Luke 16, How Do You Prepare?

Luke chapter 16 we're reading the entire chapter Hear the word of the Lord He also said to the disciples

There was a rich man who had a manager and charges were brought to him that this man was wasting his possessions

And he called him and said to him What is this that I hear about you turn in the account of your management for you can no longer be manager

And the manager said to himself, what shall I do since my master is taking the management away from me

I am not strong enough to dig and I'm ashamed to beg I've decided what to do so that when

I am removed from management people may receive me into their houses So summoning his master's debtors one by one.

He said to the first how much do you owe my master? He said a hundred measures of oil and he said to him take your bill and sit down quickly and write fifty

Then he said to another and how much do you owe? He said a hundred measures of wheat He said to him take your bill and write 80 the master commended the dishonest manager for his shrewdness

For the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than the sons of light and I tell you

Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth for when it fails they may

So that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal dwellings one who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much and Who and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much if then you have not been faithful in The unrighteous wealth who will entrust to you the true riches and if you have not been faithful in that Which is another's who will who will give you that which is your own?

No servant can serve two masters For either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other you cannot serve

God and money The Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed him and they said to him

You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God The law and the prophets were until John Since then the good news of the kingdom of God is preached and everyone forces his way into it

But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the law to become void

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

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day

And at his gate was a lady poor man named Lazarus covered With sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table

Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side

The rich man also died and was buried and in Hades being in torment He lifted up his eyes and saw

Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side and he called out father Abraham have mercy on me and send

Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue Where I am an anguish in this flame

But Abraham said child remember that you and your lifetime receive your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things but now he is comforted here and you are in anguish and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from Here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us

And he said then I beg you father to send him to my father's house For I have five brothers so that he may warn them lest they also come into this place of torment

But Abraham said they have Abraham and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father

Abraham But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent He said to him if they do not hear

Moses and the prophets Neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead If the

Lord had his blessings the reading of his Holy Word Well, how do you prepare

How do you get ready for something, you know, it's coming maybe prepare for work in every morning shower breakfast brush your teeth

Whatever you do in the restaurant business. I'm told they got to be up to get there early They got to prepare for the coming day make sauces or whatever.

They can't just open for customers to come in Be prepared a key part of being a good athlete is knowing how to prepare right now

The New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles are preparing to play against each other next week. They're studying strategy

Working out some but not a whole lot They don't want to wear themselves out staying fresh as the game gets closer

The preparation changes and tell in the minutes before the game They're they're warming up and stretching to be ready for when the time to play comes maybe later today

You'll prepare for the work tomorrow for the week ahead You know, you can't maybe you know, you can't stay up as as late as perhaps you did last night

You get ready for a new week ahead Do you prepare for church? I wonder

Well, sometimes we get caught unprepared, you know, some students have to pull what they call all -nighters They even have a name for it because they have a project due

They probably known about it from the beginning of the semester maybe for months, but they did nothing They did no preparation.

No methodical gathering of material working a little here a little there on their project now It just suddenly dawns on them.

Hey Tomorrow it's due and so they stay up all night putting something together According to the

IRS over 20 % of people wait until the last week before April 15th to file their tax returns

They knew it was due but they didn't prepare until the deadline is looming.

That's the good thing about deadlines They have a way of making us Prepare, you know people still prepare their tax returns or their school projects, it's just Her read at the last minute you prepare for a test tomorrow by studying today

You prepare for a recital by practicing you prepare for your taxes by getting your records in order you prepare for a trip

By packing your bags All of these are little little pictures of faith because that's what faith is like faith says, you know, something is coming

Soon and so that affects what you do now when we know something is coming in the future that Determines how we act now we get ready

So, how do you prepare for death, you know, it's coming right how do you get ready for judgment?

Remember Jesus has come Preaching that the kingdom of God first said it's at hand.

It's it's coming It's soon it and then he says finally It's here

Already, it's in your midst. Jesus came on the heels of John the Baptist You remember John the Baptist declared that the

Messiah the one who brings in God's kingdom John the Baptist said he is ready

He said he's prepared. He said his winnowing fork is in his hand

Other words is a picture that he the Messiah is like a man on the winnowing floor Ready to go.

He's got his tool in his in his grip ready to begin work He's prepared.

