Well, as we come again to this parable Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus back in Luke chapter 16, let's ask the Lord's blessing upon us as we come once again to his word. Father, here is this remarkable passage these rather amazing words given to us by the Lord Jesus. And we pray, Father, that we would heed them, that we would read and hear them carefully, that you would use them to strengthen the faith of those that know you. and to convict of sin and need for Christ in those who don't know you, who are still dead in their sins. And so, Father, we ask your blessing on us then as we come to your word, and we pray this all in Christ's name, amen. I didn't do the scripture reading, did I? And so, as it ties into our study here in Luke, let's be sure and do that. The scripture is in Matthew 25, and it's the first 13 verses here. Matthew 25, verses one through 13, the parable of the 10 virgins. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they had no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight, there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. And all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. And that is the certain word of God, and we are to hear and to believe it. Well, Luke chapter 16, the rich man and Lazarus. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, who feasted sumptuously every day in this great contrast. 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 of course, as we've seen, it was then too late. This parable is sobering. It's also encouraging, and we're going to speak about the encouragement a bit later today. That's in regard to what we read here about how Lazarus was received when he died, and he was escorted by the angels into the presence of God, and so it will be with, if you know Christ, That's what's going to happen when you die, is that you're not going to go this alone. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for thou, you are with me, as David said. Well, and so there's encouragement here, but the parable primarily focuses upon the fate of and misery of the rich man who had partied on for his whole entire life, completely oblivious to the needs of anyone else. And this parable is also, when I say a parable, in fact, it may be a real account. These could have well been real people. In fact, I think I read that Lazarus, this Lazarus, is the only one who's named by name in any of the parables that Jesus told. But the focus of this parable, Jesus' primary focus, is on the fate of the wicked, the fate of this rich man. And the parable as such is a very sobering one, and it's meant to be. In fact, it's terrifying. It has terrifying elements in it. And as always, even the terrifying thunders of Mount Sinai are meant for our good. All scripture is profitable. It's the word of God. There's not a word in this book, the Bible, that is not intended for our good. And so you have doctrines that we find in this parable such as the fact that hell is real. And even more sobering, hell is eternal. People try to adjust those facts, you know, tweak them a bit so they're not so frightening and eternity becomes more appealing to them even though they reject Christ. But no one can alter these facts. Hell is real. And hell is forever, as R.C. Sproul often said, right? Right now counts forever. So this present life that we live in this fallen world counts forever because largely our lives in this world are a, you might be called a great probation. Every human being. Well, in this life, in this world, is on probation and what's the test? What is the test that the Lord's examining? Well, the test is this, what will you do with Jesus? What will you do with this gospel that tells us that the Son of God came into this world born of a virgin, he revealed the Father to us, he perfectly obeyed, every single one of God's laws for his people. He went to the cross to bear the curse upon himself for his people. He rose again, he ascended to the right hand of the father and he's interceding there for his elect. but right now counts forever. What does a person, who do you say that I am, right? There's the greatest question that we ever have to deal with. So what a person does with the gospel now counts forever, either to eternal life or as in, as we see the case of the rich man, eternal damnation. Two ways, broad way, easy way that leads to death, The narrow way, the hard way, that leads to life, and few are they then who find it. And that's illustrated for us right here in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. So we see that this is a remarkable passage in this sense. People ask themselves, you've asked yourself, you've wondered about this. We tend to kind of squelch the subject, you know, but What happens when people die? What's going to happen to me? What's it going to be like when I die? People come up with all kinds of silly answers. Well, when you're dead, you're dead. Everybody knows that they are going to continue. You're not going to just to maintain that, well, I'm just not going to exist anymore. Where'd you go? You have to go somewhere. You can't just not exist. You're created by God. Some researchers want to look into this. And they actually, they want to determine, you know, does a person have a soul at all? Does the soul really leave the body when a person dies? What happens, you know? So they do, you know, I don't know, brilliant researchers can be pretty stupid sometimes. And so what they actually have done is, they would, I don't know how they timed it, or what they thought, but