1.     In Luke 16, our Lord told the story of the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-22).  This Lazarus is not to be confused with Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha.

2.     Some people mistakenly believe that this story is a parable, i.e., they believe it is not true.   I would like to emphasize that this is not a parable.  Our Lord does not refer to it as a parable.  Luke does not call it a parable (cf. Luke 8:4-11; 15:3).

3.     Here in Luke 16, our Lord uses the names of real historical people, such as Lazarus and Abraham (16:20, 22).  There are many parables in the Bible, both in the OT and the NT, but none of them uses the names of real, historical people.

4.     People who insist that this is a parable do so because they do not want to accept the Biblical doctrine of hell.  Billy Sunday used to say, “You may not believe in hell now, but you’ll believe in it five minutes after you get there!”

5.     Remember that our Lord preached more about hell than He did about heaven.  And our Lord preached more about hell than all of the other preachers in the Bible. 

6.     I have entitled my message this morning, “Who Cares if a Sinner Goes to Hell?”  Obviously, Jesus cares – that is why He preached so much about hell.

7.     When our Lord described the rich man in hell, He used the word “torment” four times (Luke 16:20, 23, 24, 28).  Our Lord was giving sinners a strong warning.

8.     In Matt. 5:22, our Lord warns us of the “danger of hell fire.”

9.     In Matthew 10:28, our Lord said, “And 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.”

10. In Matthew 13:42, our Lord said that hell is like a furnace of fire where “there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

11. In Matthew 18:8 and 9, our Lord said, “Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.”

12. In Matthew 22:13, our Lord said that sinners are cast off into outer darkness, where “there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

13. In Matthew 23:33, our Lord said to the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?”

14. In Matthew 25:41, our Lord referred to hell as a place of “everlasting fire.”   Our Lord gave many warnings about hell because He cares for you and me.  In fact, He went to the cross and died for our sins so you and I would not have to go to this terrible place called hell.

I. PEOPLE WHO ARE ALREADY IN HELL CARE (LUKE 16:27, 28).

1.     The rich man probably did not think too much about heaven and hell while he was here on earth.  But once he landed in hell he immediately became concerned about his five brothers (16:28).

2.     But the time to be concerned about your unsaved loves ones is now.  Many parents worry about saving money for their children’s college tuition but they don’t seem to care that their children may spend eternity in hell.

3.     Many people make sure that their parents are living comfortably, and have good medical care, etc. but they do not seem to realize that unless their parents get saved they’re going to hell.

4.     This rich man had “five brethren” (16:28), all lost, all heading straight for hell. Now all of a sudden this rich man was worried over their lost condition – but now it was too late (16:29-31).

II. GODLY PEOPLE CARE

1.     It is rather obvious that the ungodly do not care.  They are heading for hell themselves and as far as they are concerned “the more the merrier.”

2.     But there is nothing merry about hell.  Jude 13 describes hell as “the blackness of darkness forever.” 

3.     Unsaved friend, imagine being thrown into a deep pit on a dark and stormy night.  It is so dark that you cannot even see the hand in front of your face.  And there is this horrible smell of brimstone.  And you can hear the screams of lost souls crying out as they are being tormented in the fires of hell.

4.     After enduring this horror for a few hours, you realize that you will be there for all eternity!  Endless torment.  Eternal punishment.

5.     The ungodly do not care about any of this.  They are too preoccupied with their money and their cars and their shopping and their parties and their fun and games.

6.     Lost sinners are like the drunken man who fell asleep smoking in bed and set the house on fire.  He not only killed himself but the whole family perished with him.

7.     It’s a shame that many sinners are following their unsaved friends and loved ones straight to hell.  The unsaved do not care if you die and go to hell.

8.     But the godly care about sinners going to hell.  Consider Abraham.

·        Abraham was concerned about his worldly nephew Lot (Genesis 14:1-16). Abraham may of thought that if something bad should happen to Lot, Lot might have died and gone straight to hell.  If it were not for II Peter 2:7, 8 where Lot is referred to as a righteous man, we would have no idea that Lot was saved.

·        Remember how Abraham interceded for the wicked citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen. 18:16-33).  Abraham knew that their punishment was far more than just physical death.  Abraham knew their punishment would be eternal (Jude 7).

9.     Consider Moses (Exodus 32:30-33).  Only the saved will be recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life (cf. Rev. 20:15).

