"The Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16)" - Pastor Doug Batchelor

and our parable we're going to study today only appears one place in the Bible you find it in the Gospel of Luke chapter 16 we're going to be talking about the rich man and Lazarus the rich man and Lazarus Luke 16 verse 19 and I will read through the parable you don't find this in mark or John or Matthew it only appears in this one gospel and then I'll come back and we'll take it apart piece by piece and see what we can learn there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and he fared or feasted sumptuously every day but there was a certain beggar named Lazarus full of sores who laid at his gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores so it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom the rich man died also and was buried and being in torments in Hades he lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham afar off in Lazarus he saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom then he cried he said father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame but Abraham said son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he is comforted and your tormented besides all this between us and you there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot nor can those from there pass to us then he said I beg you therefore father that you would send him to my father's house for I have five brothers that he might testify to them lest they come also to this place of torment Abraham said to him they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them he said no father Abraham but if one would go to them from the dead they will repent and he said to him if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded the one should rise from the day there's a parable it's unusual has some difficult spots in it it's not all a soothing and pretty picture at the end like the prodigal son but there's some lessons in there that Jesus would like us to consider that not only apply to us as individuals and the Christian life but to the church at large and it tells us something about the time in which Christ lived so let's go back and take a closer look at this parable again going to Luke 16 verse 19 there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen now a little later Lazarus is named the rich man is never named first thing we probably ought to establish is is this a true story is Jesus giving an actual account of an occurrence that took place or is this a parable now I believe as do many Bible commentators that this is a parable a few reasons a lot of symbols are in the story that obviously should not be taken literally for one thing will one drop of water cool a person's tongue and the lake of fire for another thing will the saved and the lost be able to talk to each other across some chasm the third thing can you picture for a moment that all the save from all the ages are going to a place in Abraham's bosom is that a literal spot and if so how big is Abraham's bosom if all of us is saved immediately go there at the point of death you need to be careful that you don't build one a doctrine on one parable the Bible says in the multitude of counsel we learn these things Bible commentators and they're not members of my church but some of the great Bible commentators like Albert Barnes he said the probability that this narrative is to be considered a parable is very strong because it's not referring to any particular case which had actually happened but teaching that such cases might happen John Gill says there is another Greek manuscript of Baeza where it reads a Greek manuscript of Luke which reads this way in the beginning he spoke to them also another parable then he goes on into the story I think it's pretty clear that it is a parable on just the language that is used and I'll give you more reasons as we proceed oh by the way if you do read the book Christ's object lessons and page 263 great book Karen I were reading that for worship last night it says in this parable Christ was meeting the people on their ground the doctrine of a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection was held by many of those who are listening to Christ's words he used the prevailing opinion to convey an idea he wished to make prominent to all that no man is valued for his possessions for all that belongs to him is only lent to him by the Lord a misuse of these gifts will place him below the poorest and most afflicted man who loves God and trusts him so because of the Greek view in the time of Christ regarding mythology Pluto the God of Hades Jesus was telling a parable to them for instance most of us are Americans and if I should say to you if I should just begin by saying one day Alice was walking in Wonderland I'm gonna tell you story how much farther do I need to go before you know that I'm using the context of a famous fairy tale by Lewis Carroll to tell a point or a pair of oh right or if I should say The Tortoise and the hare had a discussion one day do rabbits and turtles talk but have we all learned from Aesop's fables important lessons okay so it was not uncommon to use something from the mythology in this culture back then to illustrate an important truth and Luke being the only Gentile writer it might be than Matthew and Mark and John being very devout Jews did not want to reference the story that Jesus used that incorporated Greek mythology Luke had no problem with it that's just a theory but some have wondered why they didn't include this in their Gospels so it's a parable now beginning with a rich man it tells us that this certain rich man is clothed in purple and fine linen we're gonna take apart the various aspects of the parable purple in the times of the Bible was very expensive now they've got chemical dyes and they can make purple in copious amounts but if you wanted purple back in Bible times in the Mediterranean it required catching some of these murex snails that grew on the eastern shore and it would take 12,000 snails if you just wanted to die the border of one garment it required and it was when you crushed these snails they would excrete this purple chemical and you had to didn't collect and dry that and concentrated and it took 60,000 Mirage snails to produce one pound of Tyrian purple they called a Tyrian purple cuz I sold it in the city of Tyre 60,000 snails to make one pound it fetched more than gold or silver per ounce in Bible times matter of fact if a person was born in prosperity they would say he was born in the purple because only the royalty could wear purple so he's got the finest of clothing and that it also says that he wore fine linen - not just any linen but fine linen he's got purple for the day in linen for the night and he's wearing just the best of the clothing now it's interesting I think that when you look at the persecution of Jesus it says they clothed Jesus with purple you know if you look in one gospel it says they put a scarlet robe on him but in-market says they put a purple robe on him and they twisted a crown of thorns and put it on his hand they were mocking royalty only in Herod's palace could they find that and then in Revelation when it talks about babbling notice what it says alas this is chapter 18 verse 16 alas alas that great city that was clothed in fine linen and purple same thing that you find in this parable simple for the lost in Babylon symbol for the lost with this man interested with the garments and the fashions of the world and not only did he have the nice clothes it says he had a pretty good spread he feasted lavishly it says that he fared sumptuously not from time to time but every day was a feast for this guy he had all that he could possibly want to eat and the very best that he could eat his table was furnished with all the varieties of the dainty's that nature and art could supply the Garden of Eden was a feast but it was not to be hoarded and then it goes on and it tells us that there's nothing wrong necessarily with eating well and dressing well but if you do it to the neglect of those around you that are naked and hungry Jesus told this parable in Luke when you give a dinner or a supper do not ask your friends your brother's your relatives your rich neighbors unless they also invite you back and a recompense is made you just pain each other off I'll invite you over you invite me over but when you give a feast jesus said invite the poor you want to do something different how does heaven measure success invite the poor the maimed the lame the blind and you'll be blessed because they cannot repay you for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just now this is part of real Christian teaching should we be willing to bring the poor and the maimed the lame into our house things were a little different in Bible times you know they didn't have hospitals they did not have social security they didn't have Medicare and all those government assistance programs I sort of resent all the government endowments not just because of what it does to taxes but you know why I resent it because there was once a day where people were challenged to care and the churches and people would care for these people and now basically it's like well we don't need to do it because there's a government program instead of us doing it willingly it sort of is extracted enforced and so we lose the blessing and when they were poor and sick people back then they would bring them and lay them at the doorstep of poor people so as they come and went they would give alms to the poor we read about this a couple of weeks ago talking about Cornelius that gave much alms to the poor and they would bring them to the doors of the rich people or they go to the temple when people came to worship and they lay them at the gates there you remember in the book of Acts chapter 3 Peter and John are on the temple to worship they pass a beggar who had been brought there and laid there to beg put in a position of visibility now what we have is we got folks that are out the on ramp of various freeways and streets and you want to help the poor but you don't always want to help people destroy themselves if they've got problems with drugs and crime and so things are very different now now is there anything wrong with having riches was Abraham rich was job rich Jacob Solomon can be a problem Jesus warns us it's harder for a camel to get through the eye of a needle than a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven but there are exceptions of course we'd all like to be that exception not too many people are wanting the other but there's nothing inherently morally wrong with being successful in that way there's nothing wrong with having quality clothing what's wrong is if you have these things and you feel no obligation to be stewards of the blessings of God to care for those who don't have and you hoard these things they end up rising up as a judgment against us in the last day are their pastors out there today and is there a variety of Christian preaching that seems to indicate that the more good things you have it must mean it's a sign of God's blessing they call them prosperity preachers and some of them are from the charismatic ilk evangelical preachers that will they'll wave their pearls and gold and fine clothing and fancy cars and they'll say this is evidence that I have faith and that I am blessed of God but you know in this parable it's telling don't be deceived by that there were even people in the time of Christ among the Jews who thought that the more stuff you had and the finer your life it was evidence that you were just loved and blessed by God Jesus shocked everybody when he tells us parable because this man he later says he trades places with Lazarus and he goes to the lowest place and Lazarus goes to the highest so looks can be deceiving God doesn't always look down from heaven and see success in this world the way we do there are things in the world that are highly esteemed perspectives that are an abomination to God we applaud people for things that God weeps over and so how do you measure success now we'll look at the poor Baker there was a certain beggar named Lazarus the beggar is named some have wondered why is the bigger name others have argued well the very fact the beggars name must mean that's a true story I'll tell you a couple of reasons I think the beggars named one is the clothes of this parable you get the punchline punchline it's not the right word but the moral of a stories always are often in the last few words it ties it off in a good story and the rich man says all but if Lazarus went to them from the dead then they would believe what was the most amazing resurrection that Jesus performed dead for days Lazarus did they believe no so that's one reason I think he used the name another reason is he does not name the rich man because here Lazarus name is immortalized we're talking about it today two thousand years later but the rich man who maybe had his name on his house in his fields in his lands in his company he goes into history in obscurity Jesus doesn't even honor him by mentioning what his name was his name is forgotten the beggars name is immortalized could be part of the reason Jesus doesn't mint the rich man's name and again because it's a parable so there's a certain poor beggar named Lazarus full of sores what are the sores mean the Bible says job was full of sores after the devil got done with him did job have sores from the crown to the sole of his foot because of his sin or because the devil was afflicting him because you see a beggar who is covered with ulcers and sores does not mean that he has sinned against God job had that once - that could be a holy person on their way to heaven gotta be careful we look on the outward appearance God looks on the heart so God's reminding us of that but sores are often a symbol for sin alas a sinful nation of people laden with iniquity why should you be stricken again will you revolt more and more the whole head is sick the whole heart is faint from the sole of the foot even to the head there's no soundness in it but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores what's gonna happen to the wicked during the plagues what's one of the plagues noisome and grievous sores and what happened in the days of Egypt one of the plagues also same thing and so the rich man is he walked by Lazarus he assumed he's being afflicted by God for his sins but he was wrong just like job's friends we're sure the job was suffering because of his sins they were wrong we've got to be careful not to pass those judgments and actually he was following the Lord and then it goes on to say that he's late at the gate you know what else that tells us something else about the rich man the rich man had the best of clothes he had the best of food and he must have had the best of house because he's actually got a gate and poor Lazarus is brought there and he's late at the gate couldn't carry himself maybe someone brings him the name well one more thing I forgot about when I was talking about the names it says in proverbs 10:7 the memory of the righteous is blessed but the name of the wicked will rot Lazarus is remembered we don't know the name of the rich man so it also tells us that he's begging and what is he begging for he's wanting the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table I know it's hard for us to imagine but there are places in the world even today where poor people inhabit the dumps in Brazil in India probably even a few people a few places in North America where folks scavenge through the dumps looking for crumbs and remnants and he's wanting the crumbs that fall from the table remember a woman came to Jesus one time and said Lord if you would please heal my daughter she's vexed by the devil and the Lord said you know it's not appropriate to take the children's food and give it to the dogs I'm sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel and the Gentiles are dogs I'm paraphrasing but that was really the essence of what he said and she said yes but even the little dogs get the crumbs that fall from the rich from the children's plates so when this rich man got done with his feast I knew they'd have a big feast something's gonna hit the floor and the servants came around with their