Wednesday, February 9, PM

Thank you especially to the cooks for making my favorite meal. That was awesome.

Thank you very much. I usually have to wait till my birthday for chicken enchiladas, but I get a little early.

Alright, we're going to be in Luke chapter 16, be reading verses 19 through 31 tonight as we continue our study of the gospel of Luke.

Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31, let's begin with a word of prayer.

Father, I thank you for this night. I thank you for gathering us together. Thank you for the abundance of the food and the pleasantness of the fellowship.

We may come together and rejoice and encourage and share our burdens with each other and pray for one another.

And I pray that you would be honored and glorified in all that we do here tonight and give us a deep appreciation for the truths of your word that we would rejoice in Christ together.

We pray these things in his name, amen. Okay, Luke chapter 16, beginning in verse 19, there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which 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 also died and was buried, and being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw

Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said,

Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

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 you are tormented. And 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 may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.

Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.

And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

But he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.

Jesus is telling a story, a very rich story.

This is one of the most vivid of the parables that Jesus tells, and has a great deal to teach his audience and us.

It's important to remember the context, what has just occurred. Jesus has been instructing his disciples and he's been rebuking and correcting the

Pharisees. They've had some wrong ideas about who it is who goes to heaven, and who it is who ought to be keeping company with Messiah, or keeping company with a holy rabbi like Jesus.

So Jesus has told parables about the lost sheep and the lost silver and the lost son, emphasizing that he came to save sinners, not the ones who look like they have it all together, but the ones who are so obviously in need.

And then Jesus tells a parable about money management, and strikes home where the

Pharisees live, because as we read in verse 14 of chapter 16, now the

Pharisees, who were lovers of money, so the

Pharisees were lovers of money, and they derided his teachings, because they totally disagreed, their affections were entirely disordered.

As we read elsewhere in the scriptures, it is the love of money that is the root of all evil.

So now Jesus tells a parable in which he talks about some economic interests, some details about this man was rich and this man was not.

What do we learn about death in this passage?

What do we learn about death in this passage? We have

Jesus setting the scene, he is demonstrating with great detail the contrast between his two characters.

There is this rich man, he is clothed in purple and fine linen.

In Jesus' day, clothing was one of the three most important forms of wealth, and this man had a lot of wealth that he wore every day.

He had enough food, he never had to be worried about his food. He fared sumptuously every day.

And in that sense, you almost know everything you need to know about this rich man and what he enjoyed in his life.

In contrast, we hear about Lazarus, and does anybody have any theories, any wild conjectures about why

Jesus used the name Lazarus? He didn't give a name to the rich man.

I think it's kind of interesting, he named him

Lazarus, and in his story, the rich man is begging from torment, saying, raise him from the dead.

If you will raise him from the dead and he will go tell my brothers, then they will believe. And Abraham, in the story, assures the rich man in torment, no they won't.

I think that's funny. I think Jesus is picking the name on purpose, especially when we're talking about someone who was raised from the dead.

But the contrast is, to be laid on very, very thick here, Lazarus doesn't have anything to eat, he's begging.

He's a leper, he's full of sores. All he wants is some crumbs.

The dogs, they didn't have pet dogs, they didn't have domesticated pet dogs in this day.

Dogs were scavengers, they were simply vultures on four legs. So the dogs are basically coming around Lazarus getting appetizers before the meal.

Notice in Jesus' story, notice in the story, verse 22, so it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

What an entrance to a prime spot in heaven, right?

But notice the rich man also died and was buried. What happened to Lazarus' body?

We've already met the dogs earlier. But what are we learning about death?

Here's a poor man, here's a beggar, doesn't have anything, and he dies. And then the rich man who has everything, he dies.

And what about their conditions afterwards? Is there any real connection between how one fares in this life versus how you fare in the next life?

There's no real connection between, look, here's a beggar who ends up in the best position at the table.

Remember, if you go back a little bit, you remember that the Pharisees were all fighting over who had the best seat at the table?

So now Jesus tells a parable in which the beggar, the worst of the lot, he gets the best seat at the table.

Who had the best seat at the table at the Last Supper, do you remember? John did, who laid his head upon Christ's chest.

He had, John had the same position at Christ's table as Lazarus has here at Abraham's table.

This is the chief position. And this is in great contrast to the way that he, what he experienced in his life.

And notice the great contrast between the rich man who had it all, but then he goes to hell.

Now, there is, this is important for Jesus' audience and the Pharisees.

And I know I say this over and over again, but it's important to remember the mindset of the people.

They thought that the rich were closest to God. When Jesus tells his disciples, it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into heaven.

And they say, well, who then can be saved? If the rich, the closest to God, can't get into heaven, then we're all doomed.

That was their mindset. The way that this story would have been told by a

Jew adopting the common assumptions of the day would be that the rich man died and he went and laid his head upon Abraham's bosom and the beggar died and he went to Hades.

He went to torments. That's how they would tell the story. Jesus is telling it opposite. He's grabbing everybody's attention.

Nobody's expecting this kind of story. But what we learn about in terms of death is that after death, it doesn't matter how much money you had in this life and comforts you had in this life or how much pain and sorrow and something you had in this life.

That doesn't have a bearing on what happens afterwards.

You could live your life in complete sorrow and all sorts of horrible things happen to you and die and go to hell.

Or you might die and you might go to heaven. The difference maker is at the end of the story. The difference maker is at the end of the story.

You might be as wealthy as Abraham and die and go to hell or die and go to heaven.