So you had better be ready to face his judgment And that is the really the overarching theme through which all of Jesus's teachings has to be seen

Including this chapter. It's about how to get ready for a judgment That is near and we see that in three parts here.

We prepare first With ingenuity and second with chastity and third finally with charity

Jesus tells his disciples a story a Parable, this is perhaps his strangest and most misunderstood

Parable, it's about the dishonest manager a rich man had a manager who was it says wasting literally means scattering

And it's the same word used for the prodigal son when he was out there, you know partying it up He was wasting his possessions

This manager was wasting the rich man's possessions He was almost he was mismanaging them and people witnessed it and then reported it to the rich man

And so the rich man call him in in verse 2 and told him to get ready to be fired It's a notice of termination pink slip

Now your jobs up get the accounts in order And then give the accounting to the next manager who's coming

But that gave this manager a little bit of time to prepare an opportunity

To get ready for what's coming next and he thinks to himself, you know, what am I to do? I can't dig ditches

I'm kind of a weak man I'm too proud to beg What am I gonna do?

Now this is the heart of the story the the one main point that this parable is about there is a judgment coming

It's next What are you doing to prepare for it Well here this manager uses ingenuity.

Aha a brilliant idea to prepare for the future So he calls in his master's debtors one by one and he drastically reduces what they owe

He reasons in verse 4 that he's going to do this so that when what is next comes

That's for him the judgment of unemployment when that comes when he's out of a job out of an income

People may receive me into their houses In other words to make friends. He wants to curry their favor

And so we've reduces some debts by 50 % some by 20 % Seeking to gain so much gratitude from these debtors that they will happily welcome him into their houses

Maybe maybe they'll even hire him as their manager. You know, they'll like him so much. Hey, I got a job for you

Okay, so he's preparing for judgment the judgment of his boss master so that when that judgment comes very soon

He'll be safe. He'll be provided for Now when the master finds out about this now, maybe on one side of his brain, he's thinking

What in the world did you do with my stuff? But he's mad this lousy manager is already bad enough to begin with and he lost so much of my wealth

Maybe he thought that but on the other side he thought ah He's a genius He used the opportunity he had to prepare for what's next to take care that he's not cast out on the street starving so he acted with ingenuity to be ready

Now it's not his dishonesty that he is commended for but his preparing shrewdly

Desperately for what he knew was coming now. You might say that well the managers a bad example because he was dishonest

He was a bad manager to begin with and then he cheats his boss out of his Income just a curry favor for himself.

Now. How is that supposed to be something? We're supposed to emulate. I don't get it Well when

Mary and I were in Ethiopia, we frequently saw these these gallon cans of cooking oil Supplied by USA ID which is the

US government's aid organization on these aluminum cans kind of decorated like an American flag You know red stripes and blue stars are white

White stars on a blue field you get it with big on that candle were these big red letters This red product of the

USA not to be sold or exchanged I remember going into one little shop there in Ethiopia and there's those cans the cookie go up for sale point of the shopkeeper

Yeah, yeah, you know my tax money helped supply these cans and he said yeah Thank you very much. And that'll be so much for the kids

It was supposed to be charity for the poor, but they were often on sale anyway

So whoever was getting these cans from the US government was then turning around and selling them for a big profit kind of screwed

For him, I guess crooked, but it's true. Now once a man on the street in Abbas Addis Ababa there Tried to sell us a can of that oil really for much less than it was going for in the shops and it looked like any other can of the cooking oil and And so we we bought it.

It's cheaper We need cooking oil and when we bought it home and we opened it up it's sealed

Apparently like any other can it turned out to be full of water they had gotten empty cans of oil and Filled them with water and managed to seal them back so that they look new

And our first reaction was to admire the ingenuity The shrewdness of the skill of this man who took a used can of oil filled it with water and then sealed it up Perfectly so that it looked brand new he did such a good job

Now was he right? Of course not. He's a thief, but he knew that the judgment of hunger is

Coming and so he did what he felt he had to do to make some money here in this story.

The manager knows Judgment is coming. He prepares with all his ingenuity

He's shrewd Parables usually have one main point that all the details are meant to drive home

Now for this parable that is the main point do whatever you have to do desperately shrewdly

With all the ingenuity you have to get yourself ready for the judgment

That is coming the details now are meant to be pressed for meaning, you know Don't get to how he reduces some guys by 20 % and the other but yeah, don't get caught up in all that That's just to show that he's reducing that he's doing what he needs to do.

