Please take your Bibles and turn with me in them to the Gospel account of Luke, chapter 16. It's found on page 1,113 in the Pew Bibles. Luke, chapter 16. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. We'll read verses 14 through 31. Our text, though, will be the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, verses 19 through 31. We'll also read from 1 John this morning. 1 Luke 16. Page 1113. People of God, hear now not my words, but the very words of God. The Pharisees who were lovers of money heard all these things and they ridiculed Him. And he said to them, 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 laid a 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, for I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, child, Remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, Lazarus in like manner, bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. 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 Moses 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, They do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Let us turn to the first letter of John, chapter three. It's found on page 1,303 in our pew Bibles. First John, first Peter, second Peter, first John, second John, third John. We'll read verses 16 through 18 of 1 John 3. 1 John 3, beginning at verse 16. By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us. and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth, as far the reading of the word of God. Congregation, God places many people in our lives to give us advice. Young people, the Lord has given you your parents part of that purpose. Give us advice, perhaps even caution us, to warn us. It's a great blessing to have that sort of connection with wise persons. Sometimes the advice we receive, it's correct. Sometimes not. We have to weigh what we are told now in this life. But God has given us a sure, reliable guide that is always correct for what we are to believe, how we are to live. That's the Bible. God's Word. Now this morning, we consider a parable. There's much to learn from it, we won't even be close to plumbing the depths of it, but it seems there are two main teachings woven in this parable. First, that our eternal situation, for good or ill, is according to how we live in this life. Second, that in making judgments for how we are to live, the word of God is more important than our experience. And you and I would do very well to listen to what God says. As I proclaim to you, listen to God's word today to live for eternity. Listen to God's word today to live for eternity. First, we want to consider from verses 19 through 21 of our Luke reading about living now, living now. Jesus begins this parable. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen. and who feasted sumptuously every day." Now, this isn't the only parable Jesus told that begins with a rich man, but there's something different about this one. He was not only rich, he showed off his riches. He indulged in his earthly riches. The clothing that he dressed in was the color of clothing that kings would wear. The material of the clothing was very fine. His diet was not sparse, he was well off. Today people would probably call this man, as one commentator put it, filthy rich. Now there's nothing wrong with someone being rich. But already in how Jesus is describing this man, we get a sense that there is something wrong with him. Jesus continues. And at his gate was laid a 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." What a picture in contrast. That's often what Jesus does in the parables, making clear the principles he's teaching. He uses these extremes. And we are to take those principles by God's grace and apply them to our situations that are not extreme. Jesus gives the name Lazarus to this man. Just because the poor man is named doesn't require that this situation actually happened. But that Jesus gives a man this name is significant. Notice that no name was given to the rich man. As the story shows, God knows this poor man. But another significance is in what this name Lazarus means. Something like God is my help. By giving this name to this poor man, Jesus seems to intend us to understand he's not only poor, but he is especially trusting in God. God is his help. Now we think in this too, how Jesus relates that Lazarus is covered with sores. Now children, think back, Bible stories. Whom do you remember who was covered in sores? You think back in Job, right? Job who, as the story began and finished in his book, one of the wealthiest man in his time. Yet in God's providence, Satan destroyed Job's wealth and again in God's providence, With God's permission, Satan afflicted Job with sores from head to foot. And yet by God's grace, Job trusted in God in spite of his affliction. What Jesus therefore presents to us, to those who know the Bible, who remember these stories, is someone like Job, a poor man who's covered in sores, yet trusting in God. Now, while some in the world would like to say the rich are necessarily better than the poor, and there are some who would like to say the poor are necessarily better than the rich simply because of the amount or lack of amount of money they have, God does not view things that way. A rich man can be very virtuous. A poor man can be wicked. Obviously, from this parable, it can be the other way around. Don't judge someone spiritually based upon their earthly wealth. But Jesus does want us to understand this poor man is trusting in God. And with this situation, Jesus also brings out something that's not unusual, even in our living now, is inequality. Some people are rich and some are poor. Some are very rich. Some are very poor. Because we live in a fallen world, a broken world, Some rich people do not care that some people, people right outside their door, people they encounter every day, are horribly poor. Sometimes poverty is a result of someone's sin. It's not the situation for everyone. We should not assume it for this situation. We do not know how the rich man became rich. We do not know how Lazarus became poor or how it is he was covered with sores. But how Jesus presents