dustpan and they swept up the scraps instead of throwing the scraps in the bin they'd go outside and they dropped the scraps for Lazarus how'd you like to eat that way but if you get hungry enough it starts looking good I used to get food out of a garbage can I know you probably don't shop there but my friend a boat writes here Dave will testify we got food out of garbage cans together find some pretty good things there I don't you know one time they threw out all this ice cream big bin of it little melted though we were yeah we'll go there the reason I'm telling me that I got a witness here is I know what it's like to eat out of a garbage can I don't want to go back in there and a lot of us let's face it how much food do we waste a lot of food is wasted because we buy it we put it in refrigerator we never get around to eating it it rots and we throw it out do you know in America we spend more money on our dogs than a lot of countries do for their whole domestic product on their humans the only comfort that Lazarus got was from the dogs I'll explain that in just a moment and then it sets up the picture he was longing to eat what fell from that rich man's table longing to eat the crumbs remember the prodigal son went away from home and he said all if I could just Eve even eat the husks of the pigs the husks that leftover from the seed pods that the pigs are eating started looking good to him so here my father in his house the Crone's that fall from this table would be good and then the ultimate happens death and nobody can escape it the poor man can't escape it the rich man can't escape it poor men dies and rises first there are two resurrections the resurrection of the just the resurrection of the wicked the dead in Christ rise first Lazarus was one of the great resurrections of the Lord so it's talking about that and so the beggar dies this is verse 22 and he's carried by the Angels who's going to participate in the resurrection when Jesus comes and he'll send his angels to the four corners of the earth and they will gather together his elect and he's carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom now you know in this whole story the rich man speaks Lazarus never utters a word is there anything we do to contribute to our salvation other than trusting in the Lord he never says a word and the rich man dies also death comes to both you know it doesn't matter how much you own you're never gonna see a hearse pulling a u-haul you can take it with you and all those Farrell's that had all that money and build those great mausoleums their bodies weren't even found in most of them with the exception of King Tut they couldn't use any of the treasure they left behind and I suppose when Lazarus died that one of the servants came out and said you know that beggar Lazarus he died that rich me and probably gave him some crumbs and they dragged him off and they threw him in a ditch for a common grape somewhere there was no service no memorial no mourners no earthly notice when Lazarus died but angels noticed and they came right and when the rich man dies Oh big funeral a lot of mourners a lot of instruments a lot of wailing they put it in the papers had a parade carried his coffin up the street beautiful mausoleum but it doesn't even say the Angels escort him to his place of punishment things and death changed radically their roles are totally reversed and it says that Lazarus goes to Abraham's bosom now when you think about heaven you interview a lot of kids and say what do you want in heaven and they'll say ah you know I just I can't wait to drink the living water I want to pet a lion I want to slide down the neck of a giraffe I want to slide on the golden streets and but I've never heard anybody say I'm looking forward to hanging out in Abraham's bosom I've never heard any of you tell me that look at how different the destinations are and this is where you begin to see it's a parable if you lived in the time of Jesus it was the ultimate irony because this is actually I've got a picture coming up here on the screen of Abraham's bosom this is from a church you can throw that up Cheryl this is a church in France and the right and left it's got the Lazarus being rewarded it's got the rich man being burned and you can see this is Abraham and he's got all the saving in his bosom but really could you put all the redeemed think about how many people unless there's only a handful of people being saved you can't fit very many in Abraham's bosom for the Jews because they knew Abraham was saved they argued about what happens in the afterlife they just figured if you could at least be with Abraham because God is the God of Abraham first then Isaac and Jacob he was the father of the faithful if you could be with Abraham you'll be in the right place and so they referred to the place of the saved as the bosom of Abraham as close as you could be a matter of fact it's the same word years when John at the Last Supper leaned on the breast of Christ that word there is the bosom of Christ he was leaning right into him and so it's it's talking about as close as you could be there was no place of like limbo or purgatory or kind of midfield mediatorial spot that the souls hang out I've heard some Protestants say they create this whole new theology of Abraham's bosom it's the place where disembodied souls are waiting for the resurrection and the judgment I do you can't build a this is just from Hebrew legend talked