they would actually, put a person that was about to die on a scale. So that at the moment of death, they wanted to see if the soul weighed anything. You know, if they suddenly weighed less. I don't know what they found out, but apparently it wasn't published. But we all think about this. What happens when we die? The Bible tells us for the believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. The real you. It's okay to use the term soul, but it's kind of impersonal in a sense. I like the term you, or me, because that's who we really are. We aren't really a physical body. We are us, it's me, it's you, it's the person of, it's the essence of who we are. Ultimately, in a way, you could say that a person, as created by God, is body and soul. I mean, that's the resurrection. We will, our bodies will be raised. But we're reminded of this matter of death. It's all around us, really, isn't it? Cemeteries, just think of cemeteries, for example. There's a lot of cemeteries around, but we grow accustomed to this. We grow, you know, well, yeah, there's that cemetery on the corner. Or you can look on, I've seen some of these on YouTube, actual movies, old movies that they've kind of colorized of, say, Paris or San Francisco in 1906. So you look at those things, and what I think of when I look at that is, There's little kids, there's babies, there's adults, and so forth. And lots of people, they show them on the streets. And I look at that, and I think, every single one of those people is dead. Every one of them, unless somebody lived to a couple hundred years or whatever, they are all dead. And I'm going to be someday as well. So what happens when we die? You pick up your paper. Obituaries, right? There's obituaries in them. Oh, so-and-so died. Traffic fatalities, deaths from disease. I mean, death is all around. The funeral home on the corner. in almost every community are reminders of this thing called death and reminds us of what happens then when we die. And what I say is that this parable that Jesus told of the rich man and Lazarus is particularly remarkable because it answers that question. In this parable, Jesus is like, pulling back the shades and showing us what's there when a person dies, be it the wicked or a righteous person. And he puts the question to us, do you believe this? These are the words, and we don't wanna forget this as we look at the parable that this is the Son of God speaking. And that's why this parable focuses primarily then on the rich men, on the wicked, so that, well, you know, there's a lot of God's word in the scripture. You think of thundering Mount Sinai, for instance, right, in the Old Testament. There's the blessings and the curses in Deuteronomy 28. And parables like this, and scriptures like this in the New Testament, you see. In the epistles, apostle to the Hebrews, our God is a consuming fire. There's passages like this that literally are given to us to scare the devil out of us. It's like you're serving the devil. You need to get free from him or you're gonna end in hell, just like him, than in the lake of fire. People use these phrases all the time in their talk to minimize what should terrorize them. So for instance, how many people? All the time, I mean, you hear it all the time. It's similar to what R.C. was saying, we heard in the first hour today about blaspheming with the name of God. But how many times through the week will you hear somebody say, use the phrase, oh, that scared the hell out of me? Well, you know, if you don't know Christ, hell has not been scared out of you. You've never really, that kind of fright that you're talking about by using that phrase, that's nothing. That is absolutely, that's nothing. The kind of terror that you need to feel is the kind that God only gives in his grace in order to drive us then to Christ, you see. And so here we see here in this parable, while it is today, do not harden your heart. Don't do what this wicked man did, this rich man did. because tomorrow is too late. Well, what I want to do for the rest of our time together is to read you. See, I phrased it this way. I said I was going to begin this morning by sharing some words from J.C. Ryle with you. By the time I got to page 15 here, I realized that I won't be just beginning, because there was too much. Oh, I can't leave that out either. J.C. Ryle, you've heard me talk about him a lot. Lived in the 1800s, a pastor in England. Books like this one, Practical Religion, a must have if you wanna have somebody that really teaches and preaches and drives home scripture. There's few like J.C. Ryle. So what I wanna do then is share these words from Ryle with you as he is speaking about, in fact, he basically preached on this very parable And it's found in, well, it's actually found in this book, Practical Religion, and it's in the chapter entitled Riches and Poverty. So here we go, and you can follow along in your handout there, and I can't improve on what he said, so here we are. Let's listen to J.C. Rowell. There are probably very few readers of the Bible who are not familiar with the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. It's one of those passages of scripture which leaves an indelible impression on the mind. Like the parable of the prodigal son, once read, it's never forgotten. The reason for this is clear and simple. The whole parable is a most vividly painted picture. The story as it goes carries our senses with it with irresistible power. Instead of readers, we become onlookers. We're witnesses of all the events