us with this situation, we are to understand this rich man to be an unbeliever, cares only for himself. Consider the actions through what we read in 1 John 3, if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? The answer, it's a rhetorical question, the answer is God's love does not. abide in such a person. This rich man is in great sin. The love of God does not abide in him. He is an unbeliever. Such goes on in our lives today in this broken world. Sometimes maybe these contrasts are resolved in this life, but let us not be shocked if they are not resolved in this life. We live in a broken world. Let us pause here and ask ourselves a question, to examine ourselves. What would you and I do in such a situation, if you were this rich man? And we could also ask if you were this poor man. I imagine all of us would say, if we were the rich man, that we would help Lazarus. That's an extreme. Let's apply this broader to where we live. the imbalances that you encounter in your everyday life. What inequalities are there that you can fix but perhaps you and I choose not to? Whether wealth or education or racial advantages, so forth. Perhaps we don't want to take the time. Maybe we don't want to be inconvenienced. Maybe we aren't even aware. of such inequalities. Now again, sometimes inequalities are the fault of individuals. That's true. But you and I ought not to get stuck in a rut in our lives that we stop looking around, opening our eyes, opening our hearts by God's grace. Now, we're not advocating simply throwing money at someone or a situation. It's rarely the solution. Often solutions and They involve time, effort, ourselves. Jesus spoke this parable in very extreme terms, but let's not stop from applying it to our everyday situation. Otherwise we would not apply it at all, because most likely, I don't know everyone here, but most likely we are not all filthy rich as this man was, and we most likely do not encounter persons like Lazarus right before us. But the principle is there. As Jesus brings out, we all have only so much time in this life. And if Jesus does not return beforehand, we will all die. And that moves us then to our second point about living hereafter, living hereafter. From verses 22 through 26, Jesus continues the parable. 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. Before we exposit this part, we should note that in this single parable We have much that is taught about the life hereafter. Now we need to be careful not to take from what is said here and move to speculation, especially important as this is preached, rather than studying or in a men's society or some other society. We'll try to stay with what's clear, what's obvious, readily confirmed by other scriptures. To begin with, though, what's clear is that when this life is over, you continue to exist. Death is not the end of man. Young people, you'll hear many voices out there that say death is the end. We're all just things, physical things, and when death comes, that's it. No, it is not it. Death is not the end of the believer. Death is not the end for the unbeliever. All mankind continues to exist after death. And something else that is clear from this parable, confirmed by scriptures, is that after this life, there are two types of existence. One is of bliss, where Abraham and Lazarus are. Called here by Jesus, Abraham's side. Other translations, Abraham's bosom. There's bliss and there's torment. Where the rich man goes, called here by Jesus, Hades. Now we aren't explicitly told the place Abraham sighed is one of bliss, that's clear though from the contrasts, as well as other scriptures. We are told the rich man is in torment. Young people, and you'll hear many voices, and some that say, hell is here on earth and I'm not too worried about the life hereafter, even going to hell, don't listen to that. Don't listen to those voices that make a mockery of hell. Hell is real. Hell is terrible. It's torment. Now we don't know where these places are. We don't even know exactly what they are. It's beyond what God has revealed to us. It's obvious our bodies don't go to these places currently for both men died and Jesus even mentions the rich man was buried. Our bodies are still on the earth, in the earth, but they continue to exist. Our souls continue to exist after death while our bodies are placed in the ground and turned to dust. The unity that God created us to be as living creatures, it's sundered at death into body and soul. So clearly sundered. No one has ever gone to hell and come back to tell us. but we have God's word as testimony here. Now there are people who claim to have died, they claim to have gone to heaven as well as to hell, but do not base your idea of the life hereafter on the claims of mere humans. How do you know whom to believe? Some years ago, maybe you heard of it, there was a boy who claimed to have died and gone to heaven, and then he came back, and he wrote a book about his experience. I think it was even made into a movie. And some years after, after he grew up, he admitted he made up all of what he said. And wonderfully, he urged people not to listen to him, but to listen to God's Word, the Bible. We'll come to that more in our third point. We see here, as Jesus continues the parable of this life hereafter, what goes on here, the rich man called out, verse 24, Father Abraham, We don't know how the rich man could feel, what he feels, how he feels anguish without a body. We don't know where the water could come from and so forth. There's much we don't know. We don't even know for sure if there's communication between those in different places. Again, this is the only passage that really brings some of these things out. It's told as a story, a parable. We need to be careful how we take it. What is clear is the rich man knows he's in torment, and he desires relief. He called out, he acknowledged Abraham as his father, his ancestor according to the flesh. This man's a Jew, and he tries to appeal to him for mercy. But Abraham said, child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things. Lazarus and like men are bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. It's