But this parable in this parable though The detail about money is key

That detail is important. It's part of the main point In fact here the moral of the story is to get ready for judgment

Not just kind of generally not just kind of spiritually, you know Not by getting baptized and saying the right prayers and getting your major doctrines in order

I'm gonna face God ready for judgment No, it is precisely get ready for judgment by the way you handle your money

Like the manager your wealth your property everything you have

Belongs to God you are just the manager. He's demanding and accounting

Now, what are you going to do with what you have from God? What are you doing with it?

That is preparing you for that accounting if you serve it

If you just live your life Chasing dollars doing whatever you have to do to get the cash to buy the house and the cars and the gadgets and the vacations

You want? Then you're not preparing You're serving money So Jesus tells us at the end in verse 13

Right in case you want to know this is shows that this is a lot to do with money verse 13 No servant can serve two masters.

Okay, you got two masters out there God money for either. He will hate the one and Love the other

So you love one that means you hate the other right either either hate the one and love the other or you'll be devoted to one you're devoted to one

You despise the other least as far as as a master. You cannot serve God and money you can't

Now some people get religious precisely because they think that will help them get money. There are people out there that teach that Follow the

Lord. He'll help you get your money God will bless them and you'll bless you and you will have more more money is the secret of wealth is following the

Lord That's what there's some people say something that they can put off serving God for now Until they get enough money

I'll put it off now until the business is booming. Yeah, that means I got to work on Sunday morning

But you know when the business comes around when I have enough in the bank account, then I'll start serving

God they promise You know, they'll then they'll do it finally They'll serve

God, but but you but you can't do that You see that here even if your business booms and even if you do get rich and you finally think you can relax

Now you can come to church and you now you can supposedly serve God You're really only being religious for now

Because you think your master money is letting you And if your master money tells you to do something else, you'll follow your master

Some Christians act and talk as if as if how they handle their money has nothing whatsoever to do with the serving

God It's just like two totally separate issues maybe they're even reformed and They have all their doctrines nicely in order fine -tuned all the

All the eyes dotted and try to get it right this time to use cross they can argue fertility to look brilliantly

They'll sing psalms and endure long sermons They'll subscribe to perform magazines and listen to reform podcast and get reform

DVDs in the mail, but they hardly give Now they they've got other priorities with their money at least now sure getting sound doctrine for themselves

Is a priority other people getting sound doctrine which would cost them money. They don't really care about that But getting it for themselves as a priority, but you know, you can do that on the cheap, you know

Small donation you can keep getting stuff from many ministries Their money goes to expensive vacations that they've got to have every summer to new cars because they think you know buying a used car

And maintaining an old one is just below them They got to spend on the most expensive hairdressers because it's simple barber. Just is it right?

They got to have the newest gadgets They got to the lifestyle and they'll just splurge on that that must come first and you can tell the receipts show it

So they don't they just don't have any money left over No, maybe they wouldn't say they would love to give more to the church of the poor

But they just don't have enough money left over to give to the church to the poor to help some needy member out or permissions

They've spent it all already They think that's acceptable because they don't see that how they handle their money has really anything to do

With preparing for what's next for the judgment, but the truth is that our receipts

They're like exam results They're showing where where we stand whether we're living like sons of this age or sons of light our credit card statements compared to our giving statements show where our heart is and The Lord Jesus says in verse 9 make friends for yourselves you look at this verse because this verse is like You know most modern evangelical

Chris, particularly even reform people would never say this Maybe would we even skip it ourselves?

We talked about the prosperity people skipping certain passages. Would we skip verse 9? Make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth so that when it fails, they may receive you into eternal dwellings

Does that statement just rub you the wrong way in that the most bizarre Statement ignore it pass on.

No, is it just totally against everything you assume make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous wealth

So that when it fails they may receive you into eternal dwellings But the phrase unrighteous wealth it strike you as bizarre.

Would you ever use such a term? Haven't we all absorbed the idea that that wealth is righteous that it is good

There's there's the big preacher who is worth five million dollars. Is that a Offend you or maybe if it doesn't fit you is at least make you question

You know does it or do you think you just assume? Huh? He's a superstar.

