["Pomp and Circumstance"]
According to Luke, chapter number 16.
Luke chapter 16, the Bible reads,
He said also unto his disciples,
There was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods.
And he called him and said unto him,
How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer steward.
Then the steward said within himself,
What shall I do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed.
I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.
So he called every one of his lords debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much
O is thou unto my Lord? And he said, And a hundred measures of oil.
And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another,
And how much O is thou? And he said, And a hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy bill, and write fourscore.
And the Lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely.
But the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light.
And I say unto you, Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations.
He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much.
If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one, and love the other, or else he will hold to the one,
and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things, and they derided him. And he said unto them,
Ye are they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is
abomination in the sight of God.
The law and the prophets were until John.
Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail.
Whosoever putteth away his wife, and marrieth another, comitteth adultery. And whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband, comitteth adultery.
There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover the dogs came and looked his sores.
And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham
afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus,
that may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things,
and likewise Lazarus evil things.
But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Beside all this, between us and you there was a great goal fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot.
Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.
And he said, 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.
Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from the dead.
Let's pray to the Lord God. Thank you again for everything you bless us with. Just ask that you would be with our pastor now.
Please strengthen him, fill him with your Holy Spirit, and bless the preaching, and in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
Amen. We're in Luke chapter 16 this morning, and the title of my sermon today is The Rich Man and
Lazarus. The Rich Man and Lazarus. I want to preach through the story here that's found in Luke chapter 16 and
emphasize the reality of hell. And this is an incredible story here, probably one of the most powerful passages in the New Testament.
It's definitely one of the most unique passages in the New Testament because of the fact that it's the only
passage in the Bible where God actually allows someone who is burning in hell to actually speak their mind.
And we have various instances in the Bible where people and angelic hosts are speaking in heaven,
but this is actually the only account of someone who's actually in hell that's given permission to actually give an account and
essentially speak about their experience and what they feel in hell.
Now, let me say a couple things by way of introduction before we get into the actual passage itself. First and foremost,
let me start off by saying that I do not believe that this story is a parable, okay?
Now, what is a parable? Well, a parable is a dark saying that is used to illustrate a spiritual truth.
Now, what is a dark saying? It's essentially referring to an enigmatic,
cryptic story using earthly things in order to illustrate a spiritual truth. And
the story of The Rich Man and Lazarus is a passage that we know proves the doctrine of heaven and hell. Therefore,
those who oppose this actually don't like it. You know, a lot of people who oppose the doctrines of hell
don't really, or like to twist what this passage is talking about. People who believe in
annihilationism, people who believe in soul sleep, or just those who just outright deny the existence of hell,
will often try to excuse this passage as simply being a parable. Oh, it's an illustration.
It's just symbolic of something else. And the argument that they'll use is that because the previous
passages, the previous chapters, are
explicitly called parables,
therefore, the subsequent stories are also parables. You know, we have the parable in Luke chapter 15 of
the prodigal son, the lost sheep, and of course we have parables in chapter 16.
And therefore, this story must be a parable because it kind of follows that pattern.
That is essentially their argument to say that this is a parable. But let me give you a couple reasons
why this is not a parable. First and foremost,
let me say that Jesus Christ, when speaking in parables, will identify the story as a parable.
That is very consistent throughout the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that when Jesus Christ puts forth the parable,
he or the narrator of the Bible will often tell us this is a parable that he spake.
He spake another parable concerning this. This is a parable. And of course, here in this particular story in Luke chapter 16,
he does not do that. Secondly, we also see that parables are stories that Jesus told, listen to this,
using earthly things to symbolize spiritual truths. Whereas the story of Lazarus and the rich man is all spiritual.
There's nothing earthly about it.
We're talking about two people who are in, one is in heaven and one is in hell.
And the question you've got to ask yourself is this. If it symbolically represents something else, what does it represent?
Right. Obviously, it's just an explicit story of someone who is literally in hell.
It doesn't symbolically represent anything because, you know, the Bible doesn't clarify what that's talking about,
other than the fact that it's a man burning in hell.
Okay, and let me also say another thing about parables and
that is that, you know, when Jesus Christ gave a parable, when he gave a dark saying,
obviously, these are stories that had to be understood
knowing what the doctrines were from clear statements in the Word of God.
And so we can't base our doctrine and what we believe just off of parables.
We have to base what we believe off of clear statements in the Bible. And what parables do is they bring
clarification or they kind of reinforce that specific doctrine.
So we never want to use necessarily the story here or any kind of parable as a means to believe what we believe about specific doctrines.
We need clear statements in the Bible. Then, of course, parables and stories reinforce those teachings.
Okay, so Jesus Christ, when speaking in parables, will identify them as a parable.
Parables are stories that Jesus used using earthly things to symbolize spiritual truths.
Also, parables that include a person or individuals are nameless in parables, okay?
Meaning God just kind of throws a person out there, an individual, and never explicitly names them that is
consistent with all parables.
Whereas here in this specific story in Luke 16, the Bible specifically names Lazarus and although it does not specifically name the rich man,
does specifically name the patriarch Abraham.
No patriarch or prophet is ever used in parables to illustrate anything.
Parables, again, are illustrations or stories that illustrate a spiritual truth.
And so those are some of the reasons why I believe this is not a parable.
This is something that literally happened.
This is talking about a man, a rich man, who is literally in hell even today and talking about a man by the name of Lazarus
who is still in heaven as well to this day.
The second thing I want to mention by way of introduction is that I don't believe that this story is
teaching the erroneous doctrine of Abraham's bosom.
Now obviously the phrase Abraham's bosom is in the passage, okay?
But just because the phrase is in the passage doesn't mean that the dispensational teaching of Abraham's bosom is a fact, okay?
What is Abraham's bosom? Abraham's bosom, according to the dispensationalist, is the second compartment of hell that housed the souls of the Old Testament believers.
Okay, so what their belief is is that in the Old Testament nobody went to heaven.
Everyone who died from Genesis all the way up until the death of Jesus Christ went straight to Abraham's bosom,
which is essentially next to hell, okay?
And once Jesus Christ died and descended into Abraham's bosom,
he preached to the spirits in prison and they believed again, and then he took all of them to heaven thereafter.
But that is a false doctrine,
it's a false teaching, and nobody who reads the Bible without any preconceived ideas will ever come to that conclusion of
the dispensational interpretation of Abraham's bosom, okay?
You see, the truth is is that every person who's ever died,
being a believer, is in heaven and has always gone to heaven from the beginning of time, okay?
And to say, well, no one went to heaven in the Old Testament shows clear ignorance of the Old Testament stories such as Elijah,
who was literally carried by a whirlwind in chariots up into what? Heaven.
It also talks about Enoch, who was not for God took him, who went to heaven, right?
