WEBVTT 00:00:07.060 --> 00:00:12.000 Luke chapter 16. This is a story that's a pretty 00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:15.320 popular story from the New Testament. It's a 00:00:15.320 --> 00:00:19.940 story about a rich man and a man named Lazarus. 00:00:20.940 --> 00:00:24.079 Some of you may have heard it before. And if 00:00:24.079 --> 00:00:26.280 you haven't ever heard it, then listen carefully 00:00:26.280 --> 00:00:28.760 today. You might want to mark it down in your 00:00:28.760 --> 00:00:30.699 Bible and go back and study it in a little more 00:00:30.699 --> 00:00:32.859 detail this week. We'll just look at it for a 00:00:32.859 --> 00:00:35.299 few minutes this morning. But we're going to 00:00:35.299 --> 00:00:37.340 read through the story, and then we'll pray. 00:00:37.979 --> 00:00:42.619 And after we pray, we'll continue on. Luke chapter 00:00:42.619 --> 00:00:51.359 16, verse 19. There was a rich man who would 00:00:51.359 --> 00:00:55.399 dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly 00:00:55.399 --> 00:01:00.000 every day. But a poor man named Lazarus, covered 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:04.099 with sores, was left at his gate. He longed to 00:01:04.099 --> 00:01:06.519 be filled with what fell from the rich man's 00:01:06.519 --> 00:01:10.480 table, but instead the dogs would come and lick 00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:14.799 his sores. One day the poor man died and was 00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:17.159 carried away by the angels to Abraham's side. 00:01:18.319 --> 00:01:22.900 The rich man also died and was buried. And being 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:27.879 in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham 00:01:27.879 --> 00:01:33.189 a long way off with Lazarus at his side. Father 00:01:33.189 --> 00:01:37.150 Abraham, he called out, have mercy on me and 00:01:37.150 --> 00:01:39.629 send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in 00:01:39.629 --> 00:01:43.150 water and cool my tongue because I am in agony 00:01:43.150 --> 00:01:48.969 in this flame. Son, Abraham said, remember that 00:01:48.969 --> 00:01:51.530 during your life you received your good things 00:01:51.530 --> 00:01:55.909 just as Lazarus received bad things. But now 00:01:55.909 --> 00:01:59.209 he is comforted here while you are in agony. 00:02:00.299 --> 00:02:03.599 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:07.180 between us and you, so that those who want to 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:11.240 pass over from here to you cannot, neither can 00:02:11.240 --> 00:02:16.159 those from there cross over to us. Father, he 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:19.340 said, then I beg you to send him to my father's 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:23.039 house, because I have five brothers, to warn 00:02:23.039 --> 00:02:26.259 them, so they won't also come to this place of 00:02:26.259 --> 00:02:30.789 torment. But Abraham said, They have Moses and 00:02:30.789 --> 00:02:33.610 the prophets. They should listen to them. No, 00:02:33.770 --> 00:02:36.990 Father Abraham, he said, but if someone from 00:02:36.990 --> 00:02:40.750 the dead goes to them, they will repent. But 00:02:40.750 --> 00:02:43.810 he told him, if they don't listen to Moses and 00:02:43.810 --> 00:02:47.009 the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone 00:02:47.009 --> 00:02:51.009 rises from the dead. Let's pray. God, we come 00:02:51.009 --> 00:02:53.050 to you. We thank you for your good word. I pray, 00:02:53.129 --> 00:02:55.219 God, that you just would... Bless the reading 00:02:55.219 --> 00:02:57.460 of your word today. I pray that you just would 00:02:57.460 --> 00:02:59.919 help us to be focused on you and not distracted 00:02:59.919 --> 00:03:03.159 by the things and the worries of this world, 00:03:03.219 --> 00:03:05.419 dear Lord. There's a lot of stuff in this passage 00:03:05.419 --> 00:03:08.080 for us to consider and think about today, but 00:03:08.080 --> 00:03:11.340 I pray that your Holy Spirit would guide us to 00:03:11.340 --> 00:03:13.740 help us get the things from this passage that 00:03:13.740 --> 00:03:16.240 we need to get. I pray, God, that you would take 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:18.740 away any fear or pride that's within me and let 00:03:18.740 --> 00:03:21.099 every word that's spoken today be for your glory. 00:03:21.710 --> 00:03:23.689 I pray that you'd help us to pay attention to 00:03:23.689 --> 00:03:26.289 you, that we'd hear from you today. And I ask 00:03:26.289 --> 00:03:31.069 these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Now, this 00:03:31.069 --> 00:03:34.990 story is a lot for us to unpack, a lot for us 00:03:34.990 --> 00:03:38.009 to think about and to try to figure out. Now, 00:03:38.169 --> 00:03:40.210 there are a couple things that we'll talk about 00:03:40.210 --> 00:03:42.430 before we really start breaking it down to kind 00:03:42.430 --> 00:03:44.250 of get these things out of the way so we don't 00:03:44.250 --> 00:03:46.189 get too caught up in the weeds and miss the point. 