Sermon25-44 Lk16 Guide

Luke 16:19-31 theme verse Luke 16:22-23

The praise and honor and glory be to our heavenly Father who seeks true worshipers who worship Him with the Spirit and truth.

In this thirty nineth Sunday of 2025, on Pentecost Sunday, I pray that His grace of the application of all the benefits which Jesus earned for our salvation and also the glorious ministry of the proclamation of His kingdom by the power of the Holy Spirit may be full in our life. Last week, we looked at the last judgement through the last article of Belgic Confession, yet this week, we would like to look at what the intermediate state which refers to a temporary condition of a person’s soul or spirit after death yet before the final resurrection is together.

1)    First, to summarize today’s text, in Luke 16, where we read today’s text, the Lord gave a lesson on how to use money. As a Wall Street Journal writer put it, "Money is a universal passport to everywhere except heaven, a universal provider of everything except happiness. But it also breeds greed and competition. It can be a good servant or a terrible master," the Bible tells us that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils as 1 Timothy 6:10 says and can fill the world with corruption and lust as 2 Peter 1:4 says. In this regard, Jesus presents a contrast in chapter 16. I mean, in verses 1-13, Jesus teaches a good use of money. providing a parable in which a dishonest steward who, knowing that he would be kicked out by his master, forgave his master's debtors, was praised by his master. And also, Jesus teaches that we have to be faithful even with the smallest, unjust, and others' possessions and also we should not serve both God and wealth. And then in verses 14-31, Jesus gives examples of misuse of wealth. First, He rebukes the Pharisees, who outwardly claim to be righteous before God, but inwardly love money. And then He tells a parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus in which Jesus tells that a rich man who dressed in fine clothes and pursued his own pleasure yet neglected the beggar who lived in front of his house all his life finally faced sufferings in Hades upon death. However, Lazarus, the beggar who suffered in life, entered paradise and found comfort in Him.

2)    Through this chapter, our Lord teaches us few facts regarding the Paradise and Hades. I mean, a) Paradise and Hades are the places where the souls of people reside after physical death until resurrection. b) The righteous go to paradise to enjoy comfort, while the wicked to Hades to be suffered as Lazarus and the rich man did. c) A great chasm separates the two places, preventing passage. d) The dead are not sent back to the world for preaching. In other words, Paradise and Hades are the places prepared for souls who have departed their physical bodies, where they wait before entering heaven or hell, the final stages in their resurrected bodies. We can say that Paradise is an intermediate realm, two aspects of a same inseparable expectation for the completed kingdom of God

3)    Regarding this intermediate state, there are a few doctrines. First, there's the theory of purgatory. According to the Council of Trent of the Roman Catholic, souls who are not completely purified go to purgatory for the purification of the soul, by enduring suffering while preparing for heaven. In other words, while persons like martyrs go straight to heaven, yet, when those who committed sins while living on earth after baptism, die, they first go to purgatory and endure torment in fire for the purification of their soul before ascending to heaven. Thomas Aquinas said that the pain experienced in purgatory is greater than the greatest suffering on earth. Furthermore, it was said that the duration of purgatory can be shortened by giving money so that if a person donates property to the church before death, or if their family donates money for the deceased, the duration of purgatory is shortened. However, the Bible does not teach this doctrine at all, and all the verses presented as the proof for this doctrine of purgatory are misinterpretations of the Bible. For example, the verse “you will be saved, yet so as through fire” in 1 Corinthians 3:15 which they provide as a proof for the purgatory, is a figurative expression that at the Lord’s judgment, believers will be saved after all their inappropriate actions in this life will be burnt up and disappeared. Also, 1 Maccabees 2:39–45, which the Roman Catholic presents as the proof for their doctrine of purgatory, in which when Judas Maccabeus who had been searching for the bodies of fallen soldiers, discovered idols in their clothing, he prayed to the Lord to forgive their sins and and even sent the bodies to Jerusalem along with money to make an atonement sacrifice for the dead soldiers. These verses are said to be the proof for the doctrine of purgatory. But, as they claim, those who go to purgatory are limited to those who committed minor sins, so since the dead soldiers who worshipped idols, according to their doctrine, are destined for the "hell" so that these verses have no connection to the doctrine of purgatory, furthermore, since Protestants do not recognize the Book of Maccabees as canonical, so this doctrine cannot be considered Biblical. And theologians like Paul Tillich criticized the doctrine of purgatory, arguing that sanctification through suffering alone is impossible and that grace, even in suffering, is necessary for human transformation.

4)    And then secondly, there is a doctrine of soul sleep, advocated by Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses. This theory asserts that the death brings about an unconscious state of rest or sleep, citing 1 Corinthians 15:18 "And they also which have fallen asleep in Christ perish." However, the Greek word, κοιμάομαι (koimaomai), translated “asleep” here, is a euphemism for the state of death, so that interpreting it as the so-called “soul sleep” is a misapplication.

5)    Thirdly, there is a doctrine of annihilation advocated by some liberal theologians recently. They argue that a merciful God would not consign His creation to eternal torment, instead, He will annihilate the wicked. In other words, they believe that believers will live in bliss forever experiencing the resurrection of their bodies, but the wicked will at some point face the annihilation of their souls. But this is completely unbiblical too.