And if you want to get even more specific, you have the thief who died on the cross, and this is still Old Testament era,
okay, because Jesus Christ had not died yet, and Jesus told him, today that shall be with me in paradise.
We know that he also went to heaven, okay?
We also have the story in Job chapter 1 where the sons of God came to present themselves
before the Lord and Satan came also among them.
Sons of God are referring to believers, since the Bible defines sons of God as those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
showing us conclusively that people are in heaven in the Old Testament.
Now the reason dispensationalists teach this doctrine of Abraham's bosom is because they teach a very damnable heresy known as
dispensational salvation, and what that teaching is, is that they assert that there are different gospels throughout the ages.
People were saved differently throughout history, you know, in the Old Testament people were saved through the animal
sacrifices and the keeping of God's commandments,
along with believing on Jesus Christ. That's what they claim, and so they believe that once Jesus Christ came,
he brought salvation by grace through faith, which is why they had to kind of believe again in Abraham's bosom,
and then be taken up into heaven. But Abraham's bosom, according to the Bible, is simply the chest cavity of the patriarch Abraham, okay?
When it says that Lazarus was in Abraham's bosom, it's referring to the fact that Abraham is kind of, you know, with him.
Lazarus is essentially rubbing shoulders with the patriarchs in heaven, okay?
That's not hard to believe. The Bible tells us Jesus Christ, when talking about the centurion, for example,
says that people will come from the east and the west, and they'll sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, referring to the fact that those who are
lightly esteemed in this world, if they're believers, will rub shoulders with the greats of the Old Testament, okay?
Whereas the children of the kingdom, according to Jesus, will be cast down into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, all right?
And so I don't believe this is a parable, and I also don't believe that this is teaching the doctrine of Abraham's bosom.
The second compartment of hell. This is literally referring to Abraham being in heaven and Lazarus rubbing shoulders with him.
Now with that being said, let's get into the passage here.
First and foremost, let's learn some lessons regarding the rich man and Lazarus. Lesson number one is that this gives us the reality
of heaven and hell. This is a powerful passage to illustrate the fact that heaven is real and so is hell, right?
And this is something that we have to consistently emphasize as Christians,
consistently emphasize as churches, because of the fact that there's so many churches out there that want to downplay hell, right?
They want to downplay what hell is, they want to downplay the damnation of hell, but the Bible tells us that the
foundational doctrines of the Christian faith include
the
eternal judgment, the Bible says in Hebrews chapter 6. In other words,
we have to teach people what the Bible says about hell, eternal damnation,
the lake of fire, the fact that this area, this place, is a place of torment and fire and
where men have no rest day nor night.
The Bible tells us, knowing therefore the terror of the Lord,
we persuade men. And so knowing the fact that hell is a place of fire and brimstone
where the warm diethna and the fire is not quenched,
persuades us to want to go persuade men to accept the free gift of salvation, okay?
And so this story, when I read it,
it kind of reminds me, it refreshes my mind regarding the reality of hell. The fact that there are people in hell today,
there's people that are dying today that are going to hell, there's people that are going to die tomorrow
that are going to descend into hell, people will continue to go to hell, and we can offset that
by going out and preaching the gospel, getting people saved, and telling people about the free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
And so this story gives us that reality of heaven and hell.
But what's another thing that we can learn from this story? Well, number two,
we can learn that riches can impede a person from getting saved.
You know, someone who is wealthy, someone who has riches, someone who has a lot of money, can often be hindered
from accepting the free gift of eternal life. Look at verse 19.
It says here,
"...there was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously
every day." And of course, this rich man is the person who ends up going to hell, and
it says here that he was a wealthy man. And in fact, it says that he fared sumptuously
every day. What does it mean to fare? Well, fared means to be treated in a stated way, okay?
Sumptuously means luxuriously or lavishly.
So this is a person who's experiencing the good life, so to speak. You know, they got the money,
they got the nice clothing, they have the best food. This person is living luxuriously,
lavishly. He is essentially
experiencing the riches of this world, okay? Now hold your place and go to Mark chapter 10. Mark chapter 10, if you would.
You see, the rich man was a man of great wealth, which ultimately played a role in him rejecting the gift of
salvation. And the same can be said today that people who are of great wealth,
people who have a lot of money, people who have riches, they're often the hardest people to win to Christ.
Anybody could tell you who's done soul winning for any length of time, when you go to the quote-unquote rich neighborhoods,
it's hard to get people saved there. They often don't open the door, and if they do, they're very rude.
They don't want to talk to you. Why? Because they're affluent, they have riches, they're trusting in
their wealth, which is one of the reasons why we like to go to the quote-unquote ghetto areas.
You say that, you shouldn't say that word. Well, I grew up in the ghetto, so I know what I'm talking about, okay?
You know, the ghetto areas are often the most receptive to the gospel.
You know, the gang-infested areas are often the most receptive. You say, why? Because they're near death all the time.
You know, they're always experiencing the
reality of them dying and going to hell,
going into what they would consider just the afterlife, and so often they're very much receptive to the gospel.
But the opposite is the true with those who are wealthy. Wealth, listen to this, has a way
to keep people from the subject of salvation in a way that no other sin can, believe it or not, okay?
Let's look at the rich young ruler here in Mark chapter 10 and verse 21.
The rich young ruler comes to Jesus and wants to know what he has to do to obtain eternal life, and
of course Jesus Christ kind of gives them a smart answer, and he talks about the commandments, and
this man responds by saying, well, I've kept all these I've kept for my youth up. And obviously he hasn't kept, not to bear false witness,
because that's obviously a lie, because no one's been able to keep the commandments of God.
Look at verse 21. Then Jesus, beholding him, loved him. Now, why does Jesus love him?
Because he doesn't want him to go to hell, okay? He wants him to have salvation. He understands that this guy is lost.
He says, loved him and said unto him, one thing thou lackest, go thy way,
sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven. By the way, notice
it doesn't say thou shalt be saved. It says thou shalt have treasure in heaven, okay?
He says, then come and take up the cross and follow me. Now, given this man is not saved, because he's not trusting in
Jesus Christ solely, and Jesus knows that.
Verse 22 says, and he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had what? Great possessions.
Jesus looked round about and saith unto his disciples, I want you to notice here, how hardly, in other words, how scarcely,
shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God.
So after the rich young ruler is
upset, he's like, man, I got to sell all my stuff. I got so many possessions. He walks away
from the subject of salvation. Jesus looks at everyone and basically says, this is why rich people can't be saved.
Now,
he clarifies what he means in verse 24. He says, and the disciples were astonished at his words, because it's like, well,
I thought whosoever believed it can be saved. I thought anybody can be saved.
I thought we were supposed to preach the gospel to everyone. So they're astonished, because they're like, whoa, rich people can't be saved.
