Transcript

Luke 16 as we pick up our study back in the Gospel of Luke as the Lord continues with his mini-narratives and certainly one of the primary things he is doing is clarifying. He’s trying to take an upside down thinking and an upside down religious community and get them to see things clearly and get things right side up. He’s doing this in many ways, one of the ways is with parables, stories that illustrate a truth and we have another one of those. Well, we don’t know exactly for sure if it’s a parable or not, to be honest, but the truth it teaches is the same either way.

Luke 16, we’ll begin in verse 19 and we’ll go through verse 31

19 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, 21 and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 22 Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. 24 And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ 27 And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father’s house – 28 for I have five brothers – in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ 29 But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ 30 But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'” In this story, we find death is a great clarifier. Death, the great clarifier. Now again, is this real history or is this a parable? Now, often in the Gospels, when Jesus is giving a parable, he’ll say, “This is a parable.” Here he does not say that so we don’t know for sure. But we do know, however, is that the truth that the story teaches is the same whether or not it’s a parable or a true story he is relating.

Three things I want us to get from this text this morning. First of all, notice the great contrast in life. The great contrast. Here we have this wonderfully wealthy rich man and his life in contrast with Lazarus, a destitute poor man. Now, first of all, you’ve got to understand the historical and cultural context. You never interpret a passage apart from understanding what did it mean to the people of this day. Well, it’s obvious from the flow of all the Lord has been doing and saying and dealing with, he’s relating this to the Pharisees. The leaders of the Pharisees were men of great wealth. They were men who gloried in their wealth and in all their material gain. They had perverted doctrine to teach that if you were wealthy and powerful, then you were God’s person, you were under God’s particular and unique blessings and they lorded over the others and particularly the poor, that they kept beaten down into submission under them. So it’s very obvious that specifically the application here is this rich man represented the religious Pharisee, the religious leader of the day who gloried in worldly materialism and did not honor God from his heart. The poor man, on the other hand, I believe, is clearly the true believing remnant of the day and very often, the true believers of the day where those who were the out-scourings or the off-scourings of life, those who were not well-to-do and prosperous. They found the truth but the society basically pushed them away.

Now, I find some real parallels with Christianity in all ages here in that particularly if you study the lives and the culture of our Baptist forefathers going back centuries, you’ll find that there were always groups who would go back to the word of God and say what is true Bible doctrine. Very often, the religious establishment and I’m going back to the 17th, 16th and 15th centuries of Europe, they would have state churches and they would hold these groups, these Baptists and others, in disdain and say, “You don’t know God. You don’t know the truth.” And the Lord is clarifying. He’s using this story to clarify, “Hey, you never judge a book by its cover. The way things look according to your culture may be completely backwards,” and that was the case here.

So notice first of all, sub point A under the great contrast in their lives, notice the rich man’s selfish indulgence. If you take notes, you might just put this phrase out beside it: earth-centeredness. There was an earth-centeredness to this rich man’s life. That means he loved this world. His life was only for this world. His joys and his pleasures were in the earth and what the world could give him. In other words, he wasn’t anchored in a heaven-centeredness looking to heaven and finding his ultimate joy in heaven, all he knew was the pleasures of this earth. Now, he was extremely religious. He studied the Scriptures. He knew the Bible. He dotted every “i” and crossed every “t” but it was only an external façade. He massaged and manipulated religion to serve his earthly worldliness. That’s the way he was. Now, I think it’s really hard for us today to understand the context. I mean, these religious Pharisees were quite a sight. These men walked around in their elegant robes and they wanted such a physical austere appearance about them and they wanted people to hold them in awe and such reverence and esteem and it was all outward, external stuff. So the Lord is trying to clarify, “That’s not what true godliness is.”

So here we have this rich man. We see him in verse 19, he’s “habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day.” Now, note that in no way does the Lord show that this man’s wealth was gained in unrighteousness. The gaining of wealth, even great wealth, is not a sin, however, loving wealth and neglecting to serve God and your brothers with your wealth, is a sin. Of course, that’s exactly what he was doing as he neglected Lazarus who laid outside of his gate. Ezekiel 16:49 speaks of these kind of folks in ancient Israel, “Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy.” In other words, if they truly loved God from their heart, they would have had a heart for their brothers and sisters who also loved God, who were legitimately hurting and needy.