00:03:46.509 --> 00:03:50.210 Now, it's hard to know if this story is a parable. 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:53.060 or if it's a true story. That's been debated 00:03:53.060 --> 00:03:55.240 for a long time. It's really no way to know. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:59.419 There could have possibly been a real rich man 00:03:59.419 --> 00:04:01.939 and a real person named Lazarus, and Jesus is 00:04:01.939 --> 00:04:06.139 repeating these real events that occurred. It 00:04:06.139 --> 00:04:08.360 could be that this is a parable, that this is 00:04:08.360 --> 00:04:11.319 not real events with real people, but just simply 00:04:11.319 --> 00:04:15.319 a story that Jesus is using to make a... spiritual 00:04:15.319 --> 00:04:17.639 point. We really don't know which one of those 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:20.879 it is. If it's a true story, then of course that 00:04:20.879 --> 00:04:23.120 leads to more questions. Questions that we will 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:25.839 not even attempt to talk about today just for 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:29.019 time's sake. We see things that are interesting 00:04:29.019 --> 00:04:32.339 here. Where Lazarus goes when he dies. He goes 00:04:32.339 --> 00:04:34.819 to Abraham's side. Is that heaven? Is that somewhere 00:04:34.819 --> 00:04:38.259 that's not heaven? A place people go before Jesus 00:04:38.259 --> 00:04:40.819 died on the cross? Well, we don't know the answer 00:04:40.819 --> 00:04:43.459 to that. We see that It appears as though people 00:04:43.459 --> 00:04:46.399 can see one another from these two places. If 00:04:46.399 --> 00:04:49.279 one is heaven and the other is hell, in the story 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:52.540 we see a conversation going on that one can see 00:04:52.540 --> 00:04:56.459 the other. Abraham mentions that there's a chasm 00:04:56.459 --> 00:04:59.000 between so that neither can go from one place 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.480 to another. Now these are questions that are 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.699 not easy to answer. We don't know the answer 00:05:03.699 --> 00:05:06.339 to that. We should be careful before we try to 00:05:06.339 --> 00:05:08.980 draw too many conclusions about... what heaven 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:11.720 may be like or what hell may be like and those 00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.639 things that go on. Especially if this is indeed 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:18.540 a parable, then Jesus is simply giving a story 00:05:18.540 --> 00:05:22.699 to make a bigger point. Now whether it's a parable 00:05:22.699 --> 00:05:24.779 or whether it's true, I don't know. We're not 00:05:24.779 --> 00:05:28.980 going to ponder that too much today. But I think 00:05:28.980 --> 00:05:31.740 that there is a main point to the story, a couple 00:05:31.740 --> 00:05:35.529 of points really, and they may not... instantly 00:05:35.529 --> 00:05:38.170 be easy for us to see what those points are. 00:05:38.529 --> 00:05:40.970 Now, it's important for us when we read through 00:05:40.970 --> 00:05:43.569 the scripture is to try to read through the scripture 00:05:43.569 --> 00:05:46.170 in context. Now, it's easy for us to pick out 00:05:46.170 --> 00:05:49.089 a story like this, but to really understand, 00:05:49.170 --> 00:05:52.250 I think, what Jesus is saying, we need to look 00:05:52.250 --> 00:05:54.449 at the rest of the story. We need to look at 00:05:54.449 --> 00:05:57.310 the verses that come before this. Now, what you 00:05:57.310 --> 00:06:01.050 see a few verses before this in Luke chapter 00:06:01.050 --> 00:06:05.350 16, is that Jesus is talking a lot about money, 00:06:05.490 --> 00:06:09.129 or the misuse of money, or people who love their 00:06:09.129 --> 00:06:11.490 money and their possessions, but they're not 00:06:11.490 --> 00:06:15.230 using it in a godly way. Now we see that in another 00:06:15.230 --> 00:06:18.089 parable that Jesus gives just a few verses up. 00:06:18.290 --> 00:06:20.449 Now we're not going to cover all of it, but if 00:06:20.449 --> 00:06:22.790 you go back and you look at the beginning of 00:06:22.790 --> 00:06:25.529 the chapter of Luke 16, you're going to see a 00:06:25.529 --> 00:06:28.089 parable of a dishonest manager. Now you can read 00:06:28.089 --> 00:06:29.949 that this week and you can kind of see what goes 00:06:29.949 --> 00:06:33.050 on. But down toward the end of the story, we 00:06:33.050 --> 00:06:35.250 kind of see the main point of what Jesus was 00:06:35.250 --> 00:06:38.490 saying. And this is what he says in verse 10. 