Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:19-31 - Part 3)

Thank you for listening to this message from the Ministry of Morse Corner Church in Leverett, Massachusetts.

Morse Corner is a non -denominational church that is committed to the preaching and teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Our church was founded in 1896 by two students of the famous evangelist

D .L. Moody. We seek to encourage and edify the body of Christ through the proclamation of God's Word through the ministries of the local church.

If you'd like more information is at our website morsecornerchurch .com. We hope you enjoy the message.

The Lazarus dies was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

Look at verse 23. And being in torments in Hades, or if you have the

King James Version, I believe it translates it being in torments in hell.

Who has hell? Okay. Being in torments in Hades, or hell, he lifted up his eyes and he saw

Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And then 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.

This really wouldn't help all that much, would it? Okay. What relief are you going to get?

The point is he was looking for any relief at all. It was so bad he would take anything.

So the rich man, the tables have turned. He becomes the beggar and he pleads with Abraham to send who?

To send Lazarus. Now this is what I really like about this. Lazarus, he was a cripple. In his life he couldn't walk.

But now that he's in paradise and now I guess he's able to walk and move around, the rich man's viewing

Lazarus like he's his servant. You know, people in hell are not in a position to make demands.

They're not in a position to say, hey, send him as if Lazarus was his errand boy.

I don't think the rich man's heart changed one bit. Some people think that well, when people get to hell, they're going to realize the error of their way.

Well, to some degree, I guess they would have to. But people don't get better, they get worse. It's like a downward spiral.

Like in this life, if you reject God, the longer you reject God, it's a downward spiral. People get worse and worse and worse.

And that's the way it is in the afterlife. So Lazarus is no longer suffering, no longer lame.

So now he can do this for me, the rich man, thanks. He asked for even the slightest amount of relief because he's tormented in what?

In, the scripture says, in this flame. This is the way the

Bible describes hell, as flame, as fire.

I'm using the New King James Version, and it calls hell Hades.

And that's taken directly from the Greek language into English. So hades becomes

Hades, or develops into hell, as the languages progress, can also be translated as the grave.

So Hades can be translated as, just remain as Hades, hell, or the grave.

These are the three options. Hades, hell, or the grave.

And basically it refers to the place of the dead. So this is a real place, it's not a state of mind, it's a real place that people go to.

So envision this place for a moment. I could easily lose you here, be helpful to have a visual, but try to visualize this in your mind.

Before Jesus died and rose again, this place is still there, but there is this place called

Hades. In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word was Sheol.

So Sheol or Hades, there is this place, Hades. When a person died, no matter who they were, saved, unredeemed, it doesn't matter, everyone died and went to this place called

Hades, the place of the dead. In this place there were two compartments.

So there's one side here, one compartment here, another compartment over there. The two compartments are either called

Abraham's bosom or paradise, and the other side is

Hades or hell or torment. Now the whole thing could be called Hades, but there's a good side and there's a bad side.

Two compartments, you with me? I said that's the way it was before Christ died and rose again.

After Christ died and rose again, Ephesians chapter 4 says that Christ descended into the lower parts of the earth, which

I would understand as Hades. He led captivity captive, and it appears he either emptied out the saved compartment of paradise and brought them all to heaven, or he took the compartment itself out and brought paradise to where now paradise is called the third heaven.

So now we just say heaven and hell, because now Hades doesn't have the two compartments where people go to paradise.

Now paradise is in heaven. So now if someone goes to Hades, it's just bad.

It's just torment. The book of Revelation calls that somebody dying and going to Hades or hell, which is like a holding place for the lake of fire.

Revelation 20, Hades itself is cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 20 calls that the second death.

And where a person ends up, it all comes down to one thing. How much money they had?

No. What people thought of them? No. Their social status, financial?

No. None of that's going to matter. It doesn't matter what people think or how the world assesses things.

What matters is what God thinks. He bases his decision on what you did, maybe with this information right here this morning.

God will base his decision of what you did with the gospel, the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.

So let me ask you, have you obeyed the gospel? Well, I don't believe in any of that.

Well, you're going to die, and then what? That's something most people don't want to think about, but it's reality.

You will die, and then what? So have you submitted your life to the

Lord Jesus Christ? Who's giving this warning? Jesus is giving this warning. All right, back to the text.

In between paradise and torment, it says there is a great gulf fixed.

So going back before the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, there's Hades, there's the two compartments, paradise and torment.