about Abraham's bosom Greek legend talked about Hades is the place of torment how many of you remember your Greek mythology from school pluto the god of Hades all these Greek gods you must know some of the Greek gods and there's all bizarre it's not true I hope you know that you read about what the different Greek gods did and the mythology and my mother I I don't know if I should tell you this but we had a play at our public school I went to New York City about mythology so we would learn the Greek gods and I was Pluto sorry my mother I don't know why she cast me as Pluto she they had her lead out you know in organizing the school play she's good at that sort of thing somewhere there's a picture of me standing behind a cardboard chariot directing the hounds of hell I've lost that picture but notice what Jesus is doing he's using opposites he's got the rich Jew going to the Gentile plate no I'm sorry he's got the yeah he's got the rich Jewish man going to the Gentile place of punishment and he's got the poor Gentile going to the Jewish place of reward now why do you think Jesus is telling that story didn't Jesus frequently say many will come from the east and the west and sit down in the kingdom with who Abraham Isaac and Jacob and the children of the kingdom that natural-born children of the kingdom will be in outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth Christ is telling this parable also to tell the Jews do not think to say within yourself because we are children of Abraham you're obligated to save us because of our genetics let me just give you a few verses Mathew 3:9 John the Baptist is preaching he said do not think to say to yourself we have Abraham as our Father for I say to you that God is able to raise up from these stones children unto Abraham or from the Gentiles John 833 they answered Jesus and said we're Abraham's descendants we've never been in bondage to anybody I guess they forgot about the Exodus John 8:39 the answered and said Abraham is our Father so he's got to see this because ibrahim is our Father we're the descendants were the true people were the guardians of the Oracles of truth and Jesus said if you were Abraham's children you would do the works of Abraham but now you go about to kill me this abraham would not do matthew 7:21 not everyone that says unto me Lord Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven but those that do the will of my father so one of the important lessons in this whole parable is the rich man assumed he was saved well after all I've got purple and fine linen and I'm feasting every day in a beautiful mansion with a gate the poor cursed beggars on the outside on the inside I am obviously blessed by God he's gonna save me just because you have health and a good job and nice friends and money does that mean you're saved just because you are born from Christian parents or even Christian grandparents you do not get any credit points in the Judgment Day you can't go to the Lord and say Lord I am a third or fourth generation Christian God said that's not worth a thing when it comes to salvation virtue there's no virtue in that you must have a personal relationship with Jesus you can't say but Abraham's my father you need to do the works of Abraham that's where Christ is seen and out of the faith of Abraham so this is one of the lessons for us today I was reading I think this is from Matthew Henry's commentary rich epicures who live in luxury and are unmerciful to the poor die and go to a state unsub of unsupportable torment which is the more Grievous and terrible to them because of the sensual lives they lived in other words the suffering of the lost for those who had all of this world's blessings and did not care about the poor is going to be compounded because they weren't used to suffering at all but the blessings of the poor and the suffering in this life will be multiplied when they get to heaven I remember once when the amazing effects went to India we did some mission program and we were working with a medical group there we not only did preaching but there were medical groups out in the villages I think Debbie was there and one lady came up she was talking to us through a translator her body was deformed she looked like she was 60 might have been younger but she looked that age or older and she started to cry and she just said she obviously had suffered from her deformities her whole life and she was very poor she's wearing rags and she's why am i suffering so much he was in constant pain and I thought to myself here is this poor woman in a poor country with poor health who has felt what looked like constant pain her whole life and I thought I sure hope she's going to heaven because she suffered so much and you know we're surrounded with people like that and that's why God wants us to care he wants our hearts to be to be moved by that so that when the Bible says do not shut up the your bowels of compassion how does the Lord want us to fast does want us to afflict our souls and to tear our garments and the Lord said no this is the fast that I've chosen that you feed the hungry you clothe the naked that you don't hide yourself from your own flesh then your light will rise in obscurity God will bless you love your neighbor what does God say in Matthew chapter 25 and that parable the sheep and the goats I was hungry and you fed me I was thirsty you gave me drink I was naked and you called me I was in prison or sick and