00:06:39.449 --> 00:06:44.600 He says, in very little is also faithful in much. 00:06:44.839 --> 00:06:47.879 And whoever is unrighteous in very little is 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:51.600 also unrighteous in much. So if you have not 00:06:51.600 --> 00:06:54.899 been faithful with the unrighteous money, who 00:06:54.899 --> 00:06:59.160 will trust you with what is genuine? And if you 00:06:59.160 --> 00:07:01.819 have not been faithful with what belongs to someone 00:07:01.819 --> 00:07:05.819 else, who will give you what is your own? No 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:10.550 household Slave can be a slave of two masters, 00:07:10.629 --> 00:07:13.709 since he will either hate one and love the other, 00:07:13.769 --> 00:07:17.029 or he will be devoted to one and despise the 00:07:17.029 --> 00:07:22.610 other. You can't be slaves to both God and money. 00:07:22.930 --> 00:07:25.730 Okay, so we see at the end of the parable, kind 00:07:25.730 --> 00:07:30.029 of skip to the point, that Jesus says we need 00:07:30.029 --> 00:07:32.490 to be faithful with what God gives us. It's not 00:07:32.490 --> 00:07:35.730 ours. We need to be faithful with it. Now this 00:07:35.730 --> 00:07:38.250 money we have in this world, he refers to as 00:07:38.250 --> 00:07:40.970 unrighteous money. That is, it's just money. 00:07:41.110 --> 00:07:43.490 Like it doesn't need to become our God. It doesn't 00:07:43.490 --> 00:07:46.410 need to become what we worship, what we seek, 00:07:46.490 --> 00:07:49.269 what we desire, what we live for. And yeah, we've 00:07:49.269 --> 00:07:51.769 got money. We've got a little money. What are 00:07:51.769 --> 00:07:53.529 we going to do with it? It's just money. You 00:07:53.529 --> 00:07:56.329 can use it to do a lot of evil, or you could 00:07:56.329 --> 00:07:58.439 use it to do a lot of good. You can use it to 00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.180 eat and to pay your bills and to help other people. 00:08:01.319 --> 00:08:03.980 Or you can just use it all on yourself for all 00:08:03.980 --> 00:08:07.699 of what you want. You can pad your bank account 00:08:07.699 --> 00:08:10.259 with it. You can have big numbers in that bank 00:08:10.259 --> 00:08:12.100 account and go in there every time you go to 00:08:12.100 --> 00:08:14.060 the bank and say, what's my balance? And just 00:08:14.060 --> 00:08:17.319 rejoice that you've got hundreds of thousands 00:08:17.319 --> 00:08:19.579 or millions of dollars in the bank. And you can 00:08:19.579 --> 00:08:22.480 feel so good about yourself. But what are you 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:26.629 doing with what the Lord has given you? And sometimes 00:08:26.629 --> 00:08:30.009 we may be tempted to say, well, I don't have 00:08:30.009 --> 00:08:32.289 much, and if I had more, I'd give more. Well, 00:08:32.350 --> 00:08:35.490 maybe you would. But then again, maybe you wouldn't. 00:08:36.070 --> 00:08:37.850 Because those who are faithful with a little 00:08:37.850 --> 00:08:40.690 will be faithful with a lot. So maybe if we're 00:08:40.690 --> 00:08:44.570 not faithful with what little God gives us, if 00:08:44.570 --> 00:08:47.490 you had $10 million tomorrow, maybe you wouldn't 00:08:47.490 --> 00:08:50.370 be any more faithful with that. But what God 00:08:50.370 --> 00:08:53.750 desires is for us not to be lovers of money, 00:08:54.440 --> 00:08:57.700 but to be people who realize what God gives us 00:08:57.700 --> 00:09:01.679 is to be used for his kingdom. It is his. And 00:09:01.679 --> 00:09:04.779 so that kind of begins to shape this chapter 00:09:04.779 --> 00:09:07.259 and what Jesus is going to talk about. And we 00:09:07.259 --> 00:09:10.179 see that as we continue on in the next verse. 00:09:10.259 --> 00:09:13.879 Listen to what he says in verse 14. The Pharisees, 00:09:13.879 --> 00:09:17.740 who were lovers of money, were listening to all 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:22.340 these things and scoffing at him. All right? 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:25.080 We kind of see the key, right? He's talking about 00:09:25.080 --> 00:09:27.480 money. He's talking about those who've been unfaithful. 00:09:27.799 --> 00:09:30.139 So we can kind of see from this story here who 00:09:30.139 --> 00:09:32.259 are the unfaithful ones that he's pointing this 00:09:32.259 --> 00:09:34.580 at. The ones in the crowd that are listening 00:09:34.580 --> 00:09:37.019 are the Pharisees. These would have been Jewish 00:09:37.019 --> 00:09:39.320 people. They would have thought they were pretty 00:09:39.320 --> 00:09:42.759 holy. They would have really probably held themselves 00:09:42.759 --> 00:09:45.600 up to a pretty high standard. They would have 00:09:45.600 --> 00:09:47.899 thought that they were holier than a lot of the 00:09:47.899 --> 00:09:50.799 rest of the folks. But what does it say about 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:56.779 these people? lovers of money. They loved their 00:09:56.779 --> 00:10:01.860 money. Now is that any of us? Do we love our 00:10:01.860 --> 00:10:04.240 money? You may say, well I'm not rich. Well maybe 00:10:04.240 --> 00:10:05.980 you're not rich but you can still love your money. 