10. Consider the apostle Paul (cf. Romans 10:1-3; 9:1-4).

11. I could preach all day about godly Christians who care.  Think of David Livingstone going to Africa.  Think of all of the other missionaries that gave their lives so that sinners would not have to go to hell.

III. THE ANGELS CARE (LUKE 15:8-10).

1.     Notice our Lord said, “There is joy in the presence of the angels.”  It is not only the angels who are rejoicing when a sinner gets saved.  All the redeemed up in heaven are rejoicing when sinners turn from their sin and receive Christ as Saviour (cf. Luke 15:7). 

2.     Harry Ironside said, “In heaven, where they know so well the worth of a soul, all rejoice when one is saved” (Luke, p. 491).

IV. GOD CARES (II PETER 3:9; EZEK. 18:30-32).

1.     The great evangelist RA Torrey, preached a message entitled, “Obstacles on the Road to Hell.”  In this message Dr. Torrey mentions several obstacles on the road to hell.  First, He lists the Bible as the #1 obstacle on the road to hell.

2.     Secondly, Dr. Torrey refers to a godly mother’s influence, and teachings, and prayers.

3.     When he was a young man, R. A. Torrey was far from God.  Listen to his testimony, “I had gone to bed one night with no more thought of becoming a Christian than I had of jumping over the moon.  In the middle of the night, I climbed out of bed and decided to end my miserable life, but something came upon me.  I dropped on my knees.  In five minutes from the time I got out of bed to take my life, I had surrendered to God.  I thought no one had anything to do with it.  But I found out later that my mother was 427 miles away praying.”

4.     The devil tried to kill R. A. Torrey but God saved him, and called him to preach and he became a great preacher, an evangelist, a Bible teacher, a president of two Bible colleges, a great soulwinner, and prolific writer.

5.     God does not want to see sinners die and go to hell.  Other obstacles mentioned by Dr. Torrey are the sermons preached from soulwinning preachers, the influence of a faithful Sunday School teacher, the work of the Holy Spirit, and the cross of Christ.

6.     R. A. Torrey said, “No man can get very far down the path of sin and ruin before he sees the cross looming before him…In the pathway of every man and woman stands the cross with Christ upon it.  If you choose to continue in sin, you will have to step over the cross and over the crucified form of the Son of God.”

7.     God does not want sinners to go to hell.  That is why Christ died on the cross for our sins. John 3:17 says, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

8.     God cares. The Lord Jesus cares.   He said in John 12:47, “For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.”  He said in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”  

9.     The Bible tells us that Jesus is the friend of sinners (Luke 15:1, 2).

10. Our Lord does not want to see sinners cast into hell (cf. Matt. 23:37).

11. When Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, our Lord said to him, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” (Matt. 26:50).

12. First Timothy 2:4 says, “Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

CONCLUSION:

1.     I heard a preacher tell a true story about a bridge that washed out one night.  There was a big storm and the bridge went down.  Since it was a dark and stormy night, a certain driver did not realize the bridge was out and he drove his car right into the river. 

2.     Fortunately he was able to crawl out of his car and swim safely to shore.  He then felt that he ought to stay there and warn other motorists until the police came, or perhaps until some other men could help him set up some sort of barricade.

3.     He said that several people ignored him as he tried to flag them down and some of them wound up driving into the river.

4.     He said one angry driver even rolled down his window and yelled, “Go to hell!”  The heartbroken man responded, “No, I will not go to hell but I am afraid you will be in hell before the night is over.”

5.     Sure enough that angry driver soon drove right into the river and drowned.  This sad story wound up in the newspapers and the preacher heard about it and referred to it from time to time as he preached in different churches around the country.

6.     One night he was preaching in a certain church and he told the story.  After the meeting, a man came up to him and told him that he was the father of that angry driver who told the man to go to hell, and then drove off the bridge and died.

7.     With tears in his eyes, he said his son was a drunkard who ignored his Christian parents when they begged him to get right with God.  This rebellious son turned his back on his parents and turned his back on God.

8.     And then came that stormy night when he rolled down his window and cursed at the man who was only trying to warn him.  He drove his car into the river and drowned.  Then he went straight to hell.

9.     But the man warned him to stop his car.  The man did not want him to go to hell.  And certainly his parents did not want to see him go to hell.

10. And most certainly God did not want him to go to hell.