The Bible says he “habitually dressed” with this purple and fine linen. It means he didn’t just dress-up for special occasions. I was recently in Boston and I was talking to a Greek Orthodox businessman outside of the hotel. A splendid fellow, just fun to talk with and I was describing to him what a redneck was. I think he grasped it after a little while and us rednecks, we were just kind of common folks but now, there’s a right place to dress-up but there’s festive and good occasions like the marriage of a daughter or something, we put on our very best and there is good in that. But this man demanded the very best, most glorious extravagant clothing every day. That’s the way he viewed himself. That’s what it means “he habitually dressed.” He put himself out there in proud exhibition before the community every day of his life.

The Bible says here he dressed in purple. Now, this is the ordinary dress of kings and of nobility. Purple dye was very expensive and very difficult and when you wore purple a lot, you were flashing to the world, “I have something. I have what you don’t have.” Also, he would dress in fine linen, something else that in this day was exclusively the provision of the most wealthy or those in high places.

So he loves himself and he’s overflowing with pride. One writer wrote it this way, “He glitters day by day in royal magnificence as though it would never end.” I think that’s the key. You know, God may give you something good. He may have blessed you in a wonderful way and you may drive that certain thing or wear that certain thing or have that certain thing you think, “This is just a wonderful material blessing,” but if you’re a child of God, something inside of you says, yes, God has been good to you but this is not the end of your life and this is not your joy. You have something greater than this and should this depart, you still have your greatest treasure. Amen, church? But that’s not where he was. He gloried in his things alone.

Continuing, verse 19 says he lived in splendor. It means he lived and feasted lavishly on a daily basis. Amos speaks of those who are wealthy in this world and have no spiritual heart for God, he says, “Those who recline on beds of ivory And sprawl on their couches.” You just get the picture in your mind. You know, one of the greatest perils of a luxurious life is that quite often if not almost always, a luxurious life hardens the heart. It doesn’t soften the heart before God. The godless riches that man who sets his heart not on God and on service to God but he sets his heart on the ends of the earth. The godless rich wrestle with all of this world’s fruit to drain the very last drop of pleasure for they have nothing else but this world. Father Augustine in the first century right after our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection said, “It is not the possessor of riches who cannot enter the kingdom of heaven but the one who is possessed by riches.” That’s this man. The righteous may hold riches, even great riches, but the unrighteous is held by his riches.

So we see a picture of this poor man and his great selfish indulgence, ignoring his brother, his Jewish brother laying outside of his gate in great destitution and disease. But let’s look at him, the poor man, Lazarus and his destitution and suffering. Now, we find from the balance of the text here that this man, unlike the rich man who was earth- centered, Lazarus was heaven-centered. He had a heaven-centeredness to his life. He didn’t have anything in this earth but he had his heart toward heaven. Years ago, I forgot what I was studying or what I was reading. I’ve shared this before but there was a man during those evil days of slavery in early America that had a slave who had a little shack out on the edge of his property and he was going by that slave’s shack one day on his horse and he heard him singing and he was singing joyously the praises of God. He called out to him and called his name and he could see the cracks in the sides of the house, no insulation, obviously the rain would come through when it would rain and he said, “How can you be so happy and how do you have such joy when you live like you have to live?” He said, “I don’t have a house but I’ve got a home.” He had a heaven- centeredness to his life. That in no way justifies those who are wealthy and who have means and who are employers, if you’re a Christian and God has blessed you, you take good care of those he has given in your employment. But God can make even the poor wealthy.

So let’s be determined not to accuse a sovereign God as we look at this poor man’s condition. We cannot know how God’s Spirit ministered to him or even how the holy angels of heaven might have been dispatched to attend to him in his suffering. 1 Samuel 2:7 reminds us, “The LORD makes poor and rich; He brings low, He also exalts.” Sir, if you’ve got more than most folks, God did that. Now, we have folks in political realms that would like to tell you that you didn’t do that, other folks did that, but in the final analysis, it’s God who did that. And even those who are in want and in need, at the end of the day if they are righteous, they are to cast their eyes to heaven and say, “O God, I trust you. You have a purpose in my condition.” Therefore, whether you are wealthy or poor, you can still have joy in Jesus Christ. He’s the great Liberator, folks. He can liberate you from the deception of your wealth and from the destitution of your poverty. Job 34:19 reminds us, “He shows no partiality to princes Nor regards the rich above the poor, For they all are the work of His hands?” Again, don’t take the Scriptures out of balance. This does not justify the misuse and neglect of the needy by the wealthy but it just means that at the end of the day, God has a sovereign purpose and we can trust him.