00:10:06.580 --> 00:10:08.700 You might have two pennies to rub together and 00:10:08.700 --> 00:10:10.539 that might be all you have and you may keep them 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:12.480 in a jar buried in your backyard and go out there 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:14.220 and rub them together every couple weeks and 00:10:14.220 --> 00:10:17.120 just have a good old time. You don't have to 00:10:17.120 --> 00:10:20.080 have a lot of money to love your money. And these 00:10:20.080 --> 00:10:23.299 Pharisees They love their money, and they miss 00:10:23.299 --> 00:10:25.960 what Jesus was saying. He's saying, look, you 00:10:25.960 --> 00:10:28.720 need to be faithful with what you got. And instead 00:10:28.720 --> 00:10:31.039 of them saying, yeah, am I faithful with what 00:10:31.039 --> 00:10:34.259 I got? That's what we need to do when we read 00:10:34.259 --> 00:10:36.220 this, see this parable that's on its manager. 00:10:36.340 --> 00:10:38.659 We need to say, okay, am I being faithful with 00:10:38.659 --> 00:10:41.399 what I got? But they didn't do that. Instead, 00:10:41.600 --> 00:10:43.539 when they heard Jesus say this, they scoffed 00:10:43.539 --> 00:10:46.480 at him. How dare you say such things? Who are 00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:49.610 you talking about? They were really trusting 00:10:49.610 --> 00:10:52.190 in their money, it appears. You can't be a slave 00:10:52.190 --> 00:10:55.210 to two masters. You can't be a slave to God and 00:10:55.210 --> 00:10:57.710 to money. It's right there in black and white. 00:10:58.070 --> 00:11:00.710 And obviously these Pharisees, these Jewish folks, 00:11:00.850 --> 00:11:03.470 they were really putting a lot of focus on their 00:11:03.470 --> 00:11:06.669 money. And that had become an important thing 00:11:06.669 --> 00:11:12.230 to them. In verse 15 it says, And he told them, 00:11:12.409 --> 00:11:15.970 You are the ones who justify yourselves in the 00:11:15.970 --> 00:11:19.500 sight of others. But God knows your heart, for 00:11:19.500 --> 00:11:22.919 what is highly admired by people is revolting 00:11:22.919 --> 00:11:28.100 in God's sight. Okay? So in their eyes, in their 00:11:28.100 --> 00:11:30.159 own eyes, the Pharisees said, hey, we're pretty 00:11:30.159 --> 00:11:32.139 good. We're pretty godly people. We're pretty 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.580 religious people. We are pretty awesome, and 00:11:34.580 --> 00:11:37.419 we've got money, and we love that too. And Jesus 00:11:37.419 --> 00:11:40.059 says, hold up. Now, you may say to yourself that 00:11:40.059 --> 00:11:42.419 you're awesome, and you may tell everybody else 00:11:42.419 --> 00:11:44.899 how awesome you are, and you may even fool a 00:11:44.899 --> 00:11:47.360 few people. But don't forget this, God knows 00:11:47.360 --> 00:11:50.919 the heart. That's pretty important for us to 00:11:50.919 --> 00:11:52.960 think about that, not just in terms of money, 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:55.840 but just in everything that we do and everything 00:11:55.840 --> 00:11:58.000 that we've thought this week, all of our actions. 00:11:58.860 --> 00:12:02.860 Like God knows your heart behind it. We've got 00:12:02.860 --> 00:12:04.500 to be careful. We've really got to check our 00:12:04.500 --> 00:12:06.259 heart because sometimes our heart can deceive 00:12:06.259 --> 00:12:08.399 us. Sometimes we have to check our own motives. 00:12:09.620 --> 00:12:12.320 Sometimes we can't really be sure of what our 00:12:12.320 --> 00:12:14.399 motives are. Maybe they're pure or maybe they're 00:12:14.399 --> 00:12:17.559 not pure. God knows the heart, so we need to 00:12:17.559 --> 00:12:21.440 seek God and help Him to work on our heart, help 00:12:21.440 --> 00:12:23.620 us to be able to examine our heart and see what's 00:12:23.620 --> 00:12:26.120 there. Maybe there are some things there that 00:12:26.120 --> 00:12:28.720 shouldn't be there. Obviously, that was the case 00:12:28.720 --> 00:12:31.220 in the Pharisees, and even though Jesus was trying 00:12:31.220 --> 00:12:33.019 to teach them something, they just scoffed at 00:12:33.019 --> 00:12:37.639 what He had to say. What about us today? Are 00:12:37.639 --> 00:12:39.539 we just going to scoff at what the Word of God 00:12:39.539 --> 00:12:43.139 tries to say to us? Is Jesus speaking to us? 00:12:43.179 --> 00:12:45.580 Are we lovers of money? Are we using... what 00:12:45.580 --> 00:12:49.820 God has given us, to help others. Well, that 00:12:49.820 --> 00:12:52.879 kind of sets the stage for this story of Lazarus 00:12:52.879 --> 00:12:56.559 and the rich man. And so we see the story unfold 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:01.409 for us. The rich man had lots of money. He wore 00:13:01.409 --> 00:13:04.009 purple. I mean, you had to be pretty wealthy 00:13:04.009 --> 00:13:06.049 to have purple. That was a valuable garment back 00:13:06.049 --> 00:13:08.570 then. Certain colors were really hard to make 00:13:08.570 --> 00:13:10.309 and really expensive, and purple would have