He deserves it. So we our culture is right. You're a superstar You deserve the big pay you have met you

CEO of a big company You deserve a big wage if you're a pro football player a lot of people want to watch you you deserve the big money

Same with the church, isn't it? Or shouldn't he like here be using his money to prepare for what's next to get eternal dwellings instead of luxury homes here

Maybe you think you know getting eternal dwelling. Come on. I'm reformed I know better than that getting eternal dwellings has nothing to do with earning it by your giving don't you know that it's sola fide

But through faith alone sure, that's true. But faith that serves is never alone faith that saves is never alone if you have faith

You know that judgment is coming You know that the master is demanding and accounting that he is expecting you to use what he's lent you for good

Not just for your self -indulgence so Precisely because you do have faith you ingeniously think

How could I use what God has given me for good Remember though It's unrighteous wealth

You know Jesus elsewhere talked about the deceitfulness of riches money lies

You ever fantasize I do sometimes but the good you could do if you're one of the super wealthy

And if I had the money of Bill Gates things I could do with it you fund scholarships for needy students finance the digging of wells in Africa clinics and poor villages and third world nations

Maybe even if you can imagine it help a gym that serves the kids from the second poorest town in all of North Carolina Yanceyville, can you imagine such a thing?

Of course, of course Got all that money You'd want to take care of yourself, right?

You got to take care of yourself. How much would that take? Probably a lot more than you imagine now

Unrighteous wealth lies to you about how much good it will help you do It doesn't tell you how much it will demand that you indulge yourself

If ever you did get a lot of it, you know first you think well, I can I can fly I can fly first -class now

Maybe you don't know I need a jet of my own and that's the way it worked

Always you need a little more for yourself notice that prepare for the day Jesus said in that verse 9

When it fails it the money fails Prepare for when money fails use your money now to get ready for when money will be useless

Unrighteous wealth Deceitfulness of riches is always telling you. Oh, it'll never fail if only can get a little more of it

So hang on to it now. It's telling you hang on to me now Grab as much as you can now

So you can finally get to the point if you can just hold on to it now get a little more now a little later

Soon someday later, maybe tomorrow then you'll have enough To be generous because it's not gonna fail ever so hang on to it now

But money will fail The truth is that if you're not generous now When you have a little

Most of us here do you You won't be generous later if you if you ever did become one of the super wealthy, you know

Hanging out with the billionaires Club with Warren Buffett and Bill Gates You're not gonna be generous then if you're not generous now

Jesus tells us in verse 10 one who is faithful in the very little is also faithful in much if you're generous

When you're making a minimum minimum wage You'll be generous when you're making six figures if you're waiting until you're comfortable to start being generous

You'll never be comfortable enough to start being generous One who is dishonest and very little is also dishonest in much so that there is a consistency between what you do with a little money and with a lot between how you handle your money and Whether you're really serving

God your giving is a gauge of your godliness Here Jesus tells us that if you have not been faithful in that which is another's

That is all of your money your property your time because it all belongs to God. It's all another's.

It's all God's We are only managers of it if you're not been faithful with it Who will give you that which is your own?

Which would be eternal life for you to have for eternity a man could be knowledgeable a good communicator

Have his doctrines in order but isn't faithful and generous with his giving such a man is not in my opinion fit for the ministry

He shouldn't be a pastor a man who isn't faithful to attend and support a church when he's not a pastor

When no one is paying him Shouldn't be looked to as a spiritual leader If we're not faithful When the things that are with the things that are gods are money time stuff

That he's letting us manage now if we're not faithful with that The stuff with it will fail. How can we expect him to give us wealth give us eternal things eternal wealth?

They won't fail Jesus says in verse 8 the sons of the world are more shrewd in Dealing with their own generation their own kind in other words than the sons of light

There are two groups of people there. You see the sons of this age literally. That's what it says in Greek the sons of this age

The this present evil age These are the people who belong the present evil age in the system from this world this dark world the society

There's a rebellion against God. That's one group of people and they are Jesus says they're more shrewd

They're more ingenious They're more mindful of their interest. They're more prudent about What's good for them in this age?

They're more practical about how things work how they're gonna get ahead Are they gonna get what they want of what they need?

Then are the second group of people the sons of light That is Jesus says that usually the people of this age all about the pleasures and the things

The money they can get and they use now before it fails that they are wiser

About what's in their interest at least as far as this age goes Then are the sons of light and so that means that we sons or daughters of light need to learn from them learn from those

Dishonest managers those crooked people out there. How does shrewdly prepare for what's coming?