But Jesus answerth again, and saith unto them, children, how hard is it for them that, listen to this,
trust in riches
to enter into the kingdom of God.
So the reason it's hard for people who are rich to enter into the kingdom of God is because they're trusting in their wealth,
they're trusting in their riches. They don't depend on anybody else but themselves. They believe that money has power.
Wealth can produce pride and a false sense of security, right?
It can produce a false sense of dependency on
one's self. But the gospel, my friends, requires what? Humility,
poverty of spirits, and a dependency on someone else to save them.
And so it is common for a wealthy person to reject the gospel because of their trust in riches and what riches can
provide. Go with me if you would.
Turn with me if you would to Luke chapter 12. Go to Luke chapter 12, if you would. Luke chapter number 12.
I'm gonna read to you from Proverbs chapter 11, and verse number 4 says, richest prophet not in the day of wrath,
but righteousness
delivereth from death, the Bible says.
I'm gonna continue reading.
In verse 25 it says, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Essentially explaining how difficult it is for someone who is rich to be saved.
And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, who then can be saved? And
Jesus looking upon them saith, with men it is impossible,
but not with God, for with God all things are possible.
So he explains the difficulty of getting someone saved who is wealthy, but then he also explains, but it's not impossible.
It's very difficult for sure,
but it's not impossible because with God all things are possible. And look, you might know saved wealthy people,
I know wealthy people who have gotten saved, and
obviously there are specific instructions in the Bible giving towards wealthy people who are saved, not the trust in their riches,
to make sure that they are generous and they're distributed to the necessities of the Saints, to put their trust in God, to be rich in
faith, not just in monetary wealth. And so obviously it's not impossible for them to be saved.
It's just very hard.
Okay, and again, if you've been sowing for any length of time, you run into a very wealthy person.
They never have time for the gospel. Okay, you know, they don't have time for the gospel.
They're not willing to humble themselves to actually listen to the presentation of the gospel.
They're not even thinking about the things of God in many cases.
Okay, and this is why I believe that no billionaire is saved.
Okay,
millionaires, yes,
possibly. Okay, and we've had millionaires in our church who are just very wealthy business people and they're saved, but billionaires,
like I don't think people realize how much a billion dollars really is. And
you know, to acquire that much money,
you know, you kind of have to just be a little dishonest. Let me just be honest with you. Okay, and
so
you know, a person who has a billion dollars really can't waste, they can't spend it all after a while.
And so having all that money can often be a barrier to someone getting saved.
Now obviously riches can be detrimental to both saved and unsaved.
You know, the Bible also tells us in 1 Timothy chapter 6 verse 6 that godliness with contentment is great gain.
And it tells us, for we brought nothing into this world and it's certain that we can carry
nothing out, having food in raiment, let us therewith be content. And it warns us, it tells us that they that will be rich
fall into temptation and astair. What is the will to be rich? I just want to have a lot of money.
I just want to have a lot of wealth.
I just want to make a lot of money. And you know, it's not bad to want to make money,
but when it starts to take the place of spiritual disciplines and spiritual priorities, at that point it becomes an idol.
Idolatry, covetousness is idolatry. And when you begin to put money before God, then it becomes a problem.
God is not against you having money, having wealth, having riches, if you're able to handle it.
God is not against you having possessions, as long as those possessions are in your possession and not you in the possessions possession.
Where possessions possess you and hinder you from serving God and doing that which is right in the sight of the Lord, from reading your
Bible, praying, going to church,
soul-winning, serving God. It's getting kind of quiet in here, man. Can you put the AC on please? I'm getting hot.
And that's why it says, they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and into many foolish and hurtful lusts.
Why does it put people into many foolish and hurtful lusts? Because money can buy anything.
And when you have money, you have more options for good and for bad.
So it says, into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and
perdition. For the love of money, by the way, not money,
but the love of money is the root of all evil. The world will often misquote this and say money is the root of all evil.
No, it's not. It's the love of money that is the root of all evil. It's the desire, the covetousness, the greed.
For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while some coveted after, have erred from the faith and pierced themselves through
with many sorrows. So obviously Christians can't lose their salvation,
we know that, but they can pierce themselves through with woes and sorrows and difficulties and pains and hurts.
Whereas an unsaved person can go into perdition because of wealth. It can keep them from getting saved
because wealth can often cause
overconfidence in this life. Look at Luke chapter 12, if you would.
Luke chapter 12 and verse 15, it says, and he said unto them, take heed and beware of covetousness.
What does covetousness mean? It means the lust to have that which you should not have or
could not have or should not have at this moment.
Okay, something that does not belong to you, and it doesn't just have to be monetary wealth. It could be possessions.
It could be people. It could be status.
Beware of covetousness, for a man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. In other words,
you shouldn't be identified by how much wealth or things that you have, right? Your life doesn't consist of those things.
Virtue is what our life consists of. Serving Christ is what our life consists of, not based upon how many things we have.
He says in verse 16, and he spake a parable unto them saying, the ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully,
and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do because I have no room where to bestow my fruits?
And he said, this will I do, I will pull down my barns and build greater, and
there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. So instead of being generous,
being liberal with his fruits and helping others and maybe helping those who are less fortunate, or just being generous with his family and friends,
he decides to tear down his barn, his house,
you know, his storage, and build bigger ones to house more riches in abundance.
He says, verse 19, and I will say to my soul, soul,
thou hast much goods laid up for many years, take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
But God said unto him, thou fool,
this night thy soul shall be required of thee, then whose shall those things be which thou hast provided?
So is he that layeth up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.
And obviously we can apply this to both saved and unsaved. A saved person who has much wealth and abundance,
you know, if they're not generous, if they don't use that wealth for a particular purpose,
whether that be for the work of God, for those around him, being liberal with his resources, and just kind of
accumulates wealth, does nothing with it, what if you die?
It'll be a waste of resources. It'll be a waste of money. God blessed you with resources, and they're wasted on you.
Okay, and the same goes towards those who are unsaved, right? Someone who dies without Christ has all this wealth.
I mean, it goes to the estate, it goes to the government, it goes to someone else, it goes to someone who's greedy.
It just, it ends up getting wasted, and so it's important for us to be rich toward God, not necessarily in
monetary wealth, but actually in faith, okay?
You know, how much faith do you have in your spiritual bank account?
Do you have enough to spare? Are you a wealthy person, spiritually speaking? Can you pray down resources from heaven?
Can you make things happen via your prayer life? I know that you can possibly buy certain things,
you can purchase certain needs, but how about praying for those needs, right?
Now that's wealthy right there.
You know, if you're a person who has wealth, and you're like, well, I can purchase this,
I can make this happen by doing this, you know, that's great if God blessed you with those resources,
but I want to challenge you this morning to be rich toward God in faith.