Proverbs 22:2, “The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.”

But God has promised and this is unique, God has promised unique spiritual blessings for the poor. Now, that’s unusual. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t give spiritual blessings to the righteous wealthy. There are not many of those, by the way, but there are some because he does do that but the Scriptures make clear, God has a special place in his heart of favor and blessing toward the poor who love him. James 2:5, “Listen, my beloved brethren: did not God choose,” the same concept as election and predestination here. “Did God not fore-ordain?” that’s a little exaggeration but it’s the same spirit, “Did God not choose the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him?” Now, James is the pastor of a church and I think he’s saying, “As I look at the people who love God, there are some of those with great means who love God and we thank God for them but there are many, many more of meager means who seem to love God, and in back of everything, God is the one who causes all this to be.” 2 Corinthians 6:10, Paul says speaking of himself, “I’m sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich,” he’s talking about spiritual riches, “as having nothing yet possessing all things.” Now, that was Lazarus. Outside the gate of this rich man, laying at his gate, longing for just the crumbs off the rich man’s table. Dogs licking his sores, yet in his heart, he was wealthy because he knew God. As a matter of fact, I think it’s interesting, verse 20 tells us his name is Lazarus, of course, and that name means “God is my help.” Now, the rich man can say, “Man, my wealth is my health, my power is my help. My ingenuity and my prowess and my creativity to get ahead and do well, that’s my help.” Lazarus didn’t have anything left but God. As Dr. Havner used to say, he was ship wrecked on God and stranded on omnipotence. That’s all he had.

So the Scripture teaches us that though they had radical contrast, yet the name Lazarus says something to us. You know, the Scripture teaches that the righteous have their names recorded in heaven for eternity but the unrighteous have their names blotted out for eternity. This rich man made quite a name for himself while on the earth but it was blotted out when he got to the afterlife. Lazarus had no glory in this life yet his name is recorded in the glory of heaven forever. Proverbs 10:7 reminds us, “The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot.” Sir, ma’am, young person, make sure you have a mark far above this earth. Don’t just make your mark down here, make sure you make a mark beyond this world.

The Bible says Lazarus was laid at his gate. That’s an interesting phrase. It literally means he didn’t put himself there, probably too weak to do so. The neighbors, the people of the community laid him at the rich man’s gate. This was, of course, so that he might incite the pity of the rich man and the rich man’s friends who came over and received some sort of help. But I think it’s interesting and other scholars pointed this out also, it’s interesting that even his neighbors who had some level of means wanted to pass him off to somebody else. I mean, he’s still laying there with dogs licking his sores which means they didn’t do much if anything. They themselves kind of just threw him at the rich man’s gate and said, “Oh, the rich are going to take care of him.” Excuse my application perhaps, but that sounds a whole lot like socialism to me. “We want everybody taken care of with their money. Not ours, their money.” Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with socialism is you run out of other people’s money to give away.” That’s kind of the way everybody… he was somebody else’s problem. “We’ll cast him off, they’ll take care of him.” So imagine not only the terrible physical ordeal he’s going through but just socially and psychologically, emotionally how dejected and thrown away he must have felt. He was just considered as one that no one wanted to be around. Notice the glaring contrast: the rich man in purple and fine linen and congratulating himself and Lazarus, the poor man clothed in disease and sores, forsaken, naked, an outcast, hungry

Verse 21 tells us that Lazarus was just longing for the crumbs that would fall from the rich man’s table. In other words, Lazarus was saying, “I would be content with just a little,” and there’s no expression at least from the text that Lazarus had envy or bitterness about the rich man doing so much better than he was doing. He was just wanting a little help. Can I say that I think there is a lesson there for all of us. In God’s sovereignty, if your brother in Christ does better in this world, rejoice in it. You say, “Yeah but, I know he’s a scoundrel. I know he’s a rascal.” God knows what he’s doing. Don’t have envy and bitterness about those who might do better. A brother met me in the hallway before I came out this morning. We talked a little bit about his job situation and he said, “Pastor, just out of the blue, I got a new job offer and a nice raise for the new year.” Just like that. You don’t know how quickly God may change your fortunes but he may wait until you have a good heart and attitude about it first. You’d better learn to be content where you are and not envious of others.