Not only in this age But in the age to come Right like the dishonest manager do whatever you have to do

Be shrewd be prudent and light of what you know is coming

Not only your retirement or your old age or you know needing insurance But the judgment that is part of the age to come the age that has already begun with Jesus be as Intent and as ingenious to prepare for that age as the dishonest manager was to prepare for his coming unemployment

Are you preparing Prepare with ingenuity and with chastity

The Pharisees who love money he ridiculed Jesus starting verse 14 They heard this but you can't serve

God and money. You're crazy. What are you doing pitting days? He's pitting God against money like they don't like You don't you know that having money is a sign of God's blessings and they're just scoffing at him

And so Jesus says to them and you are those who justify yourselves before men

Make yourself look right Make yourself look good for people you only care what kept out can be seen can be seen the esteem that you get

I'm publicly praying publicly fasting even in the public of giving you want to look good before others

But he says God knows your heart He knows why you're doing what you're doing

He knows what you're really thinking about when you're pretending to be praying or pretending to be listening to a sermon

For what is exalted among men Like money wealth big numbers impressive buildings

He says it's an abomination in the sight of God I was God sees it

It's disgusting. It's just it's repugnant. Think of what you just find It's just just you don't want to see it or be near on the way here this morning.

It was a dead skunk that had been all Driven over his guts all over the road and there was of course the smell that's just disgusting

And that's God looks at the things that we esteem the money the impressiveness. That's what it's like to him

Gonna get away from that as far as as fast as you can God sees it as disgusting like unrighteous wealth.

It's pride Self -sufficiency it's empty show his judgment is coming with the kingdom of God and it will expose all those

Detestable things all that Disgusting garbage for what it is and the time for that Jesus says is now the law and the prophets

What we call the Old Testament, right? The law of the prophets were until John Now that was the time of preparation for the kingdom that the

Old Testament was about What John himself was about remember they asked him. Who are you?

I Prepare the way for the Lord and Jesus here is saying that preparation time is over since then since John The good news of the kingdom of God is preached because Jesus is preaching it

The good news is that the kingdom of God is now here. You better been prepared because it's here

It's come Jesus is proving that by casting out demons by his miracles and everyone the many

Like the large crowds that are following him Like the like the many and the remember the parable of the great banquet go out and invite many and the highways byways compel them to come in Many are forcefully urged here to come into it.

They're being forcefully if you look at your footnote I know that's not what the translation says something a little different But that's probably the right meaning here in context

Many are being compelled Forcefully urged to come and into the reign of God to follow

Jesus now now something new Preparation time is over. The kingdom of God is here.

We are all urged We are compelled with all the force of his spirit and of his word to enter

God's rule and that will require from us agonizing effort This is the new age of the kingdom

Jesus started it. We're still in it and Jesus will one day complete it

But don't get the idea because you people gonna read that phrase The law and the prophets were until and think well that means that everything in the old era has expired

It doesn't apply to us anymore the law and the prophets the Old Testament are now basically irrelevant to us

There are kind of their void. It's a relic from a bygone age and we find people teaching that kind of today

That's an old dispensation and we don't really need to worry about it But now he says in verse 17 even in this age

It's easier for heaven and earth to pass away Than for one dot of the law to become void

Yes, heaven or pathway. No, so as so the law is still as still has a role

We still need the preparation The Old Testament was written for as Martin Luther wrote wrote we have this law

To see therein that we have not been free from sin It still prepares us for what

Jesus did by showing us That we need it that we need what he did We need his work for us and one example of that Jesus gives here is the law of marriage

Now the Pharisees they're probably accusing Jesus of ignoring the law of Making void the law of the prophets and he's coming right back at them said no the law is not void

In fact, you want to talk about people who are making a void you look at you Pharisees had used the law of divorce in Deuteronomy to say that a man could divorce his wife really pretty much any reason

Deuteronomy chapter 24 verse 1 says that a man could divorce for a quote indecency and they took that to mean what's indecency?

They said anything it's all up to you. Whatever you think is indecent, you know

She burned the toast indecent right around certificate divorce. Get out of here She got so loud that the neighbors could hear her get it rid of her

She just didn't look good anymore to you get rid of her. It became an that's just really all of course an excuse for their own lust for their own unchastity for their adultery

Imagine how this offends them because they think they're keeping the law They're trying to accuse Jesus of making it void of ignoring it.