Your ability to actually pray those things down so that God can show himself strong on your behalf.
The Bible says in Mark chapter 8, you don't have to turn there, verse 36,
For what shall it profit a man if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?
What shall a man give in exchange for his soul? You know, the rich man in Luke chapter 16
had all these riches, but I guarantee you today in 2024, he doesn't care about any of those riches.
He doesn't care about all his wealth. He doesn't care about all his possessions, all his monetary gain.
Why? Because he lost his soul. And yeah, he might have gained the whole world, quote unquote.
He might have had everything that the world wanted and all of the luxurious living and the lavish living,
but you know what? Now all he wants is a drop of water on his tongue to cool him because of the torment that he's
experiencing, but he's not going to receive it. Riches can often impede a person from getting saved.
So this is one of the reasons, again, why when we go sowing, we try to go to areas that are poor, right?
Or what we would consider in America to be poor, okay? You know, Section 8 housing is a good area
to go sowing it. Regardless of what your position is on that, people there are
less fortunate to a certain degree. And even if they're not less fortunate in monetary wealth, maybe they have their needs met.
You know, they probably don't have a Bible-believing church that can give them the riches of the gospel to preach unto them.
They've never heard of eternal life explained in a proper way. And in fact, the majority of those areas have a lot of prosperity gospel preachers.
Okay.
And so we try to go to those areas the most and try to save the rich areas for last.
But quite frankly, we just need to hit all the areas, okay? And here in Anaheim,
I wouldn't consider this to be a very rich area, but it's pretty well-to-do, okay? It's different than Compton for sure.
It's different in South Central than Watts, than parts of Long Beach, right?
And so you've noticed it, I've noticed it, when we've gotten sown in here, it's just not very receptive to the gospel,
but it's possibly because of wealth, okay? It can impede people from actually getting saved.
And so sometimes people in the world think, oh man, if I'd have all these riches,
I'd be so happy, and I would have everything I wanted, and I would be so content, and it would just be great.
But hold on a second, you wouldn't even think about salvation, though.
And riches can be a curse unto someone, because it causes them not to be mindful of the afterlife.
Whereas someone who's in poverty, they think about that stuff.
Go back to Luke chapter 16, Luke chapter 16, the third point that I want to make here is that poverty can cause people,
again, as I mentioned, to be open to the gospel. Verse 20 says that there was a certain beggar named Lazarus,
which was laid at his gate, at the rich man's gate, of course, full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So we see here that Lazarus is receiving evil in this world, right?
And receiving evil in this world can often, listen to this, tenderize the heart to receive the gospel.
I've noticed in my experience that the people who are sometimes the most receptive to the gospel,
or even receptive towards spiritual truths, are those who have experienced trauma,
those who have had a hard life, those who have gone through difficult times as a child, as an adult.
These individuals are often the most receptive to spiritual truths, okay?
They are what Jesus says as a person who loved much because they're forgiven much, okay?
Experiencing poverty, trauma, and various evils can often be a great springboard for people to be saved.
Now, I'm not saying that, you know, it's good that people are traumatized, you know?
It's good that you've experienced poverty and hurt, sorrow and evil, and that you are at the mercies of wicked people in this world.
That's great, good for you. Obviously, that's not God's will, but I will say this is that people
who are in that position or in that condition are often poor in spirit. They often are more humble
because they realize, like, man, life is hard, you know? And they're often looking for an answer,
they're looking for a savior, okay? And, you know, they want the truth, okay?
The Bible says in Psalm 34, you don't have to turn there, verse 18, the Lord is nighing to them
that are of a broken heart. Listen to this, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit.
And when you look and study regarding the gospel, you'll see that, you know, Jesus Christ talked
about preaching the gospel to the poor. Why? Because they are less fortunate, they're mindful
of spiritual things. So Lazarus received evil in this world, he had no wealth,
no food, I mean, he's eating crumbs from the rich man's table. I mean, the rich man is horrible,
right? He's barely even letting them have crumbs. So he has no wealth, no food, and no health.
Why? It says there that he's full of sores. So he had some disease come upon him,
his health is not good, and to add on top of that, it says that dogs came and licked his sores.
I mean, that's a horrible condition to be in. Now, I've heard different interpretations about this,
you're like, well, a dog's saliva actually has healing properties, and so I don't want no dog
licking me, whether I have sores or not, because dogs lick nasty stuff, you get what I'm saying?
And so, you know, they lick excrement and their bottoms and stuff, and then they go and lick
sores. I mean, I think what the Bible is doing here is actually illustrating how bad he had it,
where he's so incapacitated that he's seen as just like the off scouring even to dogs,
where dogs are coming and licking his sores, and just, I mean, that's a miserable state to be in.
I don't believe God sent the dogs to lick his sores, to alleviate his pain or something like
that. Nowhere in the text, people come up with weird stuff, you know, it's just like,
just read the text for what it says. Go to James chapter two, hold your place in Luke 16.
Now, let me explain something regarding the rich man and Lazarus, because this is a passage that
is emphasizing the fact that one person is in heaven and the other person is in hell,
and essentially describing the finality of both of those, meaning that once you're there,
you're always there, you just never leave hell. This is not a chapter that is explaining how they
got there, okay? Because we know that the rest of the Bible does teach that. It's not because he's
rich that he's in hell, because rich people can be saved, and it's not because the man is poor
that he's in heaven. You say, well, how do we know? Because the rest of the word of God tells
us that in order to be saved, you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to place your
faith in Jesus in order to be saved, right? And if a person is in hell, that's a person who has
rejected the free gift of eternal life. So this is explaining to people, and we should always
already have in our minds how they got there in the first place. It's not because of their
financial status or because they're in poverty. We obviously know based upon other clear scriptures
that one accepted Christ as their Savior and one did not, okay? Very important. But the condition
that we see the poor man in is that he's a beggar, he's full of sores, he's hungry, and he's not
in a good condition. Let me read to you a couple passages before we get into James chapter 2. Luke
4 verse 18 says, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel
to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Obviously,
he's given us a list of people who are receiving evil in this world. They're brokenhearted,
they're poor, they're captives, they're blind, they're bruised. Why? Because people in that
condition are often the most receptive. You know, my father-in-law used to talk about the season of
the soul, and he used to say it's really important to catch people in the season of the soul. What is
the season of the soul? It's referring to a season in a person's life where they are suffering,
they're going through trauma, maybe they have a death in the family, maybe they're experiencing
some harsh health issues, you know, they've lost their wealth, they've lost their job,
you know, they're going through a hard time, and that is often the perfect time to go to them
and give them the gospel because they are humble because of the situation that they're in.
And, you know, I think of Brother Ron, you know, for the banquet. He didn't give me permission to
share this, but I'm gonna share it. Too late. Can I share it? Too late. No, I'm just kidding.