6)    Instead, the Bible teaches that after physical death, people's souls remain conscious until the final judgment. Believers enjoy temporary bliss in Paradise, while unbelievers suffer consciously in ”Hades," awaiting the resurrection. On the final judgment day, all will be resurrected. Then believers will dwell in eternal glory in heaven, while unbelievers will suffer eternal torment in hell, I mean, the lake of fire. In this way, Paradise and Hades are two aspects of a single expectation that cannot be separated from the completed kingdom of God, that is, heaven, and the place of final punishment, hell, as Rev 20:14, says, “And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, that is, the lake of fire.”

7)    Regarding this intermediate state which is the period between the death and the resurrection, Westminster confession of Faith confesses in chapter 32 that

I) The bodies of men after death return to dust and see corruption; but their souls, (which neither die nor sleep,) having an immortal subsistence, immediately return to God who gave them. The souls of the righteous, being then made perfect in holiness, are received into the highest heavens, where they behold the face of God in light and glory, waiting for the full redemption of their bodies; and the souls of the wicked are cast into hell, where they remain in torments and utter darkness, reserved to the judgment of the great day. Besides these two places for souls separated from their bodies, the scripture acknowledged none.

II) At the last day, such as are found alive shall not die, but be changed: and all the dead shall be raised up, with the self-same bodies, and none other, although with different qualities, which shall be united again to their souls forever.

III. The bodies of the unjust shall, by the power of Christ, be raised to dishonor; the bodies of the just, by his Spirit, unto honor, and be made conformable to his own glorious body.

8)    So, we can know that souls in this intermediate state, either in Paradise or Hades, cannot voluntarily come back to earth, according to the verse 26 and 31 of today's text, Of course, there is an instance in salvation history where God permitted this for special revelations and purposes in His salvation history. For example, in the Mount of Transfiguration, we can see that Jesus spoke with Moses and Elijah. However, in other cases, dead souls cannot voluntarily come back to earth. Then I know that some will argue that in 1 Samuel 28, we can see Saul brought the spirit of Samuel through a medium. However, the spirit of Samuel in this incident is a false spirit disguised as Samuel. Even though some argue that the spirit summoned by the medium was the real spirit of Samuel, since the woman was shocked when she realized it was Samuel, and also Saul bowed down with his face to the ground when he saw Samuel, and also the spirit prophesied exactly the same thing as Samuel did when he was alive. But, as 2 Corinthians 11:14-15 says, “Satan himself disguises himself as an angel of light, and it is not surprising if his servants disguise themselves as the servants of righteousness,” false spirit who knew the prophecy of Samuel pretended to be Samuel. Therefore, we believers should be very careful not to fall for such tricks of Satan by having the discernment of the truth.

9)    Anyhow, through this teaching of the intermediate state, we can have great comfort. I mean, first, we can have a great comfort since after death, we Christians enter a spiritual state and enjoy the Lord's presence in Paradise. Secondly, as 2 Corinthians 5:6-8 says, "Therefore we are always confident and know that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, and would rather be away from the body and present with the Lord," our present life is, in reality, a life of pilgrimage away from the Lord, yet, for Christians, death ultimately is the end of this pilgrimage and a return to our true home, so that we can have a deep comfort even through the death. Thirdly, as Calvin said, after death, since our souls begin to enjoy eternal bliss, and even after the final resurrection, that bliss will reach its culmination, eternal bliss, so that we can have a great comfort through this doctrine.

10) We know that Paul lived in the flesh on this earth with expectation and hope for the fruits and benefits for others, after knowing in the heaven, it will be far better to be with Christ after death, while he said in Phil 1:20-24 that “as it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be at all ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. Yet which I shall choose I cannot tell. I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account,” Therefore, I pray that we too may live with hope and expectation for the coming life in new heaven and new earth, while bearing fruits and benefiting others in this life of pilgrimage, following the example of the pioneers of faith.

Key Questions as Small Group Activity

Q1 Through today’s text, we became to know that the believers enjoy the bliss, not only in this side of the world, but also in the intermediate state and also in new heaven and new earth. So, after meditating on the bliss which we will enjoy, and thinking what kind of comfort we can get, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Q2 And, also we became to know that we have to live in this life of pilgrimage, for the rewards and for others’ benefits, with the hope and expectation, after knowing we will go finally to our home country in heaven. So after checking what kinds of eternal seeds we are sowing now and here, I hope we could share our thought and experience with our team members together to learn from each other.

Love you. Thank you. God bless you.

Prayer Note

Dear ( God’s attribute which you found Today ) God!

Thanks for ( something you received through the sermon or  even during the week )

Praise, gratitude and glory be to You, Lord!

Today, I realized my sin (pains) that ( the sin God reminded through the sermon ),

please forgive (or heal) me and help me not to repeat ( the sins you recognized   ).

I learned that ( something you learned through the sermon                                    )

Please help me to live in that (  learned way of life                                                )

I pray in ( Jesus’ attribute you find ) Jesus’ name. Amen.