and the result of his eternity.
One moment after you die…
II. Your eternity will begin (22-23)
What did both of these men have in common? They both died. Death has a way of leveling the field of life and making everything relative. It reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw one time: The one who dies with the most toys, still dies.
When both of these men die there is no pause in the action. There is no break in the descriptive account. There is no lapse of time. In fact, it would seem that the moment that these men die they also experience their eternal positions.
When Lazarus dies his spirit is carried to heaven by the angels. It would clearly seem that there was no waiting period for him to enter eternity. Lazarus lived on after he died. Death was not the end for him and there was a life that was waiting for him to enter. Lazarus moved on after he died because the angels came and took him to heaven. Lazarus carried on his new life with the comfort of heaven.
When the rich man dies there is little said about him other than the fact that he died and was buried. When I read this story I couldn’t help but think of this man being buried. He would have had a nice grave, either a piece of land for his burial or had a tomb made. He would have likely had a large funeral with the best of preparations in regards to the spices, anointments and linens used to prepare his body.
How many people have prepared for their funeral without preparing to die? What I mean is this: it does not matter what kind of physical state you leave behind when you die if your heart is not right with God. If you died before you got home this afternoon, how would you spend your eternity?
One moment after you die…
III. Your eternity will be set (24-31)
When we talk about eternity there are only two choices and I firmly believe that your eternal existence will be a matter of your own choosing. There is an eternity without Jesus and there is an eternity with Jesus. We would say that the choice is between hell and heaven.
Characteristics of Hell – An eternity without Jesus
One of the greatest problems in the church today is a total lack of understanding about the reality of Hell. At times I believe the church has adopted the attitude if we ignore, it will simply go away. It is a reality that we sometimes want to ignore because we simply don’t like thinking about it.
A poll was taken in America about the reality of the afterlife. 83% of those polled believe in the existence of Heaven while only 73% believe in the existence of Hell. When asked where they thought they would go when they died, 3 out of 4 said that they would go to Heaven. Only 2% believed that they would end up in Hell.
If we are honest with ourselves, we buy into a similar mindset. We believe that Hell is reserved for those who are wicked and evil. We think that Hell is for people like Osama Bin Laden and Sadaam Hussein. However, look at the life of the Rich man and you will see that there is no such character traits described. Hell will have many wicked and evil people there but Hell will also be filled with people who had no faith. There are a lot of good people who will die and go to Hell because they do not believe in Jesus.
C.S. Lewis wrote about a tombstone epitaph he had once read: “Here lies an atheist all dressed up and nowhere to go!” The man had these words added to his tombstone as a joke but the reality is no joke. Lewis commented: “I’ll bet now he wishes that were so!” The truth of the matter is that you will go somewhere to spend your eternity but which place is up to you.
What is Hell like?
1. Hell is a place of physical suffering
· The rich man begs for a drop of water to be placed on his tongue because he was in agony in the fire. This does not sound like a pleasant experience and it would be one that is experienced for eternity.
2. Hell will be a place emotional suffering
· The rich man was remembering his former life and saw the foolishness of the way he lived and he had forever to dwell on it.
· The rich man had the desire to warn those he loved of the suffering that he was experiencing but the opportunity for him to do so was over.
· The rich man was now separated from God for all eternity and there was nothing he could do to change it.
3. Hell will be a place of spiritual suffering
· The rich man could see the glory of heaven and never have the joy of experiencing it. This would have to be the saddest part of his story. To know the truth but to never accept it and have faith.
Characteristics of Heaven – An eternity with Jesus
What will heaven be like?
1. Heaven will be a place of physical peace
· Lazarus was plagued with sores and sickness that is gone when he enters heaven.
· Lazarus was living in need but in heaven has all he needs
2. Heaven will be a place of emotional peace
· Lazarus is focused on his new life not the former one because there is a peace
3. Heaven will be a place of spiritual peace
· Lazarus will be with God and Christ for all of eternity
What “kind” of people go to Heaven? Most of the popular theology of our day tells us that everyone will go to Heaven. We see it everywhere on our televisions in “so called” spiritual shows like Touched By an Angel. We hear it in so called biblical teaching. We see it practiced by so many people that it must be true.
Heaven is a placed reserved for those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ as their savior and Lord of their life. It is that simple. It is that clear cut. It is that easy. Look at some of the statements of Jesus.
I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. John 6:51
"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life John 8:12
I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture. John 10:9
"I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die John 11:25-26
I am the way and the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Heaven will be filled with people we may not expect to see there. We will see a man who was a low as a two bit thief; Jacob. We will see a man who was an adultery and a murder; David. We will meet a man who led a life of crime and was saved just before he died; criminal on the cross. We will meet former prostitutes like Rahab, former doubters like Thomas, former killers like Paul and former sinners just like us. Heaven will be filled with people who don’t deserve to be there just like us. Heaven will be filled with those who have been forgiven.
Today be honest with yourself, where will do you want to spend your eternity? If you died right now where would you spend your eternity?
The quality that Jesus is looking for is faith just simply believe in Him. Salvation is a free gift that was bought for you at the price of Jesus going to the cross. There is nothing you can do to earn it but you do have to accept it.
Admit the fact that you have sinned and fallen short of God’s best.
Believe that Jesus died for your sins and was raised again to new life on the third day.
Commit to live your life with Jesus as your lord.