You know, he had to, like, fire one of his employees, right? Not because you didn't like
him, but, you know, he had another situation going on, but he had to fire one of his employees,
but, you know, and it was like a sad situation because the man lost his job.
But he ended up coming to Brother Ron and was like, I want to go to your church.
You know, because now he's thinking about the things of God because he's going through a hard
time. And he came to church and he ended up getting saved. He believed on Jesus Christ and
he got saved. So it's like, oh, man, it's sad that he got fired. Yeah, but it's great that he
was saved from the fire, though. So even though he lost his job, and, of course, I'm sure he's
gonna be able to get another job, but, you know, it's kind of great that that happened
in order for this person to be receptive and open to the gospel. And, look, this is why sometimes
I even pray for some people who are not. They don't want to get saved. Sometimes I pray,
Lord, remove all their wealth, remove their health and their wealth, because maybe that's impeding
them from being receptive and humble to receive the gospel. And sometimes that's what it takes,
okay? He preaches the gospel to the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, the blind, those
that are bruised. He also says in Luke 6 20, and he lifted up his eyes on his disciples and says,
Blessed be ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Look at James chapter two and verse number
one. It says, My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory,
with respect of persons. For if there come unto you, excuse me, for if there come unto your
assembly a man with a gold ring and goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in
vile raiment, and ye have respect to him to wear the gay clothing, gay means happy in the Bible,
okay? He's not like wearing rainbows or whatever. And saying to him, sit down here in a good place
and say to the poor, stand out there or sit here under my footstool. Are ye not then partial in
yourselves and become judges of evil thoughts? So what is he saying? He's like, you know,
it's not right that if someone comes with wealthy clothing, luxurious clothing, that you show favor
to that person, and you're not necessarily being hospitable to the person who's not dressed as nice,
okay? He says you're being partial, respecter of people. Verse five says, Harken, my beloved
brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom,
which he hath promised to them that love him. So if we were to kind of, you know, conjecture what's
going on here, he's basically saying, you know, when visitors come to church, and maybe a really
wealthy person shows up. I don't know what a really wealthy person looks like, but let's just
exaggerate here. You know, he's got rings, he's got, you know, all the jewelry. I mean, he just
looks like he pulls up in a Ferrari or something. Is that even a thing anymore? Okay, it's still a
thing. You know, he pulls up in a Ferrari. He has an entourage or something. He has a butler walking
around or something. No one's ever going to show up to this church like that, by the way.
And then another guy comes up, you know, you know, he's dressed in vile raiment, meaning that,
like, he doesn't have the nicest of clothes. He's just dressed, not necessarily too impressed,
but in regular clothing, maybe shirt, jeans, shoes, just not necessarily looking wealthy.
You know, the Bible's telling us here that that individual, just statistically speaking,
is more receptive to the gospel. They're more rich in faith than the person of wealth,
because the person of wealth might have a superiority complex, right? However,
the person with vile clothing is probably an individual who's humble at heart and recognizes
he doesn't have anything. He's nobody. And so, therefore, it's ripe for the picking, so to speak,
okay? They are rich in faith. And so, this is clearly teaching us that we should direct
the gospel to those who are less fortunate. Obviously, we want to give the gospel to
everyone and not be a respecter of people even in that area. Sometimes we have to teach our church
not to be a respecter of people where they only want to give the gospel to poor people
and never give the gospel to rich people, okay? Other churches are like the other way around.
Our church is like, all right, we got to go to this rich area, and it's like, oh, man,
we got to go to the wealthy areas. It's like, man, no one's going to get saved there, you know?
But you know what? They need a chance too, though. They deserve the chance. And so, what the Bible's
teaching us here is that the natural inclination is to often show favor to the wealthy person,
the person of education, the person who is affluent, rather than the person who's maybe
quiet, poor-stricken, doesn't look necessarily as rich or wealthy, but we need to give the gospel
to that person. They are very receptive. Go back to Luke 16, if you would. So, we see that riches
can often impede a person from being saved. And may I say, they can often impede a Christian from
fulfilling God's will, okay? We don't want riches to ever cause us to slow down the Christian life
or excuse us from fulfilling certain responsibilities, right? Well, I'm rich,
I have wealth, and so I don't do soul-winning. That's like, you know, what other people do.
No, we're all commanded to go soul-winning, regardless of how wealthy you are.
You know, I knew there's a guy, and you might know who this is, but there's a college out there
called Hyles Anderson College, okay? And Hyles is because of Jack Hyles. Anderson is a millionaire
businessman who invested in that college, and, you know, he paid for a lot of the things there,
but the man was a soul-winner, though. He's a very wealthy man, and you wouldn't even be able to tell
about the way he dresses, because true millionaires actually don't dress in gay clothing, okay?
You know, the guy was, he just looked like a regular guy, but he was a millionaire. He didn't
drive a nice car. He just took a regular car, but this man loved soul-winning, even to the point
where he, like, he paid full-time soul-winners in the Philippines for years. He's like, I'm
going to pay you to just do soul-winning, and he would pay for soul-winners all across the world,
specifically in the Philippines, and so obviously there's certain rich people that know how to deal
with riches, right? And he's rich toward faith, rich in faith, rich toward God. Look at verse 22.
Here's another thing we can learn from the story of the rich man and Lazarus, and that is that
death brings the believer immediately to the presence of God and the unbeliever immediately
to the flames of hell, okay? No such thing as soul sleep. No such thing as annihilationism.
It says in verse 22, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into
Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Now go to Luke 23,
if you would, Luke chapter 23. I do think it's interesting that Lazarus is mentioned,
his name, but the rich man is not, and I would speculate that the reason why we know Lazarus
by name and the rich man we don't know by name is because, depart from me, ye workers of iniquity,
I never knew you. To God, the rich man is just the rich man. He has no name. His name has been
blotted out of the book of life, whereas the Lord knows Lazarus because Lazarus placed his faith in
Jesus Christ. So death brings the believer immediately to the presence of God and the
unbeliever immediately to the flames of hell. The doctrine of soul sleep is a false doctrine.
Soul sleep is the teaching that believers who die remain in their bodies. So the spirit actually
remains in their bodies until the resurrection. They are asleep, okay? And they'll often point
to various passages in the Bible where people who are dead are described as being what? Asleep.
They'll say, oh, see, that means that the spirit is still there. They're just asleep.
But let me just explain something to you. The reason the Bible talks about people
who are dead as being asleep is because dead people, I know it's crazy, look like they're
sleeping. It just looks like they're sleeping, right? But also, to prove the fact that
we know for a fact that the spirit does not remain in the body is because James 2 says
that as the spirit without the body is dead, or the body without the spirit is dead.