been 00:13:10.309 --> 00:13:14.350 one of them. And this rich man had purple, and 00:13:14.350 --> 00:13:16.370 he had everything you could possibly want. He 00:13:16.370 --> 00:13:18.509 was well taken care of and lived a good life, 00:13:18.590 --> 00:13:23.350 it appears. But there was also a man named Lazarus, 00:13:23.350 --> 00:13:26.029 and he was a poor man. It said he'd be placed 00:13:26.029 --> 00:13:29.559 at the gate of the rich man, just hoping. he 00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:32.360 could get some scraps from the king's, excuse 00:13:32.360 --> 00:13:35.039 me, not the king, the rich man's table, hoping 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.320 he could get a few scraps from his table. But 00:13:38.320 --> 00:13:41.539 he didn't even get that. It says instead he got 00:13:41.539 --> 00:13:45.120 dogs that came to lick his sores. Now you have 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:47.879 a contrast between two totally different people. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:51.919 One that is rich and that is living lavishly, 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:54.889 it says. just feasting, eating plenty of good 00:13:54.889 --> 00:13:58.269 food, the best of the best. One is as high up 00:13:58.269 --> 00:14:02.289 as you can be, at least in the terms of what 00:14:02.289 --> 00:14:04.789 the world says is good, right? I mean, how do 00:14:04.789 --> 00:14:07.269 we define success in this world? I mean, we defined 00:14:07.269 --> 00:14:09.990 it with how big a house you get, how much money 00:14:09.990 --> 00:14:13.289 you got, how famous you are. I mean, there's 00:14:13.289 --> 00:14:16.570 lots of ways that we define success in the world. 00:14:17.210 --> 00:14:20.669 And by the worldly standards, this rich man would 00:14:20.669 --> 00:14:25.029 have been successful. In every way. And how would 00:14:25.029 --> 00:14:28.429 we define somebody who's unsuccessful? Somebody 00:14:28.429 --> 00:14:31.909 who's a loser. Somebody who don't have anything. 00:14:32.529 --> 00:14:35.429 Somebody who can't afford a place to live. Somebody 00:14:35.429 --> 00:14:38.830 who wears rags for clothes. Somebody that's stinky 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:42.029 and nasty and dirty. Like they're just the lower 00:14:42.029 --> 00:14:46.110 part of society. And so there's this temptation 00:14:46.110 --> 00:14:51.419 as humans. There's this temptation we see. We 00:14:51.419 --> 00:14:54.320 see all the good things that the world says are 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:57.419 good. The wealth and the fame and the clothes 00:14:57.419 --> 00:15:00.980 and the money and all that. And we're drawn to 00:15:00.980 --> 00:15:05.480 that and we seek that. And maybe we kind of scoff 00:15:05.480 --> 00:15:08.840 at the poor man or the poor woman. So Jesus is 00:15:08.840 --> 00:15:12.820 setting up a big contrast here. One person is 00:15:12.820 --> 00:15:15.080 as high as you can be in the world and one person 00:15:15.080 --> 00:15:19.899 is as low as you can be in the world. All right, 00:15:19.919 --> 00:15:23.240 what does Jesus say? He says, one day, verse 00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:26.419 22, one day the poor man died and was carried 00:15:26.419 --> 00:15:29.620 away by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich 00:15:29.620 --> 00:15:33.240 man also died and was buried and being in torment 00:15:33.240 --> 00:15:37.639 in Hades. All right, so again, we see a big difference. 00:15:38.179 --> 00:15:41.480 But we see a reversal of roles. The man who had 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.139 everything in this world was now as low as he 00:15:44.139 --> 00:15:46.740 could be. He was in Hades. He was in hell, if 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:50.059 we can call it that. But the poor man who was 00:15:50.059 --> 00:15:53.580 so low in this world, now he's in heaven. He's 00:15:53.580 --> 00:15:57.440 in Abraham's presence. Their roles have been 00:15:57.440 --> 00:15:59.600 reversed. One of them had everything in this 00:15:59.600 --> 00:16:02.460 world and had nothing in the life to come. And 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:04.700 one of them had nothing in this world and had 00:16:04.700 --> 00:16:10.159 gained everything in the life to come. Now the 00:16:10.159 --> 00:16:14.299 rest of the story is pretty intense. It's pretty 00:16:14.299 --> 00:16:17.620 intense. We see the rich man. He's just begging 00:16:17.620 --> 00:16:21.360 for some relief. He's begging for it. Could you 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:25.519 send Lazarus to me? Just a drop of water. Just 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.620 a drop of water. I'm in intense pain and torment 00:16:28.620 --> 00:16:32.120 here where I am in these flames, he says. Could 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:37.460 you send Lazarus to me? And Abraham says to him, 00:16:37.600 --> 00:16:42.340 look, when you were alive in the world, you had 00:16:42.340 --> 00:16:48.029 everything. You had everything. And Lazarus had 00:16:48.029 --> 00:16:52.269 nothing. And where did it get this man that he 00:16:52.269 --> 00:16:58.110 had everything? It got him in extreme torment. 