He's a no. It's the other way around You're the ones they're ignoring the law And why it would happen because they twisted this thing about indecency so much that they could go through wife after wife

Like trading in cars for a newer model, you know by almost every year I want to get a newer one get a younger one.

And so Jesus said, you know, what in the world you're ridiculing me Because you love money You love the wealth and the perks and the nice house and the cars

You love the esteem for praying and giving in public and of course, haha, you gotta have the trophy wife, right?

But you're living in adultery Everyone he says who divorces his wife and I think the implication here is divorcing for one of those trivial interpretations of Indecency Jesus is here reestablishing the law that they had twisted with all their traditions

We talked about this in Sunday school with all their traditions. They had just twisted and negated and Thrown out the law basically and he's saying to them you want to know what indecency meant it means adultery

So if you divorce for any other reason and marry another you've committed adultery because you're really married to that wife

You supposedly divorce in God's eyes. You're still married to her and now you're going after another you've come in adultery So if you divorce for any other reason come in adultery because God's law was from creation

You leave your father and mother and you cling to your wife. That's God's law The two become one and man people cannot separate them

You can write a certificate of divorce for burnt toast all you want you go marry another one That's adultery in God's eyes

Doesn't matter if it's legal the law the you know The law of man people's opinions that they agree with that or not.

God says it's adultery. It's adultery You're living in it. He who marries a wife He marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery.

In other words your serial marriages going from one relationship to another Making void

God's law about marriage. They are unchaste. They are immoral And if you want to be ready for the kingdom of God, you must live

As far as it is up to you chaste in one marriage

Now that's hard to hear Because of no -fault divorce laws now, you know marriage is now in our according to human law is treated as less than a contract

You know get it right a business contract. You can't just one party just can't say I'm gonna Ignore it void it not do what it says and we can do but now marriage you can we can do that So it's less than a contract in the eyes of our law

But it was hard then too Because that's really basically the way they were treating it

So it's we're back to where the Pharisees were We've gone full circle These Pharisees ridiculing

Jesus because they loved appearances the look of wealth the look of respectability

And they got to have the lovely Trophy wife hanging on their arms So they'd trade in you know get to get her and you get a new one every now and then they're told that their serial marriages are adulterous

He's preparing them in us for judgment. Are you prepared? Be prepared with chastity with purity

Are you prepared? with charity a Rich man lived in luxury nicest suits

You know thousands of dollars Italian suits here. This guy's just purple purple is expensive fine.

Linen is Luxurious he's feasting every day. I'm not talking about just on special days

Every day a great banquet. He's having success is equated with excess when you're fighting for the

Beamer and Lexus But this man this loaded man, he didn't have to fight for his opulence at all.

He just had it He was just wallowing in it. And isn't that the American dream? There was a problem right outside his estate his gated community

Was laid it says implying that he couldn't even get there by himself Someone had to carry him there a poor man named

Lazarus. This is the only time a Character in a parable is given a name

And he was covered with ulcers and he was so handicapped that he couldn't even fend off the dogs who came and licked his sores

He would love to have had some of the leftovers that the rich man just threw in the garbage

Eventually both died and Lazarus is a man of faith. And so he goes carried by the angels with the faithful to the father of the faithful to Abraham Literally He is in Abraham's bosom is the term used and some have you know

Some I've tried to derive from that that there's this place. There's kind of this Chamber in heaven called

Abraham's bosom and they'll say is for Old Testament Saints but really what that means is that was a way of speaking for the way they ate together because they kind of Like these beanbag kind of couch cushions behind them and a low table.

They didn't sit on chairs They'd sit on the floor and they would kind of lean back and then the person you're kind of leaning in direction

Toward on your right side would be You would be leaning in toward his bosom.

You'd be in his you're right next to him. So this is Abraham's bosom is Is you're right next to Abraham and of course it implies

What what that they're eating they're having a feast But and by the way, the same term is used like when the

Apostle John had the Lord's Supper Was leaning it says against Jesus's bosom.

So they're having the supper there here. They're having Here here this man named now named

Lazarus who couldn't get the scraps from the rich man's table He now finally is it a great feast?

