Sermon Tone Analysis

March 29, 2012

By: John Barnett

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Jesus Christ is revealed in God's Word as love personified.

In His daily life He was most observed by those closest to Him as filled with compassion; and He described Himself as “meek and lowly in heart”.

So what will be His response towards those who ignore or reject His free gift of grace?

In a culture where dogmatics, convictions, absolutes, and exclusive policies are frowned upon at best—what does Jesus actually teach us about the destiny of those who do not get saved, who don’t receive the only cure, and who do not come the only way?

The first thing we note about Christ's teaching is that when it comes to salvation, there is:

*No Middle Ground With Jesus*

There is no “middle of the road” position when it comes to Christ's view of life, death, and eternity.

Jesus declares that He is the One who controls entrance into Heaven.

He says that He is the Author of salvation, the Judge of the eternal destiny of every creature in this universe.

Let me show you what I mean in Matthew 6.

For a moment we need to look at some of the contrasts Jesus gave as He taught His longest message we call the Sermon on the Mount.

1.

In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus describes 2 Types of Banks: earth or Heaven;

2. In Matthew 6:22-23 Jesus describes 2 Types of Eyes: good or bad;

3.

In Matthew 6:24 Jesus describes 2 Types of Masters: God or mammon;

4. In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus describes:

• 2 Types of Gates: wide or small;

• 2 Types of Roads: broad or narrow;

• 2 Types of Destinations: destruction or life;

• 2 Types of Travelers: many or few;

5.

In Matthew 7:15-20 Jesus describes 2 Types of Trees: fruitful or fruitless

6.

In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus describes 2 Types of Lifestyles: those who say the right things or those who do His will;

7.

In Matthew 7:24-29 Jesus describes 2 Types of Foundations: rock or sand;

8.

In all of Christ's stories He alludes to 2 Inevitable Ends: being throw into fire and entering the kingdom of heaven

Remember that after Christ's evening discussion with Nicodemus, as we saw this morning, Jesus teaches about going in the “wrong door” which is any door but Him.

These words recorded in Matthew 7:23.

Here Jesus states that the four worst words anyone could ever hear would be: “I never knew you”.

So what is it like for those who:

• live for only investing their lives in Earth’s Bank; and

• have only eyes that hunger for that which is bad and evil; and

• serve only mammon instead of God; and

• enter only through the wide gate, head down the broad road, walking along with the many who are headed to destruction; and

• live only as fruitless trees; and

• only talk the ways of God, never walking them; and

• only build their lives on the sand instead of the rock?

*The Destination of The Lost*

To answer that question, look with me at the lesson Jesus taught as a parable in Luke 12:16-20

/"Then *He spoke a parable* to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully.

17 And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’

18 So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods.

19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.”

’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool!

*This night your soul will be required of you*; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’"/

Now let me show you something that may change the whole way you look at death, dying, the grave and the afterlife.

The expert witness, the only one who has ever gone to the grave and returned to report on it is Jesus .

And no one has more to say and has a greater reliability on this to do with the afterlife than Jesus.

As Revelation 1 says—He alone has the keys to death and to the grave!

Here is what He has revealed.

If you have never seen inside the nether world, Hades, the grave, the waiting room of Hell—that all the dead from Cain to the final person born at the end of the world end up in, that is where we are headed tonight.

Turn a few chapters to Luke 16.

Here Jesus tells of two distinct people, each who awoke to vastly different places.

• *THE PERSONS*: A nameless lost rich man and a faceless sick beggar named Lazarus.

• *THE PLACE*: The grave, moments after death.

• *THE PORTRAIT*: A foretaste of heaven and hell, of bliss and of horror; of paradise and of pain; of comfort and of torment.

• *THE DETAILS*: Christ Jesus our Lord here gives a glimpse of the grave thru the door of death!

Luke 16:19-21:

/“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table.

Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores."/

*This was Not a Parable*

Hold on.

Look what is missing.

Jesus did NOT say, 'Learn the parable of the rich man' like we can read in Luke 12 and in almost all of His other parables.

No, He speaks in a different way as He says 'there WAS a certain rich man.'

This is the truth about eternity that Jesus speaks of most frequently.

He lets us know that the dead awaken from the millisecond rest of death, in a very real, very painful, very different place.

The first thing that they experience is the inescapable reality that they will now have to live with the results of their choices.

So every second over and over again the reality of God's Word happens.

People face death alone.

People face death in their sins.

People face death in horror, pain, and the endless punishment their sins deserve.

The inescapable reality most humans will face a moment after they die is that they were not prepared for meeting God.

They died in their sins.

And all who die in their sins face an inescapable eternal punishment.

Remember as you note these details that we are getting this tour from no less a guide than the Lord of Truth Himself.

Christ Jesus here gives a glimpse of the grave thru the door of death!

Note these truths that govern both the lost and the saved at death.

Jesus notes there is:

• *PERMANENCE*: In v.22 we are shown that only the body dies, not the soul; and the righteous go to a place of bliss, and the lost go to a place of torments.

• *CONSCIOUSNESS*: In v. 23 Jesus notes the Rich Man as “being in torments” which means in the grave we are conscious, we can see and remember or recognize people even ones we never met.

There is even some form of spiritual recognition, as the rich man recognizes Abraham who died 20 centuries before both the rich man and Lazarus.

• *SIGHT*: Jesus tells us they can see "far off" which means long distances; and also have recognition of those they knew in their lifetime "saw Lazarus" v.23.

• *COMMUNICATION*: In v. 24, 27-28, 30 the lost can speak; and in v. 25-26, 29, and 31 the saved can speak.

So speech continues in the grave.

• *PAINFULNESS*: In v. 23 we see that in the grave the lost can still experience pain.

Note the vivid contrast as "that tongue that never lacked on earth calls for that hand that was unheeded at his gate..."

• *SENSATION*: In v. 24 we see that the lost still have their senses and can feel, so their body’s physical desires are still present, like the Rich Man’s “thirst”.

• *MEMORY*: In v. 25 Jesus allows us to learn that in the grave certain events from a person’s earthly life can be recalled; and it appears that all their memories of their entire earthly life are unimpaired.

• *HOPELESSNESS*: In v. 26 we learn that in the grave the lost come to realize that there is no escape.

The "great chasm" means that they are eternally beyond help, and that "none can pass".

• *HORROR*: Next in v. 27-28 we see that the torments are so great in the grave that none of the occupants want anyone else to come.

The reality of constant torment only drove the Rich Man to long for others to flee that place

• *ISOLATION*: In v. 27b we see another element, there is no communication from the lost dead to living allowed; and that the dead have no influence in spirit world.

• *DISTINCTION*: In v. 29 Abraham explains the power of the Scriptures, it is the Word of God that determines the destiny of all; and supernatural events do not always convince skeptics.

Just as the miracles of Christ, the apostles, and prophets only confirmed faith, and never produced it.

• *INTUITION*: In v. 29 we catch an interesting insight that can be gleaned from the fact that Abraham seems to know about events after his life (he lived from 2166-1991 BC), including Moses (1526-1406 BC), and the prophets (1050-435 BC).

So Abraham knew history after his death.

Abraham died in the 20th century BC, yet he knew about Moses who lived 600 years after him, and the prophets who lived up to 1600 years after his death.