00:16:59.149 --> 00:17:01.970 Now I believe maybe the point that Jesus is trying 00:17:01.970 --> 00:17:05.190 to make is that this rich man having everything 00:17:05.190 --> 00:17:08.789 was not one who was faithful with what God had 00:17:08.789 --> 00:17:11.630 given him. There was an opportunity at his door 00:17:11.630 --> 00:17:15.369 every day. At his gate every day said a man who 00:17:15.369 --> 00:17:19.269 was in need. Every day a man had and there was 00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:21.430 a man who didn't and he could have helped meet 00:17:21.430 --> 00:17:26.910 that need and every day he failed to do so. He 00:17:26.910 --> 00:17:32.730 loved his money. He loved his money. But he wasn't 00:17:32.730 --> 00:17:38.250 faithful with what he had. So this man's in torment 00:17:38.250 --> 00:17:40.990 and agony. He says, look, if you cannot help 00:17:40.990 --> 00:17:43.690 me, If you cannot help me, would you at least 00:17:43.690 --> 00:17:46.849 send Lazarus back to tell my brothers, hey, y 00:17:46.849 --> 00:17:49.869 'all better straighten up. Would you at least 00:17:49.869 --> 00:17:53.069 send them back to that? And Abraham said, look, 00:17:53.130 --> 00:17:55.589 they got Moses, they got the law, they got the 00:17:55.589 --> 00:17:58.309 prophets, they can listen to them. And the rich 00:17:58.309 --> 00:18:01.150 man says, but if a man would come back from the 00:18:01.150 --> 00:18:04.230 dead, they would listen to that. They'd pay attention 00:18:04.230 --> 00:18:09.730 to that. And Abraham says, no, they've got what 00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:12.690 they've got. They'll believe what they've been 00:18:12.690 --> 00:18:16.789 told or they won't. Now it's interesting in this 00:18:16.789 --> 00:18:18.849 story, when you read this story and you read 00:18:18.849 --> 00:18:21.390 of the rich man, you'll notice, you may have 00:18:21.390 --> 00:18:22.809 noticed when we were reading through it, that 00:18:22.809 --> 00:18:27.829 every time that he talks about Abraham, he always 00:18:27.829 --> 00:18:32.049 calls him father. Father Abraham. Father Abraham. 00:18:32.190 --> 00:18:36.170 Father this. He always calls Abraham father and 00:18:36.170 --> 00:18:39.930 Abraham calls him son. Now that's significant. 00:18:40.700 --> 00:18:44.240 Maybe not as much to us, but it's certainly significant 00:18:44.240 --> 00:18:47.599 to the story. It appears as though this was a 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:51.279 Jewish man. This was a Jewish man who thought 00:18:51.279 --> 00:18:53.980 that he had it all figured out. Remember, he 00:18:53.980 --> 00:18:56.680 had just a few verses before talked about these 00:18:56.680 --> 00:19:01.220 Pharisees who loved money. They were Jewish people 00:19:01.220 --> 00:19:03.799 who loved their money. And in this story, we 00:19:03.799 --> 00:19:07.500 see this main character, this rich man. And he's 00:19:07.500 --> 00:19:10.180 a Jewish man who keeps calling on his father 00:19:10.180 --> 00:19:13.819 Abraham, father Abraham, father Abraham, father 00:19:13.819 --> 00:19:20.200 Abraham. And that was a big problem for a lot 00:19:20.200 --> 00:19:23.960 of the Jewish people we see in Scripture. And 00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:28.859 some today. That was a big problem. They said, 00:19:28.960 --> 00:19:31.240 but we're descendants of Abraham. By our blood, 00:19:31.240 --> 00:19:35.349 we are descendants of Abraham. But we know through 00:19:35.349 --> 00:19:37.349 the Scripture that that's not enough to save 00:19:37.349 --> 00:19:40.329 you. Having Jewish blood running through your 00:19:40.329 --> 00:19:43.609 veins is not going to save you. It's the blood 00:19:43.609 --> 00:19:46.529 of Jesus Christ that's going to save you. And 00:19:46.529 --> 00:19:48.650 this man, though he was a Jew and though he continued 00:19:48.650 --> 00:19:51.569 to call on Abraham, and even though Abraham acknowledged 00:19:51.569 --> 00:19:54.170 him as son, that is, I get that you're one of 00:19:54.170 --> 00:19:59.970 my descendants, but you missed what God was calling 00:19:59.970 --> 00:20:02.849 you to. You missed the law and the prophets. 00:20:04.490 --> 00:20:06.289 You may have knew them, you may have heard them, 00:20:06.309 --> 00:20:08.890 but you didn't live by them. Because what matters 00:20:08.890 --> 00:20:10.990 to God is to love him and to help other people. 00:20:11.130 --> 00:20:13.529 And here you were in your riches for all of your 00:20:13.529 --> 00:20:16.170 life, living a lavish life and feasting every 00:20:16.170 --> 00:20:18.549 day, wearing the finest of clothes. And there 00:20:18.549 --> 00:20:20.809 were people with a need and you failed to meet 00:20:20.809 --> 00:20:23.230 that need. And here's the result of that. You 00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:26.910 don't really know God. And you're suffering the 00:20:26.910 --> 00:20:34.740 consequences of that. And here this man is. In 00:20:34.740 --> 00:20:40.720 great torment. He says, if you just send Lazarus 00:20:40.720 --> 00:20:44.359 back. If you just send Lazarus back to my brothers. 