you visited me these are the things that the Lord tells us is important and if he's blessed you great but you have to ask yourself am I just hoarding it is it never enough somebody asked one of the Rockefellers one time might have been Nelson Rockefeller is a billionaire also became a governor they said how much money is enough how much did the millionaires really need he said a little more it's always just a little more and if we wait until we feel like we are we've got all that we need before we start saying when am I gonna start saying I'm gonna give to others or maybe we need a policy that says if we want the Lord to open the windows of heaven to know blessed so we can't receive at all make up your mind before you get everything to give some of what you have to others and he'll give you more if you make your life where you are a conduit of God's blessing to others in it it might not be money it can be food it can be clothes it's your service but it's just giving of yourself we're that rich man sure he gave a few crumbs to the beggar just scraps sometimes our offerings we treat it that way we're very generous when it comes to shopping for ourselves but when it comes to an offering at church we give a tip to God that's about what it amounts to kind of fumble around in our wallets and save the lowest cannot denomination we can find we're giving crumbs and there's a Judgment Day and the way that God looks down and sees things in this world is very different so here you have this ironic dramatic role reversal and the rich man when he finds himself in torment he calls out father Abraham doesn't pray to God he prays to Abraham which tells he's got things wrong send Lazarus I gave him crumbs could he give me at least a drop of water one drops all I'm asking and Abraham sorry there is now a great gulf fixed we cannot go from here to there and you cannot go from there to here so right there we know it's a parable because he kept people in heaven and hell' talking together and Abraham says there is no communication he doesn't get to talk to Lazarus he's talking to Lazarus through Abraham right his Abraham the one we pray to obviously not so it's a parable I want to emphasize that because some people think that you go right and death to Abraham's bosom or Hades and that's not why this story is told Bible's pretty clear about that what a drop of water coolest tongue no so this is an incredible reversal after death is God still answering prayers Abraham says I can't answer that prayer there's a gulf fixed look at the reversal though the rich man who was wearing royal clothing in life he is now wearing nothing or rags and Lazarus when the angels come to get him he gets a glorified body in the robe of Christ's righteousness and Lazarus who suffered is now comforted how long does life last I'm assuming most of us here are alive do you know how long you'll live if you were to ask an insurance agent do they have averages you ever like to think about that do you know there's actually a website you can go to now you can type in some particular about your family history about your occupation about your personal habits and it's the same kind of statistics insurance companies use when they figure out what life insurance should cost and how they can make a profit and they will calculate about what age you're gonna die and it's gonna be pretty close unless you have an unexpected accident with a hotdog cart or something it's kind of sobering thought I remember talking to a doctor a few years ago a good doctor in a church I used to pastoring he said well Doug we were doing foot washing together he said I'm a doctor I know the statistics he says I think I might have five years on the good side he lived three more years unfortunately his mind was clear to the end but he was very pragmatic about it so how long does the next life last well if you saved it last forever if you're lost it lasts forever your lostness will be forever that's why it's called everlasting destruction that's why it's called everlasting punishment there's no second chance so if you're gonna decide what the priorities are you would want to decide in this life we get threescore in ten years as an approximation to decide how we want to spend eternity and if we think the purpose of this life is to do what the rich man did you know Jesus tells another parable of a rich fool says oh my crops did very well this year Wow what am I gonna do I don't have room in my barns for all my stuff never occurred to him well why don't you give it away why don't you donate it said I'll have to build bigger barns for me and so I could store more stuff for me and I can eat drink and be merry and then God says you fool tonight your soul is quired of you and then who's will all those things be he made all his provision for this life and made nope vision for the next life so if you are blessed in this life's Goods is there a way for you to save some of it for the next life yes how do you lay up for yourself treasures in heaven by caring about the poor by sharing the gospel by supporting mission work you are laying up treasure in heaven how many of you know the stock market's not very dependable that's especially true in the last week and if that's where your treasure is thieves break through and steal moths and rust does corrupt we need to be storing their treasure in heaven so he prays and he says look I can't send Lazarus you said when you were rich you had your