Sermon Title: Scriptures Most Tragic Statements (pt2of2)

Sermon Text: Various

Preached: February 27th, 2011 (Midway Baptist)
Rob Fleshman

We are in the second week of a short, 2 week series. Last week we looked at the most
triumphant statements in scripture. Triumphant statements in SECURING SALVATION such
as, if I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole. Triumphant Statements in LIVING LIFE
such as, Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and Nay, in
all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Triumphant
statements in the DEALING w/ DEATH such as 6 For I am now ready to be offered, and the time
of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept
the faith: And triumphant statements when ENTERING ETERNITY, like, Well done, thou
good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord. And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain: for the former things are passed away. However, this Book is not just filled with
triumphant statements. Conversely, scripture is also equally filled with statements that are
unspeakably tragic. This morning, we will take a sobering look at a handful of such statements
of great tragedy.

I Tragic in Rejecting Eternal Salvation (Luke 18:18-23)

Lk 18:18-23--18 And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit
eternal life? 19 And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? none is good, save one, that
is, God. 20 Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal,
Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother. 21 And he said, All these have I kept
from my youth up. 22 Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one
thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven:
and come, follow me. 23 And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.

Here we have a CERTAIN, RICH YOUNG man, who is seeking eternal life. He is burdened
about the present state of his lost soul. For as long as his young mind can recall, he has been
doing religious acts. From his earliest days, he has known the Law and strived to obey its
precepts. And yet he knew that it was not enough for him to receive eternal life. And so he
came to this Man Jesus, whom he had heard knew of eternal life, and how it could be obtained.
And Jesus told him that he was going to have to from his heart, love Jesus more than the young
man loved this world. BTW: That is still true today! It is true for anyone in the auditorium this
morning whose interest is piqued concerning eternal life. You are going to have to want Jesus
and the eternal life He offers MORE than you want the life that this world offers.
James 4:4--Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity
with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. It is an
EITHER/OR proposition. The young man must choose between the two.this world (money)
and the world to come (God). How true the scripture, ye cannot serve God and mammon!
And so, in great agony, he debates with himself on which path to take. He is so close to the
salvation he longs forhis hands are sweating, there is a lump in his throat, his heart is racing.
But when push comes to shove, and he is then forced with a choice between the two, this
PRESENT life or ETERNAL life, he chooses the former. He was in the same predicament and
came to the same conclusion as did King Agrippa, when after Paul preached and witnessed to
him, Paul asked, Acts 26:27-28--27 King Agrippa, believest thou the prophets? I know that thou
believest. 28 Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.

Perhaps in his heart the rich young ruler reasoned, I am young. I will surely have many, many
more years to consider this matter of eternity. Perhaps he thought, I can indulge myself and
enjoy all that this world has to offer, and then at the close of my life, accept Christ and receive all
that the world to come has to offer. He bought into the great lie of the devil.tomorrow. Wait
until tomorrow. Why do we procrastinate soespecially in matters of the upmost eternal
importance? D.L. Moody Quote: If God's TODAY be too SOON for thy repentance, thy
TOMORROW may be too LATE for God's acceptance. Illustration: The Titanics captain did
not believe the ship was sinking until water was ankle deep in the mail room. At that point, it is
reported that he realized that the unsinkable ship was in fact sinking. The distress signal, the cry
for help to nearby boats that were in the area which could have perhaps helped rescue the people
on board, were not asked early enough. The cry for help was eventually signaled, but help came
too late. Application: Many believe they will get saved at the eleventh hour. But the fallacy of
such is that we never know when the 11th hour is, do we. For some, listen to me, for some within
the sound of my voice, today may well be your 11th hour! Isaiah 55:6--Seek ye the LORD while
he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near:The gospel is only good news if it gets
there in time. Otherwise the gospel is awful, dreadful news. To the Christ rejecting soul that
steps out into eternity only to find it too late to receive eternal life through Jesus Christ, the
Gospel is the most terrible news that could ever be heard. How tragic!

Tragic in rejecting eternal salvation, secondly

II Tragic in Requiring Each Soul (Luke 12:20)
Luke 12:16-2116.The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he
thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my
fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will
I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid
up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 20 But God said unto him, Thou
fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou
hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Here is
another rich man, although not as young. Some would suppose that it is the very same man.
Either way, this rich man has rejected eternal salvation, the 11th hour has come and gone, and his
soul is required. He lived life his way, according to his will, and wrongly assumes that he will be
able to continue to call the shots when this life is over. Illustration: Timothy McVeigh was
executed for bombing the federal building in Oklahoma. He did not speak any final words, but he
did have a handwritten statement distributed at his execution which included portions of the
poem Invictus.It matters not how straight the gate, How charged with punishments the scroll, I am
the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.

He has lived his entire life in the futile pursuit of MORE. More INFLUENCE. More HOUSES.
More LAND. More LUXURIES. More MONEY. More PLEASURE. More PRESTIGE. More
STUFF. MORE! MORE! MORE! Proverbs 23:4-5--4 Labour not to be rich: cease from thine
own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? for riches certainly make
themselves wings; they fly away as an eagle toward heaven. Matthew 16:26--For what is a man
profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in
exchange for his soul? Hey, let me ask a question to all those in the service this morning that are
lost, going to hell, without Christ.what is the MORE in your life, keeping you from salvation?
What is the MORE in your life that is serving as your ticket to hell? What are you so freely and
willingly giving in exchange for your soul? I bet there are those within the sound of my voice
this morning that sold out for a lot less than this rich man did.