00:20:46.299 --> 00:20:48.200 But Abraham said they got the law and the prophets. 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:51.440 Now there were certainly plenty of people in 00:20:51.440 --> 00:20:54.299 Jesus' day that knew about the law and the prophets. 00:20:54.440 --> 00:20:56.240 They knew about Moses. They knew about these 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:59.140 prophets in the Old Testament. And they'd still 00:20:59.140 --> 00:21:04.390 miss the word of God. He said, but if you'd just 00:21:04.390 --> 00:21:06.269 send somebody back from the dead, they would 00:21:06.269 --> 00:21:11.289 believe. And God did just that. He sent his only 00:21:11.289 --> 00:21:15.509 begotten son. Jesus was nailed to a cross. He 00:21:15.509 --> 00:21:18.089 was crucified. He was buried. And he was resurrected. 00:21:18.150 --> 00:21:23.069 He was brought back from the dead. And guess 00:21:23.069 --> 00:21:28.589 what? There were still plenty of people who refused 00:21:28.589 --> 00:21:32.829 Jesus Christ. And there are still plenty of people 00:21:32.829 --> 00:21:38.490 who refuse Jesus Christ today. So what about 00:21:38.490 --> 00:21:46.529 us? What about us? Are we rich? Well, maybe compared 00:21:46.529 --> 00:21:48.829 to some we're not. Compared to others, we are. 00:21:50.250 --> 00:21:52.569 There are so many people in this world. The vast 00:21:52.569 --> 00:21:56.069 majority of people in this world are very poor. 00:21:57.230 --> 00:22:00.700 Very poor. Compared to us, they would look at 00:22:00.700 --> 00:22:02.259 us like we're rich, and we'd say, well, we're 00:22:02.259 --> 00:22:03.980 just poor country folks from Liberty, Mississippi. 00:22:04.299 --> 00:22:06.480 And I guarantee you that there is a majority 00:22:06.480 --> 00:22:08.700 of people in this world that would look at you 00:22:08.700 --> 00:22:12.119 if they saw what you had, and they would think 00:22:12.119 --> 00:22:17.180 that you were rich. So we don't want to read 00:22:17.180 --> 00:22:18.880 a story like this and say, oh, this is talking 00:22:18.880 --> 00:22:20.539 about rich people. This ain't talking about me. 00:22:20.799 --> 00:22:22.680 This is talking about the billionaires and the 00:22:22.680 --> 00:22:27.529 trillionaires. Well, hold on. Maybe we don't 00:22:27.529 --> 00:22:29.509 have as much as a billionaire or a trillionaire. 00:22:31.109 --> 00:22:33.130 Maybe there's something we got that we can use 00:22:33.130 --> 00:22:36.609 to help somebody. Maybe we're guilty of becoming 00:22:36.609 --> 00:22:41.450 lovers of our wealth and lovers of what we have. 00:22:43.470 --> 00:22:45.609 What good does that do us if we don't use it 00:22:45.609 --> 00:22:49.869 for the Lord's work? Are you faithful with the 00:22:49.869 --> 00:22:53.769 little that God gives you? I don't know the answer 00:22:53.769 --> 00:22:57.089 to that. You know the answer to that. This is 00:22:57.089 --> 00:23:00.269 not just a question. This is not just how you 00:23:00.269 --> 00:23:01.670 need to put more money on the offering plate 00:23:01.670 --> 00:23:04.650 type thing. Not at all. There are people in the 00:23:04.650 --> 00:23:07.869 world that we encounter that have a need, and 00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:12.049 can we meet those needs? The rich man didn't 00:23:12.049 --> 00:23:15.529 do that. The rich man looked down upon Lazarus 00:23:15.529 --> 00:23:21.490 day after day after day because he cared more 00:23:21.490 --> 00:23:25.359 about his money than he cared about. Somebody 00:23:25.359 --> 00:23:30.940 else. What about us today? It's a good opportunity 00:23:30.940 --> 00:23:32.940 for us to kind of take a second and think about 00:23:32.940 --> 00:23:37.400 our own life and what we're doing. Maybe there's 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:39.180 people in our life that we've been passing by. 00:23:39.240 --> 00:23:43.059 Maybe there's a Lazarus in our life that's just 00:23:43.059 --> 00:23:49.259 hoping, that just needs something. We just pass 00:23:49.259 --> 00:23:54.240 them by day after day. Ask God to show you who 00:23:54.240 --> 00:23:56.039 those people are. Maybe you just haven't recognized 00:23:56.039 --> 00:23:58.299 them yet. Sometimes we get busy, we get caught 00:23:58.299 --> 00:24:00.859 up in ourselves and get selfish, and that's not 00:24:00.859 --> 00:24:03.859 good either. But sometimes we encounter these 00:24:03.859 --> 00:24:05.720 people and we just don't realize it. Ask God 00:24:05.720 --> 00:24:09.099 to help us to see. Help us to see those people 00:24:09.099 --> 00:24:11.500 that we may have already been encountering, that 00:24:11.500 --> 00:24:13.700 we may encounter this week or in the weeks to 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:17.759 come. Help us to see those people and not turn 00:24:17.759 --> 00:24:21.839 a blind eye to them. To say, I may not have much. 00:24:23.460 --> 00:24:25.519 But I want to use some of what I've got to help 00:24:25.519 --> 00:24:31.019 somebody else. Because if we don't do that, if 00:24:31.019 --> 00:24:34.019 our heart's not on helping other people, now 00:24:34.019 --> 00:24:36.039 look, I'm not telling you that you're going to 00:24:36.039 --> 00:24:37.519 make it to heaven from helping other people. 