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Luke chapter 16, I don't have a title for the sermon this morning, so if someone comes up with a good one, please let me know. I don't have a title, but I'll be honest with you, this is probably the most difficult chapter that I've had to sort of study out for the sermon today. The first half of this chapter, very challenging. I don't think I've heard a lot of preaching on the first half of Luke chapter 16. Definitely a lot of preaching on the second half of Luke chapter 16 about the rich man and Lazarus and the rich man going to hell and Lazarus in the bosom of Abraham. But the first half, I can't recall having heard it, so I had to dig in, read it over and over and over again. So I hope I give you guys a good presentation of what is being taught here, but I do reserve the right to make little changes in the future. I do reserve that right to sharpen up anything that might not be 100% accurate here, but I'll give it the best shot I can here. I think it's pretty straightforward, but it is challenging. Let's look at it from verse number 1, Luke 16 verse 1. And he said 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. Now, we know that Jesus likes to tell a lot of parables. And sometimes, some parables, you know, they're challenging. They're cryptic on purpose as we spoke about on Wednesday. But now, Jesus Christ has given us a parable of actually a wicked person, of someone who's ungodly, as someone who's an unbeliever. And yet, as we look at this parable, Jesus is teaching his disciples a principle. And he's saying, hey, we can even learn something from the wicked. We can even learn something from the non-believer, okay? And this is what makes it a little bit challenging, all right? Now, remember when Jesus Christ taught about the, you know, he was asked about those that had their blood mingled with the sacrifices, Pilate had mingled their blood with the sacrifices, and others had died because the Tower of Salem had fallen upon them. And I had shown you guys, you know, Jesus Christ here was giving just good advice, was just giving good teaching, good practical teaching about staying out of trouble, about not being a troublemaker, not putting your life at risk. And very similar, this parable is something similar to that. It's not about salvation, but it's some good advice, just some good advice that we can live by day by day. But it's something that we can learn from non-believers, all right? Let's keep reading. In verse number two, well, actually, let me just start, you know, so we start with a rich man, and he has a steward. Or he has a, some people might call this a business manager, someone that oversees his business, oversees his possessions, that oversees his wealth. And it's said that this man had wasted his goods, okay? He had been a poor performer. He had wasted, you know, there was money owing to the rich man, and he hadn't collected it, as we'll see in the rest of it here, And he called him, the rich man called him and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest no longer steward. You know, this rich man says, thou mayest no longer steward. You're fired. I've heard this about you. You've managed my resources, my finances, my assets poorly. You're fired, but please give an account of your stewardship. Make sure you, before you leave, you clean up the books as much as possible, and you give an account of what you've done, alright? This is kind of like maybe, you know, I've never been fired from a job, but I have resigned. And usually when you resign, you might give a two-week notice or something like that, alright? And the whole point of that two-week notice is that somebody, you know, the business manager can hire a new employee to replace you. Then you can finish off any task that you may, you know, still need to finish, prioritize what you have, finish the main things, hand over to someone else so the business can continue as is, and that's kind of what's happening here. He says, look, give me an account of your stewardship, alright? But you're fired, okay? You're not going to be my steward any longer. And verse number three, 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. You know, this is a white collar worker, alright? He's been working behind the computer, he's a paper pusher, you know, he sits behind his desk, and he says, man, I've lost my job, I can't even dig. You know, I can't do any manual labor. You know, I've never done that kind of work. And he says, and I can't do that, I've lost my job, and I can't even beg, you know? He'd been in a position to beg for food, to beg for his needs, and he says, I'm too ashamed to even beg. You know, so we see this guy's even lazy. He's not willing to just be a laborer to dig, you know, trenches, you know, to dig dirt, you know, to provide for himself. So we see that this guy's not just a poor steward, but he's also lazy, okay? He wants an easy way out, okay? Verse number four. So what does he say? He says, I am resolved what to do, that when I am put out of stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So who are the day? We'll see soon. But he says, look, I'm going to figure this out. I want to make sure that I have a house to go into, that other people will receive me, so that I have my needs met, okay? Verse number five, who are the day? So he called every one of his lord's debtors unto him, and said unto the first, how much owest thou, my lord? So he goes to all the debtors, right? All the people that are owing his lord, or the rich man money. He says, how much do you owe my lord? Verse number six, and he said, and a hundred measures of oil. And he said unto him, take thy bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. This guy starts cooking the books, right? This guy owes him a hundred measures, and he says, let's just make it fifty, alright? I say, why? Why is he doing that? We already know he's crooked. We already know that he's a bad manager, okay? And now, what he's doing, is he's making friends with the debtors. He says, I know you owe a hundred, but it's fifty, alright? Just make it fifty, alright? And we'll be good mates. We'll be good mates by doing that, okay? I'm doing you a favor, because I'm going to rely on your favor later on. Essentially, that's what's going through his mind. Verse number, sorry, what am I up to? Seven, oh yeah, yeah, seven. Then said he to another, and how much owest thou? And he said, and a hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him, take thy bill, and write four score. You know, write eighty. Is that four score? Four times twenty? Yeah, eighty. You know, write down eighty. Instead of a hundred, write down eighty. So you see, you know, continue deceptive practice here, alright? Continue deceptive practice. Verse number eight, and this is what makes it really challenging and confusing. So we know this guy's no good. But then verse number eight, and the Lord commended, okay, the unjust steward. So he was definitely unjust. He's definitely unrighteous. He's definitely doing wrong. But he says the Lord commended. By the way, this is not the Lord as in God our Lord, okay? But this is the Lord of the steward, the one, the rich man, okay? This is a story of this rich man. He commended. He spoke well of. He praised the unjust steward. In what way? Because he had done wisely. Now don't misunderstand this. Please don't go and start, you know, start being a cheat, okay? Please don't start, you know, underpaying people that you owe or anything like that. We'll see in what way they are wise, okay? It says now, for the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light. So is this an example of a Christian? No, okay? Jesus calls that person a child of the world. And we are children of the light. But he says that there are children of the world, the unbelievers are wiser, okay, than us. Meaning they're crafty, okay? They know how to get away with things. They know how to cheat. They know how to make things favorable to them. And why did the Lord commend him? Maybe because he saw how crafty and how wise the steward was, you know, to make friends, to build connections with others. Or maybe because his books looked a lot better. Instead of all this money owing, now he looks a lot better. You know, now there's less owing to me. Maybe this guy has done some work and actually cleaned up the books before he got fired. Okay, but we see that the children of the world are wiser than us in the sense that they know how to cheat and deceive, okay? Now, verse number eight. Ah, verse number nine, sorry. And then it says, and I say unto you. Okay, so now, now Jesus is taking the story. He says, and I say unto you, Jesus is saying this to his disciples. Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting habitations. Now, let's just end with that last one, the everlasting habitations. This is not about eternal life or anything like that. But you know this unjust steward wanted to be received into their houses because he had nowhere to go. And Jesus is saying, yes, this guy essentially did. By building connections, by making friends, