Cries from Hell [3-15-26]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1imGFpqBIk

March 15, 2026

Luke 16:14-31

“Cries from Hell”

Preparing for Luke 16 got me to thinking about maps. Weird, right?

You remember what maps were. You needed one for any long road trip. Also, if you lived in any city of considerable size, you needed a reliable street atlas. When we were young, we had one of these in the car {Show Image}.

When Lori and I made our first trip from California to Louisville, Kentucky, we used the AAA Triptik. That was cutting edge back in the day. I recently read this:

WE REALLY USED TO PRINT OUT 4 PAGES FROM MAPQUEST & TRAVEL LIKE PIRATES.

My how things have changed. Now, when you get a bit hungry whilst on a road trip, you simply ask the Google machine for the closest place to eat, and, boom!, there you have it. Whenever traveling to some unfamiliar place, you still need a map. Only now it’s available in a variety of formats using a variety of tools.

Luke 16 is one of those challenging-to-navigate passages. A map of an      interpretation of sorts is the best way to go. So that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to take the journey together. The destination…the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus…is worth the trip.

Let’s start with verses 14-17:

The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. And he said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good 

news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the Law to become void.”

A favorite saying of mine has always been, “That’s too intense for the dense.” That’s how these verses feel. A lot of weight to them. There’s work to be done in gaining understanding. But what a wonderful Savior we have. He entrusts to our understanding things of great difficulty.

Do you remember how Luke 15 opened? The Pharisees grumbled about how Jesus would dare associate with sinners. What do grumblers do? Grumblers gonna grumble. It’s all they know. So they shift from grumbling about Jesus associating with sinners to grumbling about his teaching on money. What does Luke tell us about them? They were lovers of money. What is the root of all evil? The love of money.

While not all Pharisees were lovers of money, enough of them were for Jesus to make note of it. And boy, did they love to grumble. Which is what you’d expect from hearts full of greed and wickedness. They cannot hide 

their anger. Their open hostility.

Think for a minute about what’s happening today. As author Jonathan Turley reminds us, rage is addictive and contagious. Politicians feed on it. It infects so many areas of life. Can you imagine how hard one has to work in order to be so insufferably miserable? What happened after the U.S. men’s hockey team won the Olympic gold medal? They celebrated in the locker room. They hoisted a beer or two. The Director of the F.B.I. was celebrating with them. They took a call from the President. Some people got bent-out-of-shape over that. Some people run on rage.

The point of Luke 15 was, when something lost is found, rejoice and celebrate. When something good happens, celebrate. Be happy for people. Rejoice and be glad. In so many ways, there are so many moments and situations when we resonate with the Psalmist…this is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it!

What happens to people when they can’t feel anything but anger and animosity? Their motto seems to be, this is garbage…I will grumble and be 

miserable in it!

In addition to their mocking, grumbling attitude, these Pharisees also have a warped view of money. They believe that money and possessions are a sign of God’s favor. It is seen as a reward for right conduct. What does that sound like to you? Sounds to me like the foundation for the prosperity gospel. Yet none of it is true. Back then or today.

Jesus next immediately hits them with, “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.”

What does Jesus mean? He is hitting them where their pride resides. The conventional wisdom is that religious people are close to God. Religious people honor God. And God honors religious people with money and material blessings. Religious people are appreciated by God. Being religious makes you more favorable to God. Which means it makes God like you more. Crazy way to think about God and our relationship to Him.

And it gets crazier. If you’re a religious person, you’re going to end up in heaven. You are the favored one. Who doesn’t want a deal like that? If you are a religious person, then you are a shoe-in for heaven. All the striving… all the work…all the effort gets God to act favorably toward you. The Pharisees, like all religious people, have convinced themselves they have a foolproof system. They know who is in and who is out. All you have to do is go through the motions. Look at the scoreboard.

They mock Jesus because he is telling them otherwise. He sees right through them.

We’ve already heard Jesus talking about hell in Luke. Hell is real. Hell is reserved for people who reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Hell is for people who embrace false gods. Hell is for people who refuse to do what Jesus calls them to do. So here are those who have transitioned from grumbling about Jesus to openly ridiculing him. They think they’ve got it all figured out. They imagine themselves with one foot in heaven. All because they do the things they say you have to do to earn God’s favor. How convenient.