It's talking about the fact that when the spirit separates from the body, implying that it does,
it's dead, okay? And so when you die, your spirit separates from your body. And of course,
if you're saved, you go straight to heaven. And if you're not, you descend into the lowest parts
of the earth known as hell. Philippians 1 23 says, for I'm in a strait betwixt two,
having a desire to depart to be with Christ, which is far better, nevertheless, to abide
in the flesh is more needful for you. Implying that in order to be with Christ,
in order to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, it would require for him to leave
his flesh. Because the alternative is that to abide in the flesh, meaning be alive,
is more needful for them. Second Corinthians 5 6 says, therefore, we are always competent,
knowing that whilst we're at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith,
not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body
and to be present with the Lord. The Bible says, showing us that when a person dies,
they're not only absent from the body, but they're also spiritually present with the Lord.
Look at Luke 23, if you would, in verse 42. Of course, this is the thief on the cross.
Verse 42 says, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today, not at the resurrection, not at the
end of the world, not at the rapture. He says, today, shalt thou be with me in paradise.
Showing us the fact that Jesus knew that the thief would die, and after death, because he
told the Lord Jesus Christ, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, which is a form of
calling upon the name of the Lord. The Lord tells them today, your spirit,
obviously his body stayed behind, his spirit went into heaven, also known as paradise.
Okay, so this is showing us, Luke chapter 16 shows us conclusively that when a believer dies,
they don't remain in their body, they go straight to heaven in the presence of God.
But also the doctrine of annihilationism is also false, because the doctrine of annihilationism
teaches that when a person goes to hell, they just burn up, okay? And they just cease to exist.
They're not conscious of what's taking place to them in hell, okay? They just cease to exist.
But the Bible tells us in Luke 16 that the rich man lifted up his eyes in hell, being,
okay, did you notice that? Being in torment, the Bible says, and seeth Abraham afar off
and Lazarus in his bosom. Go back to Luke 16, Luke 16, verse 23, it says he lifted up his eyes
in hell, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Now I will say this,
okay? This is obviously a very unique story, because again, it's the only account where a
person is given the permission to speak while they're in hell. And so there's a lot of unique
factors regarding the story. A second unique factor would be the fact that the man is also
not only able to speak to talk about his condition, but he also sees Abraham afar off,
okay? And people in hell cannot do that. People who are in hell cannot see people in heaven.
I believe this is just a very unique case where God is allowing this man to converse with Abraham,
which is the father of faith, in order to communicate what he's feeling, so on and so
forth, okay? Because he sees Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Verse 24 says, and he cried
and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Now let me, I don't want to get
ahead of myself, but I do want to mention this, and that is that people, namely Catholics,
will often use this passage to teach the false doctrine of purgatory, okay? They say purgatory
is real because we have an example of it in Luke 16. Well, purgatory, you know, those who are
supposedly in purgatory are dependent upon the prayers of those who are living to help them
transition to heaven, right? You guys understand that? But the rich man's not doing that. The rich
man is not asking for prayer, he's asking for water. He's not like, hey, can you pray a rosary
for me? Can you tell Lazarus to pray a rosary for me so I'm not burning in this flame? No,
he's actually asking for water because of the fact that prayers can't get people out of hell,
okay? And so there's no such thing as praying for someone who's in hell. Folks, once they're in hell,
they can't get out anymore. It's eternal damnation, and in fact, there's only one
instance where anybody in hell actually gets out for a time, and that is when they're transferred
to the lake of fire, okay? They're taken out of hell, placed before the presence of God
to confirm their guilt before the Lord and to confirm the fact that they're not written in
the book of life. They are reunited with their physical bodies and both soul and body are cast
alive into hell, okay, into the lake of fire. So they're reunited and they're thrown into the lake
of fire and they burn forever, okay? That is the only time where they receive any relief from the
flames of hell, but even then, they're before the presence of God and they're going into a bigger
fire. And then we also say this is that the lake of fire and hell are both hell. People want to
make a big deal like, well, one's Guyana, one's Odess, you know, there's a big difference. Yeah,
the only big difference is that one is bigger than the other. But, you know, ask someone,
and obviously you'll never be able to, but ask someone who goes to the lake of fire, you know,
can you feel a difference? They won't because it's just fire, torment, flames, no rest day
or night. I mean, that's essentially what people experience in the current hell. The difference is
smaller than the lake of fire, which is also, according to the Bible, called hell. Jesus called
it hell, okay? So he's tormented in the flame, showing us that hell isn't a separation from God,
by the way. That's a common thing that people will say, well, hell is just a separation from God,
whereas the Bible explicitly says the people who are in hell are burning before the presence of
God and of the angels, okay? And the Bible says that God, you know, sees the hearts of men,
he sees hell, how much more are the hearts of men? So obviously he is present when people are
burning in hell, okay? And people try to romanticize hell for some reason. I don't know
why. Well, it's just a separation from God. It's not literal flames. It's not literal torment.
The greatest pain is that you're just separated from God. Wrong. No. Fire is not quenched.
Worm dieth not. I'm tormented in this flame.
That doesn't sound like just a separation from God, okay? It's a place of fire, a place of
torment. And, you know, to claim that, oh, well, you know, you just burn up. Well, no,
it says that the fire is not quenched, meaning something is perpetually causing it to burn,
okay? So the rich man is conscious of the pain that he's receiving.
And, you know, we never want to think, well, you know, once you die, an unbeliever dies,
they just burn up, they just cease to exist. It's just like a black screen or something,
and they're just out floating in space somewhere, and they just cease to exist.
That's what the atheist thinks. That's what the agnostic thinks. But, folks, the Bible clearly
teaches that people know what's happening to them in the afterlife. You know, even with believers,
how long, O Lord, holy and true? Does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on
the earth, right? They are feeling time, they understand time, they understand pain,
they also understand relief, because people who are in heaven have a sense of relief,
they no longer suffer, they no longer have pain. Look at verse 25. He says,
But Abraham said, Son, speaking to the rich man, Remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy
good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
Now let me make a quick comment here, and that is, just because, of course,
if Abraham is calling him son, he's obviously referring to someone who is of Israel, okay?
He's physically a son of Israel. So this is showing us that just because you're a son of
Israel, a son of Abraham, of the flesh, doesn't mean you're going to heaven.
Because this man is in hell, and Abraham is addressing him as what? Son. Clearly showing
us that this man was a son of Abraham according to the flesh. But being a son of Abraham according
to the flesh, in other words, being a Jew, does not get you saved. Just because you're a part of
a specific ethnic group doesn't mean you get a free pass to heaven. Doesn't happen that way.
And here's the proof. Son, and he's talking to someone who's in heaven, okay? Or I'm sorry,
in hell. So he says, Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good
things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented.