In between, there's a great gulf. What does that mean? Some have identified this as the bottomless pit.

It could be the bottomless pit. Point is, you can't get from one to the other. This great gulf in between makes it impossible for you to go from hell to heaven, or from paradise, excuse me, from torment to paradise, or from paradise to torment.

I don't know why anyone would want to go from paradise to torment. I guess they wouldn't. But these are the two options.

There's no going back. Once you're in one, you're there. There's no getting out.

It's final. There are second chances in this life, but there are no second chances after death.

You say, well, you know, I came to church this morning looking for an inspiring, positive message, Pastor.

Well, there is a positive message here, if you have ears to hear it.

But you're not going to get this anywhere else, pretty sure. Pretty sure nobody's preaching this outside of the church.

Honestly, there's a lot of churches that don't preach this. So there are second chances in life, but there's no second chances after death.

Look at verse 26. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.

So clearly there are only two options. There's no place called limbo. Who's heard of limbo?

You know, limbo is supposedly this in -between. It's not good because it's not hell, but it's not bad because it's not heaven, but it's kind of in -between.

You're stuck in limbo. You're in -between. Well, Catholicism has created other options like limbo.

Thankfully, I don't believe they teach that anymore. There's another place that a lot of people do believe in called purgatory.

And some people have the idea that purgatory is like a second chance. But even for faithful Roman Catholic, and listen, we don't believe in purgatory because it's not in the

Bible. So limbo and purgatory, it's not that they're good or bad, they're not real.

But even for those who believe in purgatory, even that, according to Rome, isn't a second chance.

Purgatory is a holding place that you go to to have your sins purged before you get to heaven.

So even that wouldn't be a second chance. You understand there are no second chances. There are no second chances after death.

Paul in 2nd Corinthians 5a said, it is absent from the body, present with the

Lord. And that's what Jesus is teaching right here. Passage from this life to the next is immediate.

Lazarus was not brought to purgatory, he was brought to paradise. Amen? This is kind of a another sobering thing that it's immediate.

You realize you could be going about your business, could be an accident, heart attack, anything, could be anything.

Some of you remember the story of a man behind this pulpit, what 30 years ago or whatever, he was leading the

Sunday evening worship, singing a hymn, leading the music, and he dropped dead right on the spot, instantaneously with the

Lord, we presume. He knew Christ, amen. But for someone who doesn't, you could be in Hades this afternoon.

So the rich man, he closed his eyes on earth and opened them in torments in Hades.

So this story should serve as a great comfort to the people of God, knowing that when your time comes, the angels are waiting to take you to bliss in paradise, the third heaven.

But a great warning to those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

So, just about done. The rich man, he did have compassion for some people though, didn't he?

Not for Lazarus, but he did have some compassion for his brothers, because he knew his brothers were in the same spiritual condition that he was in.

So he asked Abraham, send Lazarus to tell my brothers. But what did

Abraham say? Nope, they have what? Moses and the prophets.

Put that in modern terms, hey, will you send this person to go tell my loved ones that they wouldn't come to this place called?

They have the Bible, let them read it. They have a church down the road, let them go to it.

They have some access to the gospel of Jesus Christ, let them. But even back then, before Jesus died, they had what?

Moses and the prophets. Verse 30, and he said, no father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.

And Jesus did rise from the dead, and still men do not believe.

If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded.

So may we hear Moses, may we hear the prophets, and may we hear this warning from the

Lord Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, above all things,

I pray that you would be glorified. And if there's somebody listening to this message who has never come to that place where they have humbled themselves, or they are willing to say,

Lord, I have sinned against you. Please forgive me of my sin. I plead for mercy, because I know that Jesus died on the cross for me.

If somebody has never reached that place, I ask that your Holy Spirit would convert their heart even at this moment.

And Father, for those who do know Christ as Lord and Savior, knowing this bad news, what a joy it is to know that we never have to worry about that.

If we remain faithful to Christ, we never have to worry. For you have reserved us a place in your kingdom, that when we breathe our last breath, we are transported by the angels into glory to see those who have gone on before us.

So Father, may your perfect will be done. We ask it all in Jesus name. Amen.

Thanks for listening. I'm Pastor Michael Grant from Morris Cornick Church. If you'd like to listen to the complete message, or if you'd like more information about the ministry, visit our website,

MorrisCornickChurch .com. We'd love to have you join us some Sunday morning here in Leverett.