Asking For A Friend: How Can God Send Someone to Hell?
Luke 16:19-31
August 28, 2022
Jay Haugh
In our culture, divine judgment is one of Christianity’s most offensive doctrines.
A God of Judgment Can’t Exist.
Our culture has a problem with divine judgment, but no problem with a God of love that supports us no matter how we live.
“Instead of trying to shape our desires to fit reality, we now seek to control and shape reality to fit our desires.” —Tim Keller
We’ve changed our “doctrine” in order to justify our “desires.”
Christianity is transcultural.
A God of Judgment Can’t Be a God of Love.
God so loved the world that He gave His only Son. —John 3:16
The doctrine of Hell helps us understand our heart.
But Abraham said, “‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.” —Luke 16:25
Our identity cannot be found in appetites, approval or ambition.
Sin is building our hope and identity on anything but God.
And he said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” But Abraham said, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.” And he said, “No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’” He said to him, “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.” —Luke 16:27-31
Heaven isn’t about the gifts, but being with God, the gift-giver.
Hell is the absence of God.
“There are only two kinds of people – those who say ‘Thy will be done’ to God or those to whom God in the end says, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell choose it. Without that self-choice it wouldn’t be Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it.” —C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. —Romans 10:13
Big Idea:
The God of the Bible is a God who loves, but must judge all evil and sin.
STUDY GUIDE QUESTIONS
Memory Verse: 1 Peter 3:15
…in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect…
C.S. Lewis asked this question, “What do you want God to do about Hell?”
How would you answer?
Why do you think our society struggles with the concept of a God that pronounces eternal judgment?
How can you speak truth to those who believe that a good God would not send someone to hell?
According to Tim Keller, “Instead of trying to shape our desires to fit reality, we now seek to control and shape reality to fit our desires.” In other words, some people will make God in the image of man instead of the other way around. Share about a time when you’ve submitted your will in order to be obedient to God/Scripture.
Read Luke 16:19-31
v. 26 speaks about a chasm that cannot be crossed between the two realms of the afterlife. This idea of an uncrossable chasm reinforces the finality of an individual’s eternal place. Does this motivate you to be more active in sharing your faith with others? Why or why not?
v. 27-31 | What do these verses say regarding the place and priority of Scripture?
v. 31 | Does this verse foreshadow Christ in some way? If so, how?
Are “judgment” and “love” mutually exclusive? Why must these two character traits operate together? Consider how this concept is also true of parents.
Worldly pursuit of appetite, approval, and ambition can easily draw us away from God and have us find our identity or purpose in something other than God. Have you ever paused to reflect on the motives behind your actions?
Jesus speaks about heaven, hell, and the eternal consequences of the way we choose to live. When talking about the Lord with non-Christians, how and when should we bring hell into the conversation?