Lazarus didn’t show any of that, at least it’s not recorded in the text. But of course, to Lazarus in this deep destitution and suffering, he must have viewed death as a kind messenger. This rich man from every indication, basically ignored Lazarus with cold indifference. This rich man was a man who had warmed to expensive wine put who was cold to any sympathy of the suffering of his brother at his doorstep. Lazarus was poor in earthly goods but rich in grace. His body was sick and dying but his soul was healthy. He had scarcely a crumb and yet feasted on the bread of heaven. His body had mere rags yet he was clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Then the end statement on Lazarus was that the dogs were licking his sores. This is just an expression that he was totally forsaken by men. The only one willing to care and attend to him were the dogs. The rich man, there he is in his palatial dwelling, being attended by servants and Lazarus laying outside of his gate is laying, his only attendants being the dogs who licked his sores. The great contrast of the 2 in living. Now, don’t miss the cultural application: everything about this rich Pharisee’s life in this present culture meant that he was God’s choice. They interpreted his wealth and his pomp and his glory as, “He’s God’s man. He’s righteous,” and they would at least probably infer that Lazarus must not be so righteous and godly because look at his state in life

II. Death, the great reversal. There is a great reversal in death here. God says, “No, your whole culture and your whole thinking of what’s righteous and good and blessed of God is upside down.” Jesus says basically, “Let me finish the story and get this thing right side up in your thinking.” So here we see that truth that’s been manifested into every generation and in every culture since the fall of man and that is this: listen, so many of those esteemed as righteous by men turn out to be empty shells of religion with no living spiritual yolk within. Then again, many of those who are not esteemed as righteous by the present culture are the genuine children of God possessing true spiritual life and death is the final and true clarification, I might add, irrefutable clarification of what the truth really is.

Verse 22, note the great reversal, “Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.” That’s a radical change. He goes from total destitution in the earth to glorious blessings in paradise in Abraham’s bosom. “And the rich man also died,” and the Bible says verse 23, “In Hades he lifted up his eyes, in torment.” So it is as if once they died, they just crossed paths into eternity. One went from luxury and pleasure into torment. One went from misery into blessing and paradise.

Now, if I might give you a word of exhortation here: do not listen to today’s liberal theologians and liberal pastors, politicians and university professors who like to pervert the doctrines of Scripture to support their socialistic viewpoints. Be reminded that the rich man did not go to hell because he’s rich and the poor man, Lazarus, did not go to heaven because he’s poor. The Bible is not telling us there is inherent virtue in being poor. The Bible is not teaching us there is inherent evil in being rich. That’s not what’s being taught here. But notice there is a great reversal here of the fortunes of these 2 men. The poor man died and that’s all it says about him. But the rich man was buried. It means that he had that glorious burial that matched the glorious life that he lived. Great pomp and ceremony was attended in his service along with hired mourners to make sure it looked like all the community was so broken that he was gone. Lazarus, no burial mentioned, just dies. He’s disposed of, perhaps, in just a ditch. At the moment he closed his eyes in death, the angels ushered him into heaven.

The Bible says he’s literally carried by angels into heaven. That’s what it says in verse 22, “carried away by the angels.” The Greek word there has the spirit of tenderness in it. It points out that while he had a hard and miserable earthly existence, the moment he died, with divine tenderness God took him in by the angels and took him to paradise. The earth was ashamed of him but heaven welcomed him home with royalty. He was the off-scouring of the earth, a societal pariah, but heaven welcomed him with royalty. He’s one of Christ’s prized purchases. What a glorious instantaneous transformation of fortune.