as though the tables are turned. The first shall be last, the last shall be first, as Jesus said on other occasions. This rich man enjoyed life for, we don't know, maybe 40, 60, 80 years, but in the life hereafter he is torment, anguish, and there's no end of it. Another item we see here is that how we live in the life hereafter, it's according to how we live in this life. That's a clear message of this parable. Abraham references the good the rich man enjoyed and the hardship that Lazarus had. We see with the rich man he lived in unbelief. He lived sumptuously. He had his fun, so to speak. He took no care of the poor. He acknowledged not the Lord, although again he would have claimed to be a Jew. He claimed Abraham as his father. His Jewishness did not save him. Similarly, today, one's membership in the church, no matter how good a church, does not guarantee that a person will be in heaven. It will be judged according to what we have done. And what each one has done, as our reading in John makes clear, is a result of God's love abiding in him or not. And as we know from the scriptures, as John wrote about and brings out a connection in the verse we read, God's love abiding in someone comes about only as we are united to Jesus. The one who loved, who loved such that he laid down his own life for sinners. Believe in Jesus and you are saved. Believe in Jesus and God for the sake of Jesus forgives all your sins. He accounts you righteous at the first moment of saving faith and then God begins to renew you so that you have a beginning of loving him, of loving your neighbor, so that you bring forth good deeds. God judges according to our deeds. For the believer, our deeds, our good deeds, our evidence, we're united to Jesus. And being united to Jesus, it is his righteousness that's the basis of our entering into eternal life, eternal bliss. For while God judges according to our deeds, it's not our good deeds that merit our entering into heaven. It's Christ's righteousness alone, credited to us through faith alone. That is the basis, Christ's righteousness of our entering into heaven. Our good deeds testify we belong to Christ, that the love of God is in us. They're the evidence, the outworking, the evidence that that final judgment is according to. Whereas the Christian faith declares God sent His Son to fulfill all righteousness. that though he was rich, rich beyond what this rich man was, though he was rich for our sake, he became poor. He emptied himself of all the glory and the praise, the comforts he had, emptied himself to take upon himself the form of a servant. He became obedient even unto death, the death of the cross. But on the third day God raised Jesus from the dead and righteousness and life are in Jesus and Him alone. Trust Him and God accounts you righteous. He accounts you righteous and He begins to renew you to live out that righteousness. That the love you have received from God you then reflect and begin to shower on others. The rich man, he lacked good deeds because he lacked Christ. He lacked faith in Christ. Lazarus had good deeds. Now, maybe you say, well, what good deeds? Sounds like nothing was mentioned about what Lazarus did, only his sores and the evil he received, so to speak, bad things. His good deeds, they're implicit in that he entrusted himself to God in his affliction. Calmness of spirit. What do we see in our society around from some, but they rise up in rebellion, don't they, at inequality? Lazarus cast himself upon Jesus, upon the Messiah, upon God. Calmness of spirit, that, that is evidence that God was at work in his heart. Think of Job. Trust in God, showing forth in good deeds. Lazarus believed, and so he is in glory in the life hereafter. God was his refuge. God was his help. Then Abraham says, as Jesus continues the parable, 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. The rich man was getting what he deserved because of his sin, his lack of love. Even if Abraham desired to relieve him, he could not. No creature could. There's no passing between Abraham's side and Hades. There's no passing between heaven and hell. That too is clearly taught. The Lord sends you to heaven or hell. Once there, you are there forever. Then we hear again from voices around us, Love wins. There's no ultimate hell forever. There is. Don't listen to those voices. Listen to God's Word. Dear friend, where will you be in the life hereafter? Examine yourself. What do your deeds say about you? What do they testify? Where is your hope? Is it in God through Christ and therefore you're an heir of eternal life? Or do your deeds testify that you are looking for life here? In riches, in pleasures, in food, in clothing, in work, perhaps even in family. If that's where your hope is, And as God's servant, I caution you, if your hope is not in Christ, you are under God's wrath. Repent and believe. Cast yourself upon Jesus, not church membership, not wealth, not pleasures, not how you feel. By God's grace, believe and be saved now and for eternity. There is a life hereafter. There is also more here. We move to in our third point, verses 27 through 31, living by God's Word. Now ordinarily, perhaps reading this for the first time, we would expect Jesus to conclude the parable with verse 26 or maybe a brief summary statement of that principle, but He continues it. by having the one who had been a rich man on earth make a request of Abraham. 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. Now it is commendable that this man is concerned for his brothers. Is there such concern in hell? Is there some ember of love? Well, let's not draw that conclusion. Again, it seems that the point of Jesus introducing this request leads to the teaching point. which Jesus gets to, but Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. That is, let the brothers hear Moses and the prophets. Moses and the prophets, they make clear that each and every person ought to repent of sin and cast themselves upon the Messiah. That's the whole point of the sacrificial system that God instituted through Moses. Children, do you remember what stands out as you think of Moses and the laws given? Well, the Ten Commandments. But this sacrifice, and that sacrifice, and another sacrifice, and the priesthood, and the tabernacle, and later the temple. You are a sinner. You need a substitute to suffer God's wrath against your sin. The Messiah is coming. Cast yourself upon Him as the only Savior. Then being saved, love God. Love neighbor. Live as one who has been delivered. Isn't that how the Ten Commandments begin? I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. And then he goes in to tell them how to live out of gratitude. All that is clearly in the Old Testament. That is the Word of God. And the Word of God is sufficient for someone to come to faith and repentance. All we need to know for faith and life is recorded here, even in the Old Testament. It's recorded for us. How much more then is it so clearly made evident in the New Testament? But the rich man goes on. He disagrees with Abraham. 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. Now we expect the rich man's response by nature, don't we? Don't we think? Aren't we tempted to think, prone to think that if something amazing would happen, then people will believe. It's as though we think someone can will themselves to believe that if they don't believe, well, maybe the evidence wasn't weighty enough for them to choose to believe. Maybe it wasn't presented in a winsome, persuasive way as you're seeking for a minister. Don't think it's the eloquence of the man that matters. It's does he preach the Word of God? This man is blaming God for where he's at, rather than blame himself. Why didn't God warn him? Why didn't God tell him what his actions would result in? As the rich man, dressed like royalty, walked past Lazarus day after day, as the dogs were licking Lazarus' sore, as the rich man feasted while Lazarus desired to have scraps, why didn't God tell me? You can see it's so obviously wrong. The rich man is to make this complaint. Yet it isn't what the atheist says. If there's a God, why didn't He reveal Himself? God has. The problem isn't God. The problem isn't God's revelation. The problem is us, our sinful selves. Here's something startling, something that perhaps we did not expect when this parable began for the first time when we heard it. The message about loving our neighbor, sharing, that seems to be the expected message. It's one we all need to hear, certainly. I need to hear it. But also here is the message about the sufficiency of God's Word. And that isn't what we expected to hear at first, but Jesus makes it plain. God has given us His Word. His Word. The Pharisees had it, but they were lovers of money. The disciples had it. You and I have it. In the Bible, God makes plain that all humans are sinners and under God's wrath. He has made plain He sent His Son who has brought righteousness and life, the kingdom of heaven by His life, death, resurrection. Now we are to live grateful lives, loving God, loving neighbor. We read plainly, didn't we, if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? It's plain, it's clear. Children, you can understand the central message of the Bible. Someone coming from the dead won't make it any plainer. And yet, again, aren't we tempted? What if someone from the dead, what if an angel came from heaven and stood right here? Wow. Did we get that on live stream? Did we record that? That was something. Let's show it, let's broadcast it. Wow, that's what we, no. We don't merely need more knowledge. In fact, we even have God's Word. Believe it. Live by it. We need God to change our hearts. We need God to open our minds to convince us, as Abraham said in this parable. Think to us. We have Moses. We have the prophets. We have the gospel accounts. We have the epistles. We have the full counsel of God. We have it proclaimed to us twice every Sunday. We have it read in our homes and elsewhere. May God bless it to us. Don't look for extraordinary acts of God as the world might. Ask Him to take away your spiritual blindness and hindrances, the sin that clouds us, the lack of faith. Ask God to take away the spiritual blindness of your unbelieving family and neighbors and coworkers and enemies. That's how people begin to change. It's not government stepping in and redistributing wealth that results in paradise. It's God's work rooted in God's word. It's what the Reformation sought to recover and unleash. Not religious ceremonies. God's Word. That's why at Dutton URC, preaching is emphasized. There's no drama. There's no dancing. There's no praise band or emotive music to get us in the mood of worship. We need to hear God's Word, and we need God to open our eyes to His Word, by His Word, to convince us to change us. The rich man was looking in all the wrong places in his earthly life and the life hereafter. You see, he still hasn't heard, listened, believed. His heart was hard, even in anguish. May the Lord open our eyes, change our hearts, renew us, have us hear and listen, believe and love. Dear friend, you still have time, humanly speaking. This message has come to you. God's Word has been declared to you. And there are people praying for you. By God's grace, receive His Word, believe Him, and out of the abundance that God gives you, live a life of loving your neighbor, demonstrating that God's love abides in you. That you're united to Christ, that your hope is not here, but in Him there. And may God receive all the praise. Listen to God's Word today to live for eternity. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, what a rich blessing You have given us. in giving us the Bible, your Word. Lord, bless it to us. Open our hearts to hear, to understand, to believe. Change us, O Lord, and we will be changed, that we would love you and love our neighbor, that even now you would begin to work in us that eternal glory that Christ has brought, that that would be at work here in us within this congregation. And may you receive all the praise. Continue that work, further it. We thank you, you are at work. And we rejoice as we do see the fruits of your work here in abundance. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.