00:24:37.579 --> 00:24:38.839 I'm not saying that you're going to earn your 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:40.579 way to heaven. I'm not telling you that if you 00:24:40.579 --> 00:24:43.059 just give, give, give enough to enough people 00:24:43.059 --> 00:24:45.140 on the street, enough of your neighbors, that 00:24:45.140 --> 00:24:46.839 God's going to see that and He's just going to 00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.420 give you instant access. I'm not saying that 00:24:49.420 --> 00:24:53.039 is the case. What I'm saying is, that if we've 00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:56.640 trusted Jesus Christ, then there should be some 00:24:56.640 --> 00:24:58.859 desire within us to try to help people when we 00:24:58.859 --> 00:25:02.359 can. Maybe there are times that we can help, 00:25:02.380 --> 00:25:05.099 or maybe there aren't. Do you know what the Holy 00:25:05.099 --> 00:25:08.200 Spirit's convictions are? You know what you can 00:25:08.200 --> 00:25:10.880 do and what you can't do. This is not a feel 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.460 guilty about not doing or needing to do more. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:16.319 This is about we need to seek God and say, God, 00:25:16.319 --> 00:25:18.099 all right, I need you to help my heart and help 00:25:18.099 --> 00:25:20.640 me to see if there's areas where I'm lacking. 00:25:22.029 --> 00:25:26.230 And this rich man was lacking. He had the opportunity 00:25:26.230 --> 00:25:31.450 to serve, and he failed to serve. Let us not 00:25:31.450 --> 00:25:35.710 be guilty of the same thing. Let us not be guilty 00:25:35.710 --> 00:25:39.210 of so many who came after this rich man, who 00:25:39.210 --> 00:25:41.250 had the word of God before him, who had Moses, 00:25:41.410 --> 00:25:43.990 who had the law, who had the prophets, and most 00:25:43.990 --> 00:25:47.930 importantly, who had Jesus Christ. A man who 00:25:47.930 --> 00:25:49.890 was raised from the dead, the Son of God, who 00:25:49.890 --> 00:25:51.990 died for your sins so that you could be forgiven. 00:25:53.730 --> 00:25:56.569 There are a lot of people that have read the 00:25:56.569 --> 00:25:59.710 Word of God that have heard of Jesus Christ and 00:25:59.710 --> 00:26:04.089 they didn't believe it. That's all that God can 00:26:04.089 --> 00:26:06.250 give us. That's all that God will give us is 00:26:06.250 --> 00:26:09.670 Jesus Christ. He is enough. Have you trusted 00:26:09.670 --> 00:26:12.630 Him today and are you living for Him? And if 00:26:12.630 --> 00:26:14.730 you have trusted Him and you are living for Him, 00:26:15.690 --> 00:26:18.509 And ask him to help your heart to change so that 00:26:18.509 --> 00:26:20.410 you'll have a heart that's willing and able to 00:26:20.410 --> 00:26:23.630 help others. Let's pray. God, we come to you. 00:26:23.670 --> 00:26:25.210 We thank you for your good words. And there's 00:26:25.210 --> 00:26:27.150 a lot to think about and consider about this 00:26:27.150 --> 00:26:30.210 passage, dear Lord. But help us not to miss the 00:26:30.210 --> 00:26:33.069 point, dear Lord. I pray that you would help 00:26:33.069 --> 00:26:35.569 us to examine our own lives, to see what our 00:26:35.569 --> 00:26:38.049 heart's like, to see what's going on. Dear Lord, 00:26:38.150 --> 00:26:42.230 maybe we are richer than we realize. Dear Lord, 00:26:42.289 --> 00:26:45.400 maybe we have the opportunity to... Help somebody 00:26:45.400 --> 00:26:47.240 else. Dear Lord, maybe there are some in here, 00:26:47.299 --> 00:26:50.039 dear Lord, and they're the Lazarus today. Maybe 00:26:50.039 --> 00:26:52.519 they're struggling. And maybe there are some 00:26:52.519 --> 00:26:54.539 in here that have the ability to help them, God. 00:26:56.200 --> 00:26:58.500 But I pray, God, that you would help us to examine 00:26:58.500 --> 00:27:02.440 our hearts and not be lovers of money. We've 00:27:02.440 --> 00:27:04.339 got to have money to survive, dear Lord, but 00:27:04.339 --> 00:27:07.220 we don't ever want it to become our God. So I 00:27:07.220 --> 00:27:09.279 pray, dear Lord, that we just would see the truth 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:14.079 of your word, the truth of Jesus Christ. That 00:27:14.079 --> 00:27:15.859 we would put our faith and trust in Him and let 00:27:15.859 --> 00:27:18.579 that change our heart to have a love for others 00:27:18.579 --> 00:27:21.579 like He does for us. And I ask these things in 00:27:21.579 --> 00:27:23.240 Jesus' name. Amen.