Now this teaches us that the pleasures of this life are temporary, as well as the sufferings of
this life. So the pleasures of this life are temporary. Yeah, it may seem long, but at the
end of the day, all that stuff goes away. And in like manner, your sufferings are also temporary,
just as the sufferings of Lazarus was also temporary. Go to James chapter five,
if you would, James chapter five, hold your place there in Luke 16, James chapter five.
You know, he lived luxuriously, lavishly, he had all of the fine clothing, the fine foods,
and he was in comfort, he enjoyed life, but you know what, it all came crashing down,
it all came to an end. And here's a great passage to illustrate that. James five verse one says,
go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. Isn't that
interesting? Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth eaten, your gold and silver is
cankered, and the rest of them shall be a witness against you and shall eat your flesh as it were
fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of your laborers
who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back for fraud, crieth, and the cries
of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. Ye have lived in
pleasure on the earth and been wanton. Ye have nourished your hearts as in the day of slaughter,
ye have condemned and killed the just, and he does not resist you. Here's a great passage to teach us
that we should never envy the rich. Don't envy the rich. Hey, young people, don't be the type
of Christian that you just wish you had it, just like that Instagram influencer who has all this
money, just like that famous person to have all the money, all the wealth, all the girls,
all the fame that they could ever want. It will be corrupted one day. They should weep and howl for
the miseries that shall come upon them. And Christians have a tendency to envy the sinner,
to envy the unrighteous, to look at the possessions of the unrighteous and think,
oh man, I wish I had that, not understanding that that person will weep and howl for their
miseries one day. Hey, ye shall weep and be sorrowful and the world shall rejoice,
but your sorrow shall be turned into joy, the Bible says. Sin is pleasurable for a season,
but folks, just emphasize that part, a season. The riches are pleasurable for a season,
but I promise you, every single wealthy person, every single famous individual,
every single wealthy individual who is currently in hell right now would give all that up in the
times past in order to have salvation. And look, this preaching is actually not popular at all,
as you can plainly see. We need to have a checkboard or something for people who walk
out of the service, you know what I mean? When I preach. The point that I'm, but it's the truth
though. It's true. And you know what? The truth of the matter is, is that Christians can often have
this attitude. And you know what's funny is that people get offended at preaching against wealth.
They get offended at that stuff, you know, cause it hits home. But folks, let me remind you is that
riches can destroy you and don't envy the person who has riches and possessions. It's not worth it.
Okay. You know, godliness with contentment is great gain. And we're not talking about being
ascetics here and monks and like, you can just can't enjoy life and no smile, no fun, make you
a good boy and all this stuff. We don't believe in that stuff. Okay. Obviously we believe in having
a very good time. We're in the holidays right now. So we're, you know, we're eating our hearts
fill, you know, we're singing, we're having a great time, but obviously life isn't just about
partying and having fun and all those things. You know, we gotta be serious about the things of God
as well, but just understand, you know, allow yourself to be content with the things that you
have though. Okay. And don't envy the rich person because the rich person will one day fade out
as the chaff. Okay. Go back to Luke 16 if you would.
Let's go back to Abraham's dissertation here in verse 26 says, and beside all this
between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that they, which would pass from hence,
meaning here to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence,
referring to there. Okay. Now let me explain a couple of things here. What is the great
gulf? Well, the great gulf is, you know, often refer a gulf is referring to a ravine or a chasm
of sorts, but the context would indicate that it's actually referring to the land of the living.
Okay. This is the great, where we're at right now is the great gulf. And the reason it says
fixed, it means it's just like, it's, you know, it's, it's, it's essentially stable. It's fast
and it cannot be moved. So that would make complete sense because we are in between heaven
and hell. We're between the living and the dead, right? Between those who are in heaven and those
who are in hell. And those who are in heaven obviously cannot cross over to the great gulf fix
nor into the place of hell, which by the way, this is why we don't believe in ghosts or whatever.
Like, I think I saw my grandma or, you know, there's a video out there circulating folks,
AI is wild. Okay. And those videos have always been around. Okay. But you know, I saw this of
this old lady or this young child or whatever. And I think it's my great, great, great, great,
great, great, you know, and you know, this on, on this Indian burial or cemetery or something
like that and demons. Okay. If you see something like that, it's a demonic entity.
No such thing as when people die, they don't just hang around.
I got unfinished business. I got to find my murderer, you know?
Yeah. It makes for a great Hollywood movie. Okay. But it's not real.
It's not like they have a choice and they're just stepping outside their body and they're
just like, I got, I, I got to get this message to my wife and, you know, doesn't exist.
Once they die, if they're saved, they go straight to heaven or they're not saved to go straight to
hell. They can't pass to this place. Okay. You're like, yeah, but what if they look
like a person? Well, you know, demons can probably take the form of people
and often to convey, and let me just speak to the Mexicans in our church too. Okay.
Cause they're often the most guilty of this stuff. They just believe all the, all the fables.
It's not real. My friends. Okay. I believe in demonic entities and, you know, satanic entities
and things of that nature, but not in actual human spirits that are stuck here. Okay. And so,
and you know, some of that, some of those videos are questionable anyways,
but the great Gulf is referring to the land of the living. So the rich man's request to have
Lazarus come and cool his tongue is denied for that reason. He's saying this great Gulf is here.
They can't cross over. And of course, those who are in hell can never go to heaven,
which is another reason why purgatory is nonsense because people are like, oh, you know,
we could just pray them out and go to no, they can't cross over. Abraham said it right.
He says they that would pass from hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us that would
come from fence. Sorry. Lazarus can't go there. And you know what, isn't it just like poetic
justice that Lazarus wanted the crumbs from the rich man's table, meaning he wouldn't even
spare a meal for Lazarus. And then now the Richmond is asking for a drop of water from
Lazarus. And I promise you Lazarus probably would have gave him a drop of water if he asked for it,
if he could cross that great Gulf, but he cannot. Okay. And so, you know, this, this Catholic
teaching of purgatory is nonsense and it has sent millions. I would even say billions of people to
hell through that doctrine because a lot of people think, well, you know, I'm Catholic and
you have sin, but you know what? We got purgatory. And so if I die, I'll just go there and make sure
you pray a couple of rosaries for me, you know, give to the Catholic church or whatever, and I'll
make it out. And, you know, I'm sure there's Catholics in hell right now. And they're like,
man, purgatory sure feels like hell. You know, and, and apparently no one's praying you out
because no one can pray you out. Folks. This is the finality of hell. This is why we have urgency
when we go out and preach the gospel. This is why we're serious about getting people saved and
learning how to sown and learning how to preach the gospel, because this is a reality of people
dying and going to hell. And you know what, once they're there, it's too late. It's too late.
Can't do anything about it after that. That's why it's important for us to not only get strangers
saved, but it's important for us to get our family saved as well. I hope you're praying
for your family. I hope you're doing the best you can to witness to your family.