The difference maker is at the end of the story. Even as this story should not be read as rich people go to heaven and poor people go to hell, it should also not be read, well rich people go to hell and poor people go to heaven.

That would also be as silly as a reading as otherwise. So that's what we're learning about when we look at the way that Jesus tells the story.

In fact, this is emphasized in verse 25 when Abraham said to the rich man's son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise

Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented. Jesus is repeating that theme because he's severing in the minds of his audience this idea that if you have wealth and nice things in this life, this must mean that you're closer to the

God than other people. Now, I don't know about you, but I think that teaching is still around.

You ever encounter it anywhere? You know, the wealthiest, healthiest are obviously the closest to God.

Isn't that teaching still around? Yes, it is. It is.

So that still needs to be emphasized and taught in our day. Now, what do we learn about life after death?

What happens after death? We see that Lazarus is in a wonderful position, a privileged position.

He is in Abraham's bosom and he is in comfort and he is at rest versus this rich man who now is in Hades.

He's in torments and he asks for something so small and you can see what

Jesus is doing in telling this story. That the rich man only desires that Lazarus dip the tip of his finger into some water and all the rich man wants is just a drop of water to ease his suffering.

And that's a way of Jesus telling the story to emphasize the great torment of hell, the great suffering that comes as one is judged by the unmediated holiness of God.

But what do we see? And this is a, I think here is a great answer to some questions that sometimes people have.

Well, if somebody goes to hell, is there any way for them to get out? Sometimes people ask the questions, well, what happens if I do the wrong thing or I sin when

I go to heaven? Will I get kicked out? Well, look.

Look what it said. Abraham, Jesus puts these words in Abraham's mouth.

And 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.

What does that mean? Well, it means there's no purgatory, right?

There's no place of suffering for the wicked after death in which you may pass out of there to heaven.

And those who are in heaven at the feast of Christ and resting and enjoying their

Sabbath, they're not going to be lost and turned away and exiled to hell.

There is a great gulf fixed. It is fixed. It is permanent. So that's something that we're taught in this story about what happens after death.

But the reason why Jesus is telling the story is not to expound upon the nature of death or even to elaborate upon the nature of heaven and hell after one dies.

That's not the point of his story. The point of the story comes in that third paragraph, the third movement of the story.

When the rich man in torments in hell, after he realizes there's no way out, he realizes that he's lived his entire life wrong, he knows that his brothers, he has five brothers, he says, and he knows that his brothers think the same way that he used to think.

They live the same way he used to live. And that means they're heading the same place he is right now.

And realizing this, knowing that there's no hope for him, and there's nothing that can be done for him, he thinks of his brothers.

Maybe something can be done for my brothers. And so he has this request. He has this request to Abraham.

Verse 27, I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him, if Lazarus can't be sent here, then send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.

Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, no way, father

Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. So Abraham says, what has already been given to them is adequate.

It is sufficient. What has been given to this man's brothers, brothers, what has been given to Jesus' audience?

What has already been given to the Pharisees and scribes? Moses and the prophets, which is a quick way of summing up all the

Old Testament, that has already been given to them. And if they would hear

Moses and the prophets, then they would repent. Probably know this passage already, but it's worth reading again.

In 2 Timothy 3, verse 14,

Paul writing to Timothy, says, but you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them.

Verse 15, and that from childhood, from childhood, you have known the

Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

We hear in another context that Timothy was raised in the

Scriptures by a godly mother and a godly grandmother. That although his father was a

Gentile, his Jewish mother and grandmother made sure that he knew the

Scriptures. And this is how Timothy was born again, by this imperishable seed of the word of God implanted in his life, the

Scriptures that he grew up with. And what Scriptures were those? Moses and the prophets. All right, that's what he grew up with.

Scribes have eternal life.

Here, he's telling the story again, affirming the sufficiency of the

Old Testament Scriptures to lead the people into repentance. But the man in Hades doesn't think that that's adequate.

He doesn't think the word of God is adequate. He doesn't think that the Scripture by itself is adequate.

What you really find, and then people will believe.

Now, how did that work in Jesus' ministry? Bethsaida, woe to you,

Chorazin. The Torah that were done in you, they would have repented long ago.

And to see another sign, he says a wicked and perverse generation, they want the

Son. He was dealing with all kinds of needs.

He was casting out demons, all sorts of acts of compassion. And then he went away to be by himself to pray.

And they came and they found him and they said, look, more people are coming. Jesus says, nope,

I got to move on. Because the signs were not adequate.

Sorry for James White having to go through the whole thing.

In debate, basically, frothing at the mouth and daring James White to drink a glass of antifreeze.

Because by doing so, it was inadequate.

Jesus says, no. Jesus says through the story, through the voice of Abraham, verse 31, if they do not hear

Moses and the prophets, neither will they. And whether from Naaman, wrote,

Jesus, disciples, declared the truth of God and was seen by over 500 witnesses at one time.

That wasn't persuading. The sign itself was not persuading. It has to be the imperishable seed of the word of God.

That's how God has ordained to bring about the new birth. This is the preaching of his and have to wait for another sign to appear.

That we do not have to speak with those who are not yet believers and say, well, wait around for another sign and then you'll see the proof of it.

We have been given the scriptures. I think Miss Jo just shared with me a picture of a young boy in Ukraine who was given a copy of God's word.

Now that's a real gift. So what we find in terms of belief and faith not on signs and wonders.

So surprising to the people with whom he is talking.