consolation you were full and now Lazarus is comforted in you're tormented there's a reversal Jesus and Luke 624 says woe to you who are rich I think this isn't our scripture reading for you've received your consolation woe to you who are full you will hunger woe to you who laugh now for you will mourn and weep and you should read the things that Jude and James say about that same subject our goal in this life should not be to stockpile we should be taking the blessings in this life it's okay to to work hard I like Wesley's approach earn all you can save all you can and give all of you can a lot of us are just doing the earning and the saving part and we forget about the giving part but that's the part that you give is how you were storing treasure in heaven and that's the life that's gonna last so Lazarus I'm sorry the rich man when he realizes that there's no opportunity for him to be saved he reflects and all of a sudden he starts to think about others will there be a day in the future when everybody will meet again when the rich man saw what was happening to Lazarus he saw and Lazarus I believe saw says there was a great gulf fixed and that word gulf is where you get the word chasm in greek gets Kozma it's that's it's a big separating void but they could see across is there gonna be a day following the Millennium where all the righteous are in the City of God and all the wicked like Gog and Magog are gathered around the City of God and everybody is separated and people are gonna see what the rewards are he says he starts to think about his his family he says I've got five brethren why did he mention five and a lot of speculation on that he could have just said I've got family but he says I've got five brothers they don't know about this they're living like I was living go to them and warn them unless they come to this place of torment so if you say you've got five brothers how many kids in the family six total six is a number that represents man others have wondered will five all the Jews the scribes and the Pharisees disagreed on some things but one thing they agreed on the five books of Moses known as the Pentateuch you remember that woman and the Samaritans the story the Samaritan woman Jesus that you've had five husbands and the one you're living with now you're not married to again five plus one adding up to six just similar and he says if Lazarus could go back from the dead and warn them then they'll repent and Abraham says they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them now what's the greatest treasure what's the greatest opportunity we have to know the truth this is called the commandments of God Moses and the testimony of Jesus the prophets Moses and the prophets the law and the prophets the Word of God the two witnesses a sword with two edges Abraham is saying they have the scriptures let them hear them he said all know but if they saw a sign and wonder then they repent and Abraham culminates the story Jesus culminates the story by Abraham telling the rich man if they believe not Moses and the prophets then neither will they be persuaded though one should rise from the dead can the devil counterfeit miracles if the words of Jesus don't stir your heart where you're willing to change and make a difference in your life and then signs and wonders won't make any difference did Christ perform signs and wonders did it change them no some of the same people that had eaten the miraculous manna that Jesus multiplying also shouted crucify him crucify him and people who are witnesses to the resurrection of Lazarus they were also involved in trying to kill Jesus kill Lazarus the Roman soldiers you saw the resurrection they came and they told the priest we saw an angel roll away the stone he came out of the tomb he's alive they said don't say anything about this we'll give you money and the Pharaoh who saw plague after plague as soon as the plague was removed he said I'm not gonna let his real go signs and wonders won't do it if you're thinking you know if I could just see a miracle then I believe now you wanted one last very long might get your attention but the powers in the word Jesus is the word if if we want to have stronger faith then we need to hear Moses and the prophets that's what's going to make a difference in closing one of the important lessons in this parable the rich man represents the Jewish nation surrounded by beggars they the Jews what's the treasure weather what's the the fine clothing in the in the linen and the house and the treasure it's the Word of God they had the truth they were feasting on the truth the Gentiles like Lazarus read their gate desiring the crumbs remember that Gentile woman said could I just get the crumbs and the dogs what did they call the Gentiles that dogs came and licked his sores the only comfort he got was from the dogs and they don't care about the lost around them and then the day of judgment comes and they find out you mean you didn't give us all that treasure in that wealth so we could enjoy it you gave it to us so we could share it what does that mean to us today is this a message for Jews long ago or is it a message for us today if God has given you the gold of the gospel and the silver of salvation and the of Christ's righteousness and the riches why does he give us the riches of truth as Christians so we can say well praise the Lord we've got a nice building finally our own building we've arrived no God has given us a