Then the rich man died, the Bible says in verse 22. That’s to remind us that death is no respecter of persons. Death is the great leveler. He comes just the same to straw cots and mud huts as he does to feather beds and turreted castles. He’s the same to everyone. Now, in this day, there was a lot of drama. The fear was huge in Athens and in Rome. It had been huge for centuries but most often the actors in the plays were slaves and they all wore masks. You wore a mask about the person you were portraying. Of course, they didn’t have any women as actors so the men that would portray women would wear masks like women. And so they would perform all these plays. Some would play kings and nobles and princes and generals in the Army, maybe, whatever it might have been but then at the end of the production, all the slaves would come out and take off their mask and they would be revealed for who they really were, just common slaves. And that’s what death is for man. We can wear the camouflage and the cosmetic and the mask, if you will, but at death, we’re exposed as we really are, a slave of God. You see, everyone’s a slave of God. Everyone’s a servant of God. Either a disobedient and unworthy servant or a righteous and honorable servant because of the merits of the one they place their faith in, the Lord Jesus Christ.

That’s what’s happening here. The rich man is being exposed for what he really is. The Bible says in verse 23, he is in Hades. Now, that’s not the word Gehenna or hell but it means the same thing. The Jews of this day taught that the realm of the dead was Hades and there is a compartment in Hades of suffering for the unrighteous and a compartment of pleasure for the righteous. There is the final judgment and God will make everything permanent. Well, this is not the text for teaching the doctrine of the afterlife. The Lord is not getting into all that. He’s using the terminology of the day to point out a particular truth and so here the rich man finds himself in Hades or in hell and Lazarus finds himself in Abraham’s bosom or, if you will, in heaven. Of course, to a Jew, Abraham’s bosom would have been heaven. But what a shocking reversal. Here this self-righteous rich man, think about it, he was a diligent, external law keeper. He dotted every “i,” he crossed every “t.” He went to the synagogue. He participated in the feasts. He gave his tithes and offerings. He did all this stuff. He was wealthy and they had prosperity theology in that day which taught, “Oh, you must be right with God if you have great wealth.” He had the praise of men. Men just fell all over him congratulating him and commending him. Then most of all, he was a descendent of Abraham and the rabbis taught in that day and this was a famous phrase, “All the circumcised are safe. If you’re born a Jew of the blood line of Abraham and you’re circumcised on the 8th day of your birth as the sign of the covenant, you’re safe.” He believed all of that.

But verse 23 says, he dies, now listen, “and he saw father Abraham far away.” What a shocking reversal of fortune he has at death. Romans 2:28 reminds us very clearly, “For he is not a Jew,” in this context it means a true child of God. That’s what “Jew” would mean in this context. “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh.” This rich man had all those outward things and goes straight to hell. The Bible says in verse 23 he is in torment and he says in verse 24, “Father Abraham, could you at least let Lazarus come and dip his finger in water to cool off my tongue? I’m in this flame and it’s tormenting me.” The image there is of somebody dipping their finger in water and just the 2 or 3 drops that might come off their finger after they drip it. By the way, he said, “If you just give me that much.” I do think it’s interesting he has lost none of his self-centeredness. Everything about this man is still himself and about Lazarus taking care of him. Isn’t that interesting?

But Abraham in verse 25, says, “But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony.'” So Abraham here rebukes him with a refusal. He said, “In life, in self-righteousness, you had every means and every opportunity to care for your brother in Israel.” Lazarus longed for only a crumb from your table and indications are he seldom if ever helped him. Now the reversal. Instead of Lazarus begging him for a crumb, now he’s begging Lazarus for just a drop of water. What a radical reversal. Christ wants you to get that.

So now there he is. He did not help Lazarus in life and now Lazarus is not permitted to help him in death. In verses 24 and 25, the man says that he’s in agony. I think there is an insight here for us about hell and that is: when you live without Christ, you live with lustful desires always and only for the things of this world and you live your life constantly and only to gratify those lusts in the earth and then you will carry those lusts into hell. You’ll carry all desires for earthly pleasure and earthly entertainments into hell and they will prevail there and probably multiply there in intensity yet never the smallest pleasure or lust will ever be fulfilled again. That’s part of the tormenting agony of hell. God says, “Very well, you will not yield to me. Let me change your heart that you might begin to treasure heaven, then I will leave you in the lusts of the earth and one day you will be in torment because you will go to a place where the lust will only increase but will never, never, never, ever be satisfied.” In effect, you make your own choice. Choose now to begin to learn to love and treasure heaven and that will increase forever. Stay with the lust of the world and that will never decrease but it will never be satisfied again. That’s why the Bible does teach the pleasures of sin are temporal. There is some pleasure in it down here. It’s empty and fleeting but there’s some. But when you get to hell, they will never be satisfied again but the desire for them will always be there.