I am sure that during his life, he was held in high regard. I am sure that he was a man who lived
the high life. I am sure that he was a man held in high respect amongst society, unfortunately,
God is not so easily swayed or impressed. Romans 2:11--For there is no respect of persons with
God. In fact, God says, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee. Man called him,
Sir. Man called him, great. God called him, Fool. Illustration: There is the account of
a king and his clown or jester who sometimes said very foolish things. One day the jester had
said something so foolish that the king handing him a staff, said to him: Take this, and keep it
till you find a bigger fool than yourself. Some years later, the king lay on his deathbed. His
courtiers were called: his family and his servants also stood round his bedside. The king,
addressing them, said, I am about to leave you. I am going on a very long journey and I shall
not return again to this place: so I have called you all to say goodbye. Then his jester stepped
forward and addressing the king said Your Majesty, may I ask a question? When you have
journeyed abroad visiting your people or paying diplomatic visits to other courts your heralds
and servants have always gone before you, making preparations for you. May I ask what
preparations, your Majesty has made for this long journey that he is about to take? Alas!
replied the king, I have made no preparations. Then, said the jester, Take this staff with
you, for now I have found a bigger fool than myself. Application: Here is a man who made
every provision for himself in this life, but in the life to come, gave it no thought. How very
tragichis soul is required. Let me just remind each of usone day; one day; everyone in
this room will meet the same fate. Your soul will be required. When that day comes, will you
be ready? When the summertime that is your life is over, will you have cried out to Jesus to the
saving of your soul? Or will you cry out with the multitude in Jeremiah 8:20--The harvest is
past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. Will you be ready? A better, more revealing
question is, are you ready NOW?

Tragic in rejecting eternal salvation, tragic in requiring each soul, and lastly,
III Tragic in Receiving Endless Suffering (Luke 16:22-23)
TURN TO LUKE 16. When a soul that does not know Christ is required, the end point is an
eternity in a place the Bible calls hell. Thats not just lingo preachers use to scare people sitting
in pews, thats Bible. And for the one who has rejected salvation in Christ, there is no escaping
it. No loopholes. Illustration: Just before the death of actor W. C. Fields, a friend visited
Fields hospital room and was surprised to find him thumbing through a Bible. When he asked
what he was doing with a Bible, Fields replied, "Im looking for loopholes." Application:
Beloved, there are no loopholes in Gods plan of salvation; either you accept Christ in this life;
or spend an eternity in the flames of Hell in the next life. Its as straightforward as that. Luke
16:19-26--19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared
sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his
gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table:
moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And
in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his
bosom. 24 And 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; for I am tormented in this flame. 25 But
Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. 26 And beside all this,
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you
cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Some preachers allegorize hell; saying that there is no literal fire, and no literal, physical pain.
Just that it is a dark place, and a Christ-less place, and a place with no conscience. But I believe
that scripture is to be taken literally, unless the context would demand otherwise. And with that
notion, if God wanted to warn us of the perils of a very real, fire and brimstone filled hell, how
could He have more aptly stated it? This passage says that the rich man was in tormentsthat
is consistent with Matthews account which says that because of the pain, there was weeping and
gnashing of teeth. We will have our five senses, as it says that the rich man lifted up his eyes
and could see Abraham.and so he could see his surroundings, and he could feel torment, and it
is no stretch of truth to say that he could hear the cries and wailing of others, and that the stench
of burning brimstone was strong in his nostrils. But the most sobering part of this glimpse of
hell, was when the rich man was told to remember. Perhaps the most tortuous part, is that
every inhabitant of hell will have the memory of all the times that they rejected Christ.
For all eternity, they will be plagued with the bitter memory of the time that a friend at work
invited them to church, and they politely said, no.
For all eternity, they will be hounded with the dreadful memory of the time that someone
knocked on the door to tell them about Jesus, and they slammed the door in their face.
For all eternity, they will carry the heart wrenching memory of the time that someone handed
them a gospel tract, and they promptly threw it in the trash.
For all eternity, their conscience will be haunted by the memory that they sat in a church
service much like this one, and heard a preacher warn them from the scriptures of hell, and the
most spiritual thought they could muster was when is this guy going to sit down and shut-up so I
can go get some lunch? THEIR CONSCIENCE CRIES REMEMBER! REMEMBER!
REMEMBER! AS THEIR LIPS RESPOND IN VAIN, SAVE ME! SAVE ME! SAVE ME!

Illustration: A marshal in Napoleons army who was devotedly and enthusiastically attached to
him was mortally wounded in battle. As the last struggle drew near and he lay dying in his tent
he sent for his chief. Napoleon came. The poor man thought his emperor could do anything. He
earnestly pleaded with his leader to save his life. The emperor sadly shook his head and turned
away. But as the dying man felt the cold, merciless hand of death drawing him irresistibly behind
the curtain of the unseen world, he was still heard to shriek out, Save me, Napoleon! Save me!
Application: In the hour of death, that soldier discovered that even the worlds most powerful
man, Napoleon could not save him. Acts 4:10-12--10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God
raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is
there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved. Part of what makes the endless suffering so very tragic, is that it is
so unnecessary. Its not Gods will that even one person within the sound of my voice ends up in
hell. Gods choice is that you would spend eternity in Heaven with Him. And yet if I
understand my Bible, many, many people will CHOOSE endless suffering in hell, because they
will put off receiving Christ until it is one day too late. The fate of those who fail to respond to
the loving invitation of Christ in this lifetime, is described in Revelation 20:11-15--11 And I saw
a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away;
and there was found no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God;
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which

were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.