described. We see, we hear, we believe we could almost touch. The rich man's table, the purple, the fine linen, the gate, the beggar lying by it. the sores, the dogs, the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, the two deaths, the rich man's burial, the ministering angels, Abraham's side, the rich man's fearful waking up, the fire, the great separation, the hopeless remorse, all stand out before our eyes in bold relief and stamp themselves upon our minds. This is the attainment of the famous Arabian standard of eloquence, he speaks best, who turns the ear into an eye, so you can virtually see, especially the rich man, Lazarus as well. But after all, it's one thing to admire the brilliant composition of this parable, and quite another to understand the spiritual lessons it contains. The eye of the intellect, can often see beauties, while the heart remains asleep and sees nothing at all. Hundreds read Pilgrim's Progress with deep interest, to whom the struggle for the celestial city is foolishness. Thousands are familiar with every word of the parable before us today, who never consider how it applies to them, to their own situation. Their conscience is deaf to the cry which ought to ring in their ears as they read, you are the man, thou art the man. Their heart never turns to God with the solemn question, Lord, is this my picture? Lord, is it me? I invite you today to consider the leading truths which this parable is meant to teach us. May the Holy Spirit give us a teachable spirit and an understanding heart and therefore produce lasting impressions on our souls. Let us observe first of all how different the conditions are which God allots to different persons. The Lord Jesus begins the parable by telling us about a rich man and a beggar. He does not say a word in praise of either poverty or riches. He describes the circumstances of a wealthy man and the circumstances of a poor man. But he neither condemns the earthly position of one nor praises that of the other. The contrast between the two men is painfully striking. Look closely at the picture before us. Here is one who possessed an abundance of this world's goods. A rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. Here's another who literally has nothing. He is a friendless, diseased, half-starved, destitute person. At the rich man's gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus covered with sores, and he begs for crumbs. Both are children of Adam. Both came from the same dust and belong to one family. Both are living in the same land and subject to the same government. And yet, how different is their condition? But we must be careful. that we do not draw lessons from the parable which it was never meant to teach. The rich are not always bad persons and do not always go to hell. The poor are not always good people and do not always go to heaven. We must not rush into the extreme of supposing that it is sinful to be rich. We must not run away with the idea that there is anything wicked in the difference of condition here described and that God intended all men to be equal. There is nothing in our Lord Jesus' words to warrant any such conclusion. He simply describes things as they are often seen in the world and as we must expect to see them. He goes on, Raoul actually goes on at this point as an Englishman, and I think possibly he's taking a bit of an issue with our with America's, I guess, well, is it in the preamble? Is that the preamble of the Constitution? All men are created equal, right? All men are created equal. And he basically says that's foolishness. And actually, in some points, well, that's a side issue. In some points, you could see, Well, there's some truth in that, that not all men are created equal, and there's some truth in it, so there we go. But we move on to a second point. Let us observe in the next place that a person's worldly condition is no test of the state of their soul, okay? This is very important. The rich man in the parable appears to have been the world's pattern of a prosperous man. If the life that now is were all there is, then he seems to have everything that a heart could wish for. We know that he was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. The purple dye, by the way, was extremely expensive in those days, that's the point. We needn't doubt that he had everything else that money could buy. The wisest of men had good reason saying, Money is the answer for everything. The rich have many friends. And from Ecclesiastes and Proverbs. It's true, right? Yeah, the rich have many friends. The poor guy, well. But who can read this story completely through without seeing that in the highest and best sense, the rich man was pathetically poor. Take away the good things of his life, and he has nothing left. Nothing after death, nothing beyond the grave, nothing in the world to come. With all of his riches, like his spiritual cousin, the rich fool, he had no treasure laid up in heaven. With all of his purple and fine linen, he had no garment of righteousness. With all of his rich and successful friends, he had no friend and advocate at God's right hand. And with all his sumptuous food, he had never tasted the bread of life with his entire magnificent palace. He had no home in the eternal world. Without God, without Christ, without faith, without grace, without forgiveness, without holiness, he lives to himself for a few short years and then goes down hopelessly into the pit of hell. How hollow and unreal was all his prosperity. Judge what I say, the rich man was