The rich man unjustly left a great gulf between himself and Lazarus while he remained upon the earth and now the roles are completely reversed. Now there’s a great gulf continuing between him and Lazarus but it’s a gulf that cannot be bridged with justice. Justly he deserves this. There is a massive abyss between him and heaven. It’s an abyss or chasm too wide to be bridged and too deep to be filled.

Now, I think there’s an application for us here as we think about this. You might be wondering, “Okay, then where are the needy of the community in the world? I need to go and help all the needy I can.” Well, there’s some good in that and some truth in that but that’s why the Bible balances that thought with this thought: as far as it is possible, the Bible teaches, do good to all men, but especially to the household of the faith. The rich man is not being condemned or judged for the person two cities over who was suffering but his brother in Israel that was right beside him. That parallels perfectly with all the other balanced teachings in the New Testament that true saints of God have a special love and a special devotion for the true church and the true saints of God they know in this life, that we could not as a true child of God, live in luxury while another believer in Christ literally didn’t have food to make it through every day. I believe that what Christ is pointing out: this rich man has never been born again. He’s never had the regeneration of the Spirit of God. His heart is dark and his heart is lost because if his heart was right, he would love his brother and care for him. And I think, and because I struggled with this so greatly as a young Christian, nobody defined these things for me and I thought, “Well, I think the best way to live is to live on $5,000 a year and give everything to everybody you can all the time.” I’m not saying that may be God’s will for somebody but the balanced biblical teaching is you care for those around you in the faith that God has put around you because just like taking a wife, once you start caring for a wife and your own children, you care for them first.

We see this teaching all through the Scriptures. It’s very, very clear. John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for the needy in the world.” That’s not what it says. That’s a good thing but that’s not the primary thing. No, when “you have love one for another.” This man wouldn’t take care of his own brother in Israel. How do you love the church? How do you love your brothers and sisters in Christ? Is there something in you that says, “I want to care for others when they truly have need.” Now, there’s a balance in that biblically, within the church. The Bible says, those who will not work will not eat. Amen. See, there’s a balance. We don’t just keep handing out to those who are irresponsible and negligent and undisciplined. We love and hold them accountable. But when there’s legitimate need and Lazarus was this man’s brother in Israel and he abandoned him. That proved he didn’t know God. Listen, the great clarification of your faith being genuine is, “I love other true Christians.” It’s not something you really have to work up. The more you grow in Christ, the stronger it gets but it’s there. This man didn’t have that.

1 John 3:16, “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for,” who? The world? No, that’s the liberal theologian, liberal pastor and liberal politicians’ interpretation. No, “the brethren.” The believers. Yes, we would care for all men that we know about and can help but especially the household of faith. Matthew 25:37-40, “Then the righteous will answer,” and this is the judgment in context of a time of suffering and persecution that they came out of. “‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?'” He’s already told them, “You did all these things for me and that’s why you’re getting into heaven.” They said, “We didn’t see you, Lord.” Verse 39, “‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine.'” And he said, “Even in the case of severe persecution and suffering against true Christians, you couldn’t live with yourself knowing a brother or sister in Christ was imprisoned for the faith and you keep yourself separate from their needs. You would go to them and care for them.” Which reminds me of every day in the news I hear of some other seemingly good, faithful Christian losing their job because they would not compromise the moral convictions of Scripture and I think as a church we’re going to get more involved in standing with brothers and sisters. They are not being obstinate or hard and harsh, they’re just saying, “We believe in the biblical view of marriage,” and they are losing their jobs. If you’re with me on this, could I get an amen here? That we ought to just stand for one another on these kind of things and that’s what Jesus was saying in Matthew 25. When the culture gets so secular and against the truth and Christians start being persecuted as a real Christian, you’re going to care for that brother and sister. You can’t just turn a blind eye to them. Those who are truly saved prove they are truly saved by their love and care for the true church and true believers. Now, I’ll say this: equal to that will be your distaste and disdain for a false church and for false Christians. There are always a lot of those in every culture.