He's a banquet that it is the kingdom of God and he's there. He's reclining with Abraham the rich man, though Not there

He's in Hades the Greek word But it's clear from what the way is described but this is what we call hell

He's in torment and he's not having fun. Okay, there's no party going on there

Okay, some people think all my good friends will be in hell. I want to go there and party with them Oh, no, it's not gonna happen there.

He looks up Sees Abraham it says verse 23 far off.

Don't look at the idea because they're talking to each other This is a parable don't you know, don't press these details. I'll get the idea. There's a really close by He sees far off with He sees

Abraham with Lazarus at his side. You probably recognize. Hey, there's there's that beggar Wait, I recognize that guy didn't he used to be right outside my gate as I rode by in my carriage

You know, I looked about there was so he calls out father Abraham Have mercy on me

He showed no mercy in his life Now begs for it Send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in the water and cool my tongue

For I am an anguish in this flame and this is

Jesus's way of portraying the torment of hell that even just a brush of Moisture would be some relief but Abraham replies child

The same term by the way that the loving father in the previous and not previous parable in the last chapter the prodigal son

Gives to the older son. He says it's affectionate as a child son Remember that you in your lifetime receive good things and Lazarus and like men are bad things

But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish You didn't do anything to help him

When it was when he was in need right outside your door you didn't use your money to prepare for judgment

How do you prepare for judgment? Charity How you give what you do with what you have?

Not just spending all in yourselves While there are people outside or who are desperate who are hungry and no shoes

We're living in huts made of scraps of plastic as we drive by in our vauvles how you give now prepares for what is coming

We might think it's all about doctrine And so we'll even fly into their slum filled cities teach our doctrine fly out and think we've done a great thing but if our doctrine

Our doctrine that he who is rich for our sakes became poor so that we could become rich If that doctrine

Does it make us love? generous giving Something went wrong

Abraham goes on You know in case we get the idea that people can kind of go back and forth between heaven and hell

Cuz I thought the rich man was thinking could happen Abraham says between us and you

Yes, he's looking down. I guess between us and you has been fixed a Great chasm a grand

Canyon in order that This is the purpose of this great chasm.

It's there for a reason Those who would pass from here heaven to you

Hell may not be able to and then and none may cross from there

L to us heaven in other words

Once you're in hell there's no escape and No one can come to help you

So you better prepare now Once you're there, there's no getting out.

It's not like your taxes You know you came April 14th comes and you're just totally unprepared filing the extension you get a few months

There's no it's not like some test. I'm not prepared some project. I can make it do a makeup test later.

Don't think Here in this life, okay, I'll chase dollars and luxury and stuff now and the next life

I'll take care of that when I get there No, this is the time of preparation if you're using it for feasting for indulgence for yourselves for excess you'll be unprepared and in hell

So The rich man then begs in verse 27 Well, you know finally really it's too late for me if it's too late for me because I didn't prepare when

I had the time Then sin Lazarus, please They send Lazarus to my father's house to my five brothers who are living the lifestyle of the rich and famous like I used to He's begging sin

Lazarus to warn them So they don't in verse 28 come into this place of torment

So they don't go to hell too but Abraham says They have Moses and the prophets

What we say scripture the Old Testament at this time, but now we just say they have the Bible The rich man, please.

No, they are gonna pay any attention to the Bible But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent

You know people are the same today. We hear that over and over if only I'd see a miracle then I'd believe But Abraham is right

If they don't if they do not hear Moses and the prophets if they don't pay any attention to the Bible now Neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead and here we see why the poor man and the story is named

Lazarus Jesus did in fact raise a Lazarus from the dead

Did everyone believe it? No In fact in the Gospel of John that was the last straw that led them to conspire to finally kill

Jesus and When Jesus was raised from the dead Did everyone believe them? No Even a resurrection

Unaided by the Spirit will not win people over How do you prepare for judgment

You don't need miracles to finally convince you you need a new heart a new

Heart that doesn't look to be seen as righteous before people It's not so entranced by the by the things and the cash the

Super Bowl rings The big estates the nice cars the unrighteous wealth that will fail the trophy wives the excess

You need a new heart that cares more about eternal dwellings Than the mansions here

You need a new heart That is merciful That is fateful that is chaste that sees by faith that there is judgment coming and Prepares for it now

If you're not preparing It's because you're not believing so Are you ready?