very poor. Lazarus appears to have been one who had literally nothing in the world. It is hard to conceive a case of greater misery and destitution than his. He had neither house, nor money, nor food, nor health, nor in all probability even clothes. His picture is one that can never be forgotten. At the rich man's gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores. He longed to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. Indeed, the wise men might well say, well, the poor are shunned even by their neighbors, but the rich have many friends. Poverty is the ruin of the poor. And so it is in this world. But anyone who reads the parable to the end cannot fail to see that in the highest sense, Lazarus was not poor, but rich. Lazarus was a child of God. He was an heir of glory. He possessed enduring riches and righteousness. His name was in the book of life. His place was prepared for him in heaven. He had the best of clothing. the righteousness of a savior. He had the best of friends. God himself was his advocate. He had the best of food. He had food to eat the world knew nothing of, and best of all, he had these things forever. He has them right now, and he always will. They supported him in life. They did not leave him in the hour of death. They went with him beyond the grave. They were with him in eternity. Surely in this point of view, we may well say, not poor Lazarus, but rich Lazarus. We would do well to measure all men by God's standard, to measure them not by the amount of their income, but by the condition of their souls. And by the way, you know, think about that carefully. Isn't it true that even among, let's just, of course it's true in the world, but even among so many churches today, People have in their mind, professing Christians have in their mind, well look at that guy right there. God has really blessed his life. And they're judging by the world's standards, you see, in many, many cases. Ryle warns us against this. We are to judge by the condition of a person's soul, as God does. When the Lord God looks down from heaven and sees the children of men, he ignores many things which are esteemed by the world. He doesn't look at men's money, or lands, or titles. Title, that's a particularly big thing in England, you know, on Ryle's day, and still is. He looks only at the state of their souls. and judges them accordingly. Oh, that you would strive to do likewise. Oh, that you would value grace above titles or intellect or gold. Far too often, the only question asked about a man is, how much is he worth? I read a book one time. It depressed me every time I looked at it. I don't know why I had it around so long before I threw it in the garbage can. It was written by an evangelical pastor of a large church. You know, if you go to a lot of times conferences, pastors' conference, they'll have a keynote speaker. And oftentimes, I mean, this is so stupid, it's virtually sinful. You know, the denominational leaders will come up and say, introduce the pastor. And here's the pastor so-and-so. He's the pastor of a large church in such and such a city, right? He's the pastor of a large church. You couldn't introduce Jesus that way. You couldn't introduce the Apostle Paul that way. But this is what's going on. And so in many cases, even in churches among professing Christians, how much is the guy worth? Anyway, in that book, this pastor goes on to say, well, you know, when I'm considering a man for the office of elder, then, you know, I want to really know this guy. And so I want to find out more about him. So I pull out the church tithing records, and I take a look and see how much money this man is giving, you see. Well, OK, it's one thing to want to know that somebody is faithfully tithing or something. But this more a smack of, well, just how prosperous. Is this man, you see? That's how the world judges. It would be good for us, Ryle says, all to remember that every man is tragically poor until he's rich in faith and rich toward God. As wonderful as it may seem to some, all the money in the world is worthless on God's scales compared to grace. Hard as the saying may sound, I believe that a converted beggar is far more important and honorable in the sight of God than an unconverted king. The one may glitter like the butterfly in the sun, but only for a little while, and then be admired by an ignorant world, but his end is darkness and misery forever. The other may crawl through the world like a worm and be despised by everyone who sees him, but his end is a glorious resurrection and a blessed eternity with Christ. Of him, the Lord says, I know your afflictions and your poverty, yet you are rich. The Lord's words to the church of Smyrna. King Ahab, here's some examples. King Ahab was ruler over 10 tribes of Israel. Obadiah, was nothing more than a servant in his household. Yet who can doubt who was the most precious in God's sight, the servant or the king? Ridley and Latimer, they were true to English martyrs in the Reformation. Ridley and Latimer were deposed from all their dignities, cast into prison as criminals, and in time, burned at the stake. Bonner and Gardner, their persecutors, were raised to the highest point of ecclesiastical greatness, enjoyed large incomes, and died content and untroubled in their beds. Yet, who can doubt which of the two parties was on the Lord's side? Baxter, Richard Baxter, the famous clergyman, was persecuted with savage hostility and condemned to a long imprisonment by a most unjust judgment. This guy's name was Jeffreys. Jeffreys, the