nice Church because it's a beachhead for us to do mission work and if he has blessed us with good things it's so that we could go out and bring others in don't leave them on the outside to get the crumbs we want to take what happens here and pour it out everywhere that's why we do medium industry we want to share it with as many as we can so they can know the truth this is a very sober I know it's got some heavy points to it but it's a teaching of Jesus don't you want the entire Council of God as the teaching of Jesus and as I read it Karen I read this story together for our worship and I was convicted as I ran for man sometimes I like that rich man I always think about me me me and in the big picture a very small percentage of what I give goes to to bless the lost in the in the sick and the suffering in the world and I thought well I don't want to I don't want to wake up in the judgment like that rich man and say but Lord Lord and I haven't say I don't know you Jesus gave a lot of messages to warn us about that possibility that's why he says listen now this side of the grave there is time to listen and change that side there is a great gulf fixed it means it is unchangeable from that point on no more prayers are answered none of the rich man's prayers were answered and their destinies were forever sealed I want to be having the angels come and fetch me and take me not necessarily to Abraham's bosom but to the place of the saved amen when the Lord comes what profit is it jesus said if you gain the whole world and lose your soul that's what this parable is all about making sure that we have our priorities right so how about you and I praying that God will open our eyes maybe that poor man was at the rich man's gate so often he never even noticed him after a while got to just sort of be like furniture drove right by him his own a human brother and he got where he didn't even notice his suffering now you may not be surrounded with people that have dogs licking their sores you may not be surrounded by people that have their bones sticking out because of famine and malnutrition but it is still true that there are poor people who are poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked cos they don't know the gospel that are all around us they are spiritually like this beggar we need to ask the God will forgive us for hoarding the truth and to give us the Spirit of Christ and the apostles that we will recognize those who are begging for the crumbs that fall from our table amen you know in the gospel in this message the Lord has given us we've got a feast and we need to be willing to do what Jesus said and go out and bring in the poor and the maimed and the lame then blinded those who are spiritually hungry and give them the bread of life is that your desire alright we're gonna sing about it but I forget what the closing song is my faith looks up to you 5:17 if you've got your hymnals and I think the words will also be on the screen but stand as we sing our closing song [Music] [Music] see [Music] nice day [Music] today rusty [Music] the string [Music] in April 19 1995 the Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed causing the death of 165 people men women children some of you remember when that happened and most of us know Timothy McVeigh who was the chief perpetrator he was executed Terry Nichols who know I knew about it but was somewhat of a conspirator but didn't actually pull the trigger so to speak he got life in prison but there was a third party Michael Fortier who was found guilty and sentenced to 12 years in prison and a $200,000 fine he didn't develop the bomb he didn't detonate the bomb he just knew what was going on and he didn't say anything to warn anybody and he was found guilty you as a Christian know about what's happening to the Lost as I do you and I do we have a responsibility to do all we can in a loving tactful way to let people know less they go to that place of torment there is a lake of fire and there is punishment and we as Christians we not only have a privilege we have a responsibility to share with people the good news and to help them have eternal life as opposed to that terrible terrible regret of realizing they thought they were saved and finding out they lost everything for this temporary life I pray that all of us can take these words and apply them to our lives so we can be Christians indeed and when we say Lord Lord he's gonna say he knows us amen father in heaven we've talked about your words today and there's a silver message for us all help us to lay it to heart I pray that you will send the Holy Spirit into each of our minds and hearts and and help us know how to apply these things now Lord sometimes we're stirred by the spirit while we're in church that's within a few hours it seems to evaporate I pray that you'll help us to make practical changes in our lives little stick so we can represent Jesus we know we're surrounded like that rich man with people who are begging for the crumbs that fall from our table as Christians lord help us be willing to freely distribute the bread of life be with us as we go from this place and I pray we can put these things into practice we thank you and pray it all in Jesus name Amen god bless you and happy Sabbath you may be seated

Channel: Aaron

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Id: M4a0GlVf2No

Length: 52min 26sec (3146 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 29 2018