So like all the Jews of this day, this rich man considered himself a son of Abraham and he considered himself a son of the kingdom but as Jesus says in Matthew 8:12, “but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness.” Now, Jesus didn’t literally mean…he’s using their terminology and their thinking to prove a point. “You call yourself sons of the kingdom because you’re the blood descendents of Abraham, because you do the ceremony and external works of the law but you’re not. You’re going to miss heaven completely.” And a lot of things, listen, a lot of things get clarified during the earth time but everything will get clarified at death. Everything will be.

You know, another unending torment of hell, I think, is memory. Memory. This man goes to hell and he’s thinking about his brothers. He’s thinking about this, thinking about that. His memory is still intact. In hell, you’ll be in a fixed eternal state and your memory will be there. You know, there are people today when I’ve counseled with them and they say, “I can’t sleep at night because I can’t turn off my brain. I just think and think and think.” Well in hell, all you’re going to have is time and torment and you’re going to think and think and think and think and think and think. Memory will be there and over and over and over you will muse over the past and you will think on pleasure after pleasure after pleasure, lust fulfilled after lust fulfilled after lust fulfilled, that you can never have again and that memory will not stop. What agony that will be. Some say today, “Well, I’m too busy to think deeply. I have too many deadlines and too many concerns.” But when you get to hell, you’ll be required to think and it will be part of the torment as you think on all the things your lustful soul craves and will never have again.

Brother, is not the most glorious treasure you been ever given is a love for Jesus? I have him here and in the full there forever. My deepest longings will be fulfilled in heaven. My deepest joys will be fulfilled in heaven. My deepest pleasure is in heaven sitting at the right hand of the Father and so when I get to heaven, I just begin enjoying him and that will increase forever. You see, they’re in a multiplication of agonies and sorrows in hell, we’re in a multiplication of joys and pleasures in heaven because while we were down here, the regeneration of the spirit happened in our hearts. Our hearts got changed to where we began, it didn’t happen immediately, we began to learn to love and treasure and joy in God, not in the world. Now, I can still enjoy a steak dinner or watching my daughter play basketball but I never do that when something in my soul doesn’t say, “Thank God this ain’t it. Thank God I’ve got bigger pleasures than this and should this pass, I still have that.”

What a reversal for these 2 men, the rich man and Lazarus. Now, while remembering and memory will be one of the unending torments of those in hell, not having any memory is one of the great blessings of those in heaven. Listen, Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” Everything that concerns you, gives you anxiety, that breaks your heart, that troubles your soul, listen: even your own sin you fight with that breaks your heart, all gone. All done for. You don’t even remember it anymore. So God wiping out our memory of all the hurtful things is a part of the glories of heaven.

Verse 26, “Besides all this, between us and you,” now this is father Abraham talking to the rich man, “there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.” It simply means that the moment you come to the eternal state that is fixed for all eternity. While we live on this earth, now listen to me friend, listen to me: while you live on this earth, no gulf of sin, evil or wickedness is too wide for mercy to cross or bridge. Are you hearing me? I don’t care what kind of sinner you may be and if you will feel the weight of that sin and confess your sinful wickedness, God will reach you in mercy and save you and forgive you and take you in his love. But once you cross over, there is a great chasm fixed between you and God that will never, ever, ever be bridged.

I’m going to save the last point for tonight. Death is the great clarifier. Now, before you get too restless, before I lose your mind completely, I really can’t lose your mind, but you can lose your mind but I may lose your attention: what’s one of the other great clarifiers God uses? Say it again: church, God’s local church. The more a local church becomes true and pure and right, it’s kind of an agent, sort of like a chemical catalyst, if you will. That’s not exactly right in chemistry where if you add it to something it clarifies what it is, it reveals what it is. You immerse a person in a healthy local church and in time they’ll be exposed for what they are. They will either stay and love it or wander away and leave it. It doesn’t mean that everybody that leaves us is wicked. I don’t mean that but a bunch of them are. “They went out from us that it might be shown that all were not really of us,” John said. If they had been of us, they would have undoubtedly stayed with us. Another clarifier until heaven, until death, is God’s local church. In time it reveals the nature of the heart. Now, there are good brothers and sisters God leads to do other things. I do know that but we have to accept the other side of that balanced truth also.

Well, Luke 16. We’ll talk about the rest of this tonight.

Let’s stand together, alright?