Chief Justice, who sentenced him, was a man of shameful character, without either morality or religion. Baxter was sent to jail. Jeffreys was loaded with honors. Yet who can doubt which was the good man of the two? The Chief Justice Jeffreys or the author of the Christ-honoring book, The Saints' Everlasting Rest? We can be very sure that riches and worldly greatness are no sure marks. of God's favor. They are often, in fact, on the contrary, a snare and a hindrance to a man's soul. They make him love the world and forget God. What does Solomon say? Do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. And what does Paul say? People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. We can be sure that poverty and trial are not sure proofs of God's anger. They are often blessings in disguise. They're always sent in love and wisdom. They often serve to wean man from the world. They teach him to set his affections on things above. They often show the sinner his own heart. They often make the saint fruitful in good works. What does the book of Job say? Blessed is the man whom God corrects. So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. And what does Paul say? The Lord disciplines those he loves. and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son. One great secret of happiness in this life is to have a patient, contented spirit. Strive daily to realize the truth, and here it is, if we could just get a hold of this. This life is not the place of reward. This life is not the place of reward. The time of retribution and reward is yet to come. Judge nothing quickly before that time. Remember the words of the wise man, if you see the poor oppressed in a district, and justice and rights denied, don't be surprised at such things. For one official is eyed by a higher one, and over them both are others higher still, meaning the Lord. There is a day of judgment yet to come. That day will put everyone in their right places. At that time, there will be seen a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not. The children of Lazarus, the children of the rich man, will in time be seen in their true colors, and everyone will receive according to his works. If you hunger and thirst after righteousness and you turn on the news, the hunger and thirst just increases and increases. You say, Lord, when are they going to get there? Well, they're going to get theirs, but it's not in this present. That day is coming, the day of reward and the day of retribution. Now, the third point of Ryle here I think is particularly powerful. Let us observe in the next place how all classes of persons will eventually come to the grave. The rich man in the parable died. And Lazarus died too. Different and divided as they were in their lives, they both had to drink of the same cup at the end. Both went to the grave. You're going to go to the grave. And I'm going to go to the grave. We all, short of Christ coming first and taking, we all want to be in that generation, but both went to that place where rich and poor meet together. Thus they were, and in the dust they return. This is the fate of all men. It will be ours too, unless the Lord will first return in glory. After all of our scheming, contriving, planning, and studying, After all our inventions and discoveries and scientific attainments, there remains one enemy we cannot conquer and disarm, and that is death. The chapter in Genesis, which records the long lives of Methuselah, and the rest who lived before the flood, winds up the simple story of each one by two expressive words, he died. And now, after thousands of years, what more can be said of the greatest among ourselves? The histories of, and these are famous Englishmen, except for Washington, I think, the histories of Marlborough and Washington and Napoleon, he was a Frenchman, of course, and Wellington arrive at just the same humbling conclusion, the end of each. And after all his greatness, it's just this, he died. Death is a mighty leveler. He spares none and he waits for none. He will not wait until you are ready. That's a great statement, isn't it? True. Death is not gonna wait until you are ready. It's decreed by the Lord. Doors and bars and locks will not keep him out. A man boasts that his home is his castle. With all his boasting, he can't exclude death. He was an Austrian nobleman. who would not allow death in the smallpox to be named in his presence. But named or not named, it matters little. In God's appointed hour, death will come. One man rolls easily along the road in the most elegant carriage that money can buy. Another struggles as he walks along the path on foot. Yet both are sure to meet in the end under the earth in the grave. One man, like Absalom, has 50 servants to wait on him and do his bidding. Another has none to lift a finger to do him a service. But both are traveling to a place where they must lie down alone. One man has in his possession hundreds of thousands of dollars. Another has scarcely a penny that he can call his own property. And yet, neither one nor the other can carry one cent with them into the unseen world. One man owns nearly half the farmland in a county. Another doesn't even have a small garden. And yet, this is great, six feet of the earth will be fully sufficient for either of them when they're dead. One man pampers his body with every possible delicacy and clothes it in the richest and softest apparel. Another scarcely has enough food to eat and seldom enough clothes to put on. Yet both are hurrying on to a day when ashes to ashes and dust to dust will be proclaimed over them. Fifty years later, no one will be able to say, these are the rich man's bones and these are the bones of the poor, for they will both be nothing but dust. I know that these are familiar thoughts, I don't deny it for a moment. I'm only stating stale old things that everyone knows, but I'm also saying things that not everyone perceives. If they did perceive them, they would not speak and act as they do. You wonder sometimes at the tone and language of ministers of the gospel. You marvel that we press upon you for an immediate decision. Maybe there was more faithful ministers in his day. I don't know. But you think we are extreme and extravagant and eccentric in our views because we urge you to yield your lives to Christ, to leave nothing uncertain, to make sure that you are born again and ready for heaven. You hear, but you don't approve. That's the response of many, right? You go away and say to one another, well, you know the man, the preacher, he means well, but he goes too far. He's too extreme. But don't you see that the reality of death is continually forbidding us from speaking in any other way? We see death gradually thinning our congregations. We miss face after face in our assemblies. We don't know whose turn may come next. We only know that when the tree falls, there it will lie, and that after death comes the judgment. We must be bold and decided and uncompromising in our preaching. We would rather run the risk of offending some than of losing any. We aim at the standard established by that grand old preacher Baxter who said, I will preach as though I would never preach again, and as a dying man to dying men. It was said of one bold and courageous preacher, that man preaches as though death was following close behind him. When I hear him preach, I can't go to sleep. Oh, that men and women would learn to live with an awareness that one day they are going to die. Truly, it's a waste of time to set our hearts on a dying world and its short-lived comforts and pleasures, and for the sake of momentary pleasures, to lose a glorious eternity in heaven. Here we are striving and laboring and exhausting ourselves about little things, running here and there like ants on an ant hill, and yet, after a few years, we will all be gone. And another generation will take our place. Do you ever, you own a home, do you ever sit back and look at it and say, you know, like in our home, Verla and I have lived there for, oh, over 20 years. An older couple owned it, I don't know how many years, before us. And then first he died, and I'm sure she's probably died by now. So they were there. I don't know who was there before them. Cows, I think, the pastor. But you look at that and you think, someday, we're not going to be there. We're going to die. Somebody else is going to be there. And eventually, probably, somebody is going to be there that doesn't even know us. Never even heard of us. That's what death does, when we depart then, this life, you see. Let us live for eternity. Let's seek his kingdom and his righteousness that can never be taken from us. And let's never forget, and Ryle read John Bunyan, let's never forget John Bunyan's golden rule. He that would live well, let him make the thoughts of his dying day his daily friend. and live appropriately, you see. Fourth, let's observe in the next place how precious a believer's soul is in the sight of God. Here's the encouragement part from Lazarus. The rich man in the parable dies and is buried. Perhaps he had an impressive funeral, a funeral in proportion to his wealth and position that he had when he was still alive. But we hear nothing further of his wealth and power when his soul and body were divided in death. The next thing we hear of is that he is in hell. The poor man in the parable also dies. We don't know what type of burial he had. Today, a destitute person's funeral is normally a sad affair. Funeral of Lazarus was probably no better, right, if he had one. But this we do know, that the moment Lazarus dies, he is carried by the angels to Abraham's side, carried to a place of rest where all the faithful are waiting for the resurrection of the just. To my mind, there's something very striking, very touching, and very comforting in this illustration of the parable. I ask your special attention to it. It throws great light on the relation of all sinners who believe in Christ to their God and Father. It shows a little of the care bestowed on the least and lowest of Christ's disciples by the King of Kings. No man has such friends and servants as the believer, however little he may think about it. Angels rejoice over him in the day that he's born again of the Spirit. Angels minister to him all through his life, even though you don't see him and don't know it. Angels encamp around him in the wilderness of this world. Angels take charge of his soul in his hour of death and transport him safely home. Yes, vile as he may be in his own eyes and lowly in his own sight, the very poorest and humblest believer in Jesus is cared for by his Father in heaven with a care that is beyond understanding. The Lord has become his shepherd and he will not be in need. You know, In this life, we do not. ever comprehend the love of God for us, if you're in Christ. You don't, you still, what you can comprehend, even though that not fully, is your own sinfulness, right? And so you look at yourself, and we're more prone to thinking, well, today, based on my performance, yesterday, God is, he's rather upset with