Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Amen. Bill Flavel is vice president of Atheist Alliance International. In his essay, Eight Reasons Christianity is False, he writes, There is clear evidence that the arguments presented for the existence of the Jewish God are logically flawed. All of them have been shown to be unreliable. If this were not the case, all honest and intelligent people would accept that God exists, just as all honest and intelligent people accept that black holes exist. Atheists think they are wise, but they are fools. They think they reject Christianity because they have honestly considered the evidence. They beg the question, however, for if Christianity is true, then men suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and they do not honestly consider the evidence. The Pharisees rejected Jesus not because there was no evidence that he is the Christ. They rather rejected him because they sinfully misconstrued the evidence. Noah Webster defined Pharisee as one of a sect among the Jews whose religion consisted in a strict observance of rites and ceremonies and of the traditions of the elders and whose pretended holiness led them to separate themselves as a sect, considering themselves as more righteous than other Jews. In the time of Jesus's earthly ministry, the Pharisees were his greatest enemies. He continually criticized them, and they continually plotted to destroy him. The Pharisees pretended to love the law of God, but they only loved fame and fortune. Jesus told his disciples, beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Jesus said to the multitude of people with him and his disciples, take heed and beware of covetousness. For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. Then Jesus told the parable of the rich fool who planned to accumulate even more wealth to hoard, but whose life God would take before he could fulfill his plan. Jesus said, so is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God. Having wealth is no sin, but having wealth and not using it for the kingdom of God is a sin. Jesus told the people, sell that ye have and give alms. Provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. The Pharisees were the religious leaders of Israel, and they were to lead the people of God by precept and by example. Yet they cared not for the welfare of the people, but only to receive from them money and praise. Jesus denounced the Pharisees and proclaimed upon them God's judgment, He told the people that they must be prepared to give up everything to follow him. He told his disciples the parable of the unjust steward, who used money to make friends in this life. He told them that they ought to be like that steward, but rather use money to make friends for the next life. He told them that they must not be like the Pharisees, They must not serve money, rather they must serve God. In order to illustrate the parable of the unjust steward, Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus. There was a rich man who daily wore the finest clothes and ate the finest food. There was also a beggar named Lazarus who lay outside the rich man's gate. This beggar was covered in sores and he longed to eat whatever fell from the rich man's table. What is more, dogs would lick his sores. It happened that the beggar died and angels carried him to Abraham's bosom. Abraham's bosom was the Jewish term for the future state of blessedness. Abraham's bosom is a place of joy and repose, a great feast where the faithful of God lean upon the breast of Abraham, so to speak, as Saint John leaned upon the breast of Jesus. The rich man also died and was buried. He found himself in Hades being in torment. He was able to see Abraham far away and Lazarus with him, And he cried out, saying, 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. Abraham answered him, saying, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot. Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. The rich man in his lifetime had more than he needed, and he lived luxuriously. It was not wrong to have wealth. It was wrong, however, to have wealth, but to have no regard for the wretched Lazarus whom he might have helped. He did not love his neighbor as himself, and neither did he love God with his whole heart. He cared only for himself and his own pleasure. Lazarus did not go to Abraham's bosom simply in virtue of the poverty and sickness he suffered, but because he suffered those things faithfully. In death the tables were turned. Lazarus was blessed while the rich man was in agony in flames and longed for a sip of water to cool his tongue. Insolent even in death, the rich man dared to tell Abraham to send over Lazarus to give him comfort. Abraham told the rich man that nothing could be done for him. It was too late. Their respective positions illustrate Jesus' teaching when he said, whosoever will save his life shall lose it, Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. For what is a man advantaged if he gain the whole world and lose himself or be cast away? In death, the ends of the rich man and Lazarus were fixed. Moreover, there was between the righteous and the unrighteous a great chasm, so that Abraham and Lazarus were not able to ease the rich man's suffering. The rich man, accepting that he could not change his circumstances, turned his thoughts to his brothers who yet lived, and he pleaded with Abraham, saying, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. The rich man was resigned to his punishment, but he hoped that his brothers might not meet the same end. If Abraham could not send Lazarus to him to ease his pain, then he might send Lazarus back into the world to warn his brothers of the misery they would suffer. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. With this, Abraham affirmed the sufficiency of scripture. The phrase Moses and the prophets refers to the Hebrew scriptures. The Jews, in principle, accepted them as the Word of God. In practice, however, many did not obey them as the Word of God. Jesus preached his Sermon on the Mount to give the true teaching of the scriptures and to correct the false teaching of the religious leaders of Israel. In that sermon, he said, think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets, I am not come to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven. But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. As Jesus taught in the parable of the unjust steward, The Pharisees had relaxed the righteous requirements of the law in order to secure the favor of the people. Jesus, in his earthly ministry, set forth the true meaning of the law, and he contradicted the errors of the scribes and Pharisees. The scriptures are the word of God, and so have the authority of God. Moreover, their meaning is clear, the corruption of the Pharisees notwithstanding. Saint Paul wrote to Saint Timothy, from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Furthermore, the scriptures teach about Christ. Jesus said, search the scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me that ye may have life, For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words? The Jews said they believed Moses, but they did not. And if they sinfully refused to believe a prophet of God, they would also sinfully refuse to believe the Son of God. Abraham told the rich man that the scriptures are sufficient for people to know what God requires of them. They're sufficient for people to know what is required of them for eternal life. Abraham said that the scriptures are sufficient for faith and that it is not necessary for someone to come back from the dead to tell people what they ought to do. The rich man was unconvinced, however, and said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. The rich man did not believe in the sufficiency of the scriptures. He did not believe that they were enough to move his brothers to do what God requires. He thought that if someone rose from the dead and told his brothers what he had seen, then they would believe and change their ways. Abraham contradicted the rich man saying, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. The rich man's brothers had the scriptures, the word of God, delivered through the prophets of God, and those scriptures told them what they needed to know. They did not believe the word of God, they would not believe the word of someone who said he had risen from the dead. It is foolish to think that the scriptures are not sufficient for people to know the mind and will of God. And it is foolish to think that people who doubt the scriptures will believe empirical evidence like a miracle. When Jesus cast out demons by the power of the Holy Spirit, the Pharisees, when they heard of it, said, he casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. Some demanded a sign of his authority, as if his casting out demons was not itself such a sign. Shortly after Jesus told the story of the rich man and Lazarus, a friend of Jesus named Lazarus did die. And after he had been dead for four days, Jesus went to his tomb and raised him from the dead. How did the people respond? Saint John writes, then many of the Jews which came to Mary and had seen the things which Jesus did believed on him. But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees and told them what things Jesus had done. And the Pharisees, how did they respond when they heard the report? They gathered together at council with the chief priests And they discussed what to do about Jesus. They did not deny that he did many miracles, but they worried that the people would make him ruler, and then the Romans would destroy the temple and the whole nation. So they agreed to destroy Jesus. What is more, because many people believed in Jesus on account of his raising Lazarus from the dead, The chief priests consulted how they might kill Lazarus also. On the Sunday morning after the death of Jesus, there was a great earthquake, and the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, rolled back the stone that covered the entrance of Jesus' tomb, and he sat upon the stone. The soldiers guarding the tomb shook with fear and became as dead men. Some of them went into the city of Jerusalem and reported to the chief priests what they had seen. The chief priests called together the elders, and after they had consulted together, they paid the soldiers a large sum and told them to tell people that Jesus' disciples had stolen his body while he slept. The soldiers did as they were told, and so St. Luke writes, this was the story that the Jews believed. The chief priests believed that Jesus rose from the dead, but they did not believe that God raised him from the dead. They knew the fact of Jesus' resurrection, but they did not know the right interpretation of that fact. They sinfully gave the fact of Jesus's resurrection a false interpretation. If a man is not a Christian, it is not because he does not have good reason to be. He has every reason to be a Christian. He has, first of all, the scriptures, the word of God, which speak of Jesus. After Jesus rose from the dead, he walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, and St. Luke records, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. The man that is not a Christian has, secondly, the resurrection of Jesus, of which Moses and the prophets spoke beforehand, and which the apostles witnessed. Someone might ask for proof of the resurrection of Jesus, but this is a mistake. The resurrection of Jesus is itself proof, proof that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God, of whom all the scriptures speak. When Jesus was casting out demons, the Pharisees said he did it by Beelzebub, the chief of the devils. They demanded from him a sign, and he answered them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. And there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas. For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The resurrection of Jesus is the sign that he is the Christ, the Son of God. If people do not believe in him, it is not because they do not have good evidence, It is because they have bad hearts. Let us boldly proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Let us not be ashamed of the gospel. Let us remember that if a man does not believe in Jesus, it is not because his death and resurrection are doubtful, but rather because that man's sinful heart is full of doubt. Finally, let us thank God that he has opened our hearts to believe. Now unto the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.