But Jesus is setting up a parable that tells them otherwise.

Here’s something you might want to write down:

The Pharisees are trying to uphold the law as they understand it.

Great how that works, right? I make up all these rules that are easy for me to follow and then I can feel good about myself for following them. All the while looking down at you because you either can’t or don’t. Yay, self-righteousness.

Here are two final points of understanding before we jump into the pivotal parable.

First, the very mind scratching verse 16:

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since then the good

news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it.

Remember who is grumbling against Jesus. Remember that they are now openly ridiculing him. Lovely guys. That’s the context for what Jesus hits them with here.

In verse sixteen, Jesus is telling them they are on the outside. They think they’ve made an inside track for themselves, but they are woefully mistaken. They are on the outside, thinking they can will themselves into the inside. In fact, they have no interest in knowing and doing what it means to be on the inside. So they are trying to force their way in. Hence the struggle. Or should we say, hence their struggle.

Being on the inside…that is, in heaven and not hell…being on the inside isn’t really all that hard. All they have to do is let go of their pride and vanity and self-righteousness and arrogance and smugness. The kingdom of God…the gospel…as it is being preached by Jesus, takes a powerful effort for us to enter into it. The heavy lifting is done by Jesus…remember the trajectory of our salvation history, when Luke tells us Jesus sets his face for Jerusalem…it takes Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross for us to enter into the kingdom of God. That’s huge. But Jesus says here there’s also struggle on our part. We must confess our sin and strive always to follow him. And as he says about the sinners and tax collectors and riff-raff and ne’re-do-wells and prostitutes and all kinds of outcasts, they’re putting in the effort to follow Jesus and listen to Jesus and obey Jesus because they want to be on the inside, not by their effort, but through the sacrificial effort of Jesus. Jesus is telling the grumblers they’re making the wrong kind of effort. That’s a huge counter-punch to the those who are now openly ridiculing Jesus.

Which leads us to the last big point that seems to come out of nowhere:

“Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.”

That sounds like it comes out of nowhere, right? What’s the connection between verse eighteen and the road we’re on? How does that get us from ridiculers to a profound parable?

I believe verse eighteen has a solid connection to what Jesus has been saying. Remember, these grumblers and ridiculers are offended that Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. They are outraged. Sinners…how defiling.

So here’s Jesus, embracing them. Jesus tells the story of a father who 

embraces his horrible, awful, sinful son. There’s a huge celebration. Jesus says God rejoices when lost sinners are found and repent. The Pharisees have no context in which that makes any sense whatsoever.

So they believe that Jesus, with such a message, is assaulting the law. But Jesus tells them in verse eighteen that he knows exactly what the law means. He points to its reasonable application. Trying to live outside the protective boundaries of the law will have disastrous results. Hence the sound teaching on divorce. Adultery carries an evil toll. And divorce for any reason except adultery or abuse is never good.

Here are the grumblers and ridiculers, parading themselves around as paragons of virtue. They want to be seen as the most religious people in the room. But Jesus says, no you are not. They are as sinfully misguided as the people they look down on. And that cannot stand.

What a wonderful preface this all is to the Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Here is the point, and it’s the last thing you might want to write down:

In Jesus Christ, there is hope even for the worst of sinners.

And you know that’s me. And I know that’s you. We know that’s all of us together. That’s the reality of our sin. We are broken. But the salvage and redemption of broken sinners runs through Luke. Imagine, for a moment, you break a leg. What do you do? You see a specialist. You get it taken care of by an expert physician. Sometimes a break requires orthopedic surgery. Whatever the break and however it happens, the one thing you cannot do is turn back the clock, erasing the injury. Would that you could, right?

Regarding sin, think about your past. You likewise cannot turn back the clock and undo what’s been done. But you don’t have to. God’s grace can heal your brokenness. You have a future. Your future joy and happiness are through Christ and Christ alone.

Believe Jesus when he says we can trust him for our future. His grace is sufficient to bring redemption, restoration, and reconciliation to shattered lives and shipwrecked marriages.

And together, the people of God said:

 SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone