FBC Morning Light (11/2/2024)

Good Saturday morning, people of faith. This weekend we're reading in Luke chapters 13 through 17 and John chapter 11. And so there are so many different passages within that portion of scripture. I'm going to focus on the last part of Luke chapter 16.

The Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16

All right, so much of Luke 13 through 17 has various parables and there's a real fundamental question about verses 19 through the end of the chapter in Luke 16. Is this a parable, all right? And so let me read to you and then I'm going to discuss for a bit about whether or not this is in fact a parable and what the important implications are whether this is or is not one of Jesus's parables.

There was a certain rich man, this is verse 19, 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 torment 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 very 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 and 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, and he said, no, Father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them, said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.

Why This Is Not a Parable

So, the question is, first of all, whether or not this is a parable. So, many times in scripture it states this parable was given by Jesus or Jesus spoke to them in this parable or speaking to them in a parable.

This passage does not say that.

All right.

Second, this, if it is a parable, would be the only time that a specific name is used in a parable.

All right.

And so, for those two reasons, I lean against this actually being a parable, but rather a historical account of a rich man who goes unnamed and a beggar named Lazarus. Furthermore, if it were a parable, we tend to look for just one or two main ideas, usually just one of the purpose of what we hear in this accounting.

All right.

But there are so many things in this passage. First of all, let me say that as what I think is a, what I would call a historical account of the rich man and Lazarus, this is not some sort of purification process after death.

No Purgatory, No Soul Sleep

That means this is not talking about purgatory.

All right.

Purgatory is a man-made tradition, not in accordance with scripture.

All right.

And so, we see also that the gulf between those that are tormented and those that are in Abraham's bosom or some sort of paradise is fixed and you cannot go back and forth between them. What you have in this life is your window of opportunity to change your eternal destiny.

All right.

And then finally, what we see is that this place of torment, it's a conscience torment. It's not just, it's not just soul sleep. It's not just an eradication, but it is a torment, a punishment for which there is no temporal relief.

All right.

So, this rich man, notice one thing he never ever asks for is for he himself to be redeemed, to be with the Lord.

All right.

And I think that that could be for one of two reasons. I think that it's either he understands the finality of his situation, all right, or B, he has no desire to be with God. He just wants relief. He wants Lazarus to dip his finger in water and put it on his tongue to cool off his tongue because he's in torment, but, you know, relieve me from the problem I'm having, but don't make me be around God to be submissive to what God has for me.

All right.

Moses and the Prophets and the Resurrection of Jesus

Finally, the zinger in this passage is that what Abraham says back to the rich man after the rich man says, oh, but if someone raises from the dead, certainly they would listen. And Abraham responds with, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead.

And us looking back at this situation, Jesus had not been crucified and risen yet. But we see the irony here of knowing that Jesus will suffer and die and be buried and raise again the third day. And there are people all over this world who can become convinced of that very fact and yet still remain in rebellion against God.

All right.

If you reject Moses and the prophets, that was their Bible, the Old Testament. If you reject the word of God, it is a reasonable conclusion that you will not be persuaded even with the overabundance of evidence of Jesus's resurrection.

Right.

So it is the Holy Spirit and God the Father and God the Son that work together in through the word of God that changes and through the gospel that changes people's lives and changes people's hearts and changes people's minds.

We can have the most convincing arguments. But at the end of the day, we are subject to the work of God, the Father, God, the Son and the Holy Spirit to change lives. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, thank you so much for your word.

Let these truths of the rich man and Lazarus be things that we think about, that we dwell on, that we are impacted to know that it's through your word, through the gospel, that lives will be changed. And it's not in our cleverness of thought or cleverness of words, even in the overabundance.

Of evidence.

If the heart is rebellious, the heart stays rebellious and blessed is changed by you. If we in ourselves have that heart of rebellion, I pray that you would reveal it to us and give us the faith to repent of that.

It's in your son's name, Jesus, we pray.

Amen.

Have an excellent day, people of faith.