I hope you pray for them. I hope you think about them. I hope you bring them to church
to get them saved because folks, our life is but a vapor, you know, and, and death can come up.
Death can seize upon anyone at any given time. And once that happens, it's over with it's you
close that book, they're done. It's nothing can change that. Okay. And so, you know, we have this
great goal fix. So whose responsibility is it to get Lazarus to heaven and to keep the rich man
from going to hell? Those who are in the great goal fix. It's our job. You know, above us,
we have heaven, below us, we have hell. And it's our job here to get people saved. You know,
to keep people from going to hell and help people to understand how to go to heaven.
Look at verse 27. We see here, the dam desire, the salvation of those in the great Gulf.
Verse 27 says, then he said, I pray thee therefore father, that thou would have sent 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. So he's like, I want water. Can't have water. He goes, okay,
then please send him to my father's house. And you know what? The rich man doesn't seem like a
really good person, even in this life, when he was living in this life. But you know, there's enough
in him, even while he's in hell, that he doesn't want his family to come to go to hell. And you
know what? Let me, let me say this. It's possible. It's very likely that many of us have family
members who are in hell. You know, and obviously they're not omniscient, but I promise you that
your family members who are in hell are hoping that you're getting people saved.
First of all, they're hoping that you get saved. And obviously you are,
if you, if you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know, there's also someone's,
someone's family members in hell, and they're hoping that you come to their family's house
and tell this to their brethren, that they would avoid the place of torment.
You know, obviously people in hell can't pray and can't get answers, can't get their,
their prayers answered. But I guess to a certain degree, they kind of can, right?
Say why? Because I'm sure there's people in hell hoping to God, praying that someone,
a homeowner would come to their family's door to give them the gospel. And you know what? We try
to fulfill that every single week. And I hope that when you go out there, you think about that.
I'm knocking on the door of someone whose ancestors are probably in hell
and are hoping that someone would come to their door, their family's door, to keep them out of
hell. Send them to my father's house, five brethren to testify unto them. Look at verse 29.
Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
Now, you know, when you read this story, you kind of think to yourself, like, what was Abraham's
purpose of this story? He can't, he just can't do anything. Can't send Lazarus. He can't dip
the tip of his finger in water. He can't send Lazarus to go preach the gospel. He's just there
to kind of answer questions. That was it. If you think about it, but really Abraham is there for
us. Abraham isn't necessarily there for the rich man because he can't do anything for the rich man.
And what the story is illustrating is that once a person's in hell, no one can help them whatsoever.
Abraham is actually there for us to show us the urgency of getting people saved.
And he tells them here, he says, they, referring to his five brethren, they got the Bible,
let them hear that. He says, and he said, nay, father Abraham, but if one went up,
went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And if, you know, what does he mean? He's like,
if Lazarus would just come back to life, if they see Lazarus come back to life,
then they'll get saved. But hold on a second. Jesus Christ did that.
He actually came back to life. He resurrected from the grave and yet people still reject the
free gift of eternal life. He says in verse 31, he said unto him, if they will not hear Moses
and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. And obviously we
have an underlying tone of Jesus Christ and his resurrection, meaning that the physical
resurrection of Jesus Christ is just as powerful as the written word that's being preached to
someone. You know, people are like, well, if I saw God, no, you wouldn't get saved. No, you wouldn't.
If Jesus just showed himself, if I was there and I saw, I believe, wrong, you wouldn't.
Because his resurrection is just as valid as the written word of God,
as Moses and the prophets. When we preach the resurrection, it's just as powerful and just as
valid as if you were there in the first century viewing the resurrected Christ.
It has the same authenticity, the same power. And you know what? People saw the resurrected
Christ and still didn't believe on it. I mean, think about that. An entire nation.
He came into his own, his own received him not. And once he resurrected, they're conspiring to
lie about his resurrection, saying that his disciples took him away privately.
So obviously, the resurrected Christ, what is teaching us here is that preaching Moses
and the prophets, and of course, now we have the New Testament,
is just as powerful can get someone saved as seeing the resurrected Christ.
What is it showing us? It's showing us that faith cometh by hearing
and hearing by the word of God. Not your illustration, not your testimony, not miracles,
not any other thing. What? Preach Christ in him crucified.
Moses and the prophets. For if you would have believed me, you would have believed Moses,
for he wrote of me. Because the Pharisees is like, well, we believe Moses. We don't know who you
are. You're born on a foreign occasion. It's like, if you would have believed Moses, you
would have believed me because he wrote of me. And beginning, he tells his disciples,
oh ye fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. And beginning at Moses
and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures, the things concerning himself.
This is showing us the importance of preaching the written word, my friends. And we need to keep
this thing alive as fundamental Baptists. Then when we go out and preach the gospel,
we're actually opening up the word of God. We're showing them from the scriptures how they can be
saved. Pray unto the Lord for God's power. Pray unto the Lord that the person would be receptive.
But let me just remind you that the power is in the preaching of God's word though.
The power is in the passages themselves. We don't need any miracle because let's just be honest,
when Jesus Christ does return, he's coming in style. He's descending in clouds. He's disrupting
all the cosmic bodies, turning the sun and the moon into blood. Stars are falling from the sky,
earthquakes, and people are still not getting saved. I mean, just read Revelation, all the
cosmic occurrences and supernatural occurrences that come at a second coming, and people still
refuse to be saved. Showing us full well that, you know what, when people say show us a sign,
it's a wicked and adulterous generation that seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be
given unto it but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas is 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.
What's the sermon this morning? The sermon is the rich man is still in hell.
Christians have been preaching about the rich man ever since he went there,
and he's been a byword and a proverb of someone who trusted in their riches to be saved,
and it took them straight to hell.
And it's proved to us also that at the end of the day,
you know, the most powerful testimony that you can have is the testimony of the Lord,
of the resurrected Christ. The power is in the word of God, and so let's pray. Father,
we thank you so much for this story that gives us the reality of heaven and of hell,
and we're thankful for Lazarus, Lord, because he's an example to believers who might be of
contrite of a contrite spirit, poverty-stricken, suffering, and anguish, Lord, but he taught us,
Lord, that the things concerning him had an end, and now he's enjoying the peaceful tranquility
of heaven, of eternal life, rubbing shoulders with the patriarchs, and being comforted of you,
Lord, whereas the rich man is still in hell, and he has no rest day nor night,
and every year or every week, someone might be preaching about the rich man being there,
and, Lord, it's a reminder to us all that hell is final, and we can't get anybody out of there,
but we can figuratively pull people out of the fire by preaching the gospel to them while they're
still in the great gulf, and I pray that you'd help us to do so, Lord. Bless us as we go on our
way. We love you. We thank you. Pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.