me. It's far easier for us to go there than it is to go to the truth that Christ is my righteousness and God's love is set upon me. Ryle continues, only let a man come honestly and truthfully to Christ and be joined to him and he will have all the benefits of being a child of the living God. Is he weighted down with many sins? Well, though his sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Is his heart hard and prone to evil? A new heart will be given to him, and a new spirit put in him. Is he weak and cowardly? He that enabled Peter to confess Christ, after having denied him, right, before his enemies will make him bold. Is he ignorant? He that was patient with Thomas Sloanus will be patient with him and guide him into all truth. Is he alone in his position? Well, he that stood by Paul when all men abandoned him will also stand by his side. Is he in circumstances of special trial? He that enabled men to be saints in Nero's household will also enable him to persevere. The very hairs of his head are all numbered. Nothing can harm him without God's permission. He that hurts him hurts the apple of God's eye and injures a brother and a member of Christ himself. His trials are always wisely ordered. Satan can only harass him as he did Job when God permits him. No temptation can happen to him above what he's able to bear. All things are working together for his good. His steps are all ordered from grace to glory. He is kept on earth until he's ripe for heaven and not one moment longer. The harvest of the Lord must have its appointed proportion of sun and wind, cold and heat, rain and storm. And then, when the believer's work is done, the angels of God will come for him as they did for Lazarus and carry him safely home. No, the men of the world think little about who they're despising when they mock Christ's people. They're mocking those whom angels are not ashamed to serve. They're mocking the brothers and sisters of Christ himself. Little do they consider that these are those for whose sake the days of tribulation are shortened. These are those by whose intercession kings reign peacefully. Little do they consider that the prayers of men like Lazarus have more weight in the affairs of nations than millions of soldiers. I was in a store the other day, I guess a couple of weeks ago, And a lady and her little girl came in, and I was kind of looking around. I wasn't paying a lot of attention or whatever, but I kind of noticed what had happened after the fact. But the little girl went up and gave a tract of some kind to a young man that was there. Now, I don't know, maybe the lady and her little girl belonged to some cult. I mean, who knows what? I don't know whether they were Christians or not. But at any rate, she gave that tract to him. I just kind of, as I said, thought about it afterwards. I didn't focus on it at the time. And in fact, I was doing something else and not paying attention. I actually didn't hardly really even see until they went out the door because I think she came up to offer. I think I heard the mother say, oh, there's a nice man, you know, maybe, and she came up. But I was busy and they probably went out the door thinking I just totally blew them off. But my point is that the guy in the store, that owns the store, looked over, as soon as the lady and the little girl left, looked over at the young man who had taken the booklet, and he really with a mocking tone said, well, now it looks like you got yourself something to read, you see. Well, that's how the world, that's how people look at this, anything that even has a semblance of Christ or thinking about things beyond how much money I'm going to make or something. Any kind of religion or spiritual thinking is mocked, you see. That's what the wicked But Lazarus, as he says, little do such people consider that the prayers of men like Lazarus have more weight in the affairs of nations than millions of soldiers. Believers in Christ, how little you know the full extent of your privileges and possessions. Like children at school, you don't know the half of what your father's doing for your welfare. Learn to live by faith. more than you've done. Acquaint yourselves with the fullness of the treasure laid up for you in Christ even now. This world, no doubt, must always be a place of trial while we're in the body. But still, there are comforts provided for the brothers and sisters of Lazarus, which many never enjoy. I'm going to leave it to you to read this, the last section here, where he says, observe in the last place, What a dangerous and soul-ruining sin is the sin of selfishness. And that, don't fail to read that, and look at it very, very, very carefully. It is, I suppose you could say, in a sense, the heart, then, of sin. And it's very challenging. It would be excellent for us to consider that topic. Here's some verses from a short hymn written by Horatius Bonnard. This would have been, what, back in the 1700s, something like that? A Pilgrim's Song. A few more years shall roll, a few more seasons come, and we shall be with those that rest asleep within the tomb. Then, oh my Lord, prepare my soul for that great day. Oh, wash me in thy precious blood and take my sins away. Father, if that is our prayer, that everyone here, everyone listening would be washed in the blood of Christ, ready for that day. that you have appointed when you will call us to come before you. We pray, Father, that we would be the brethren and sisters of Lazarus and not akin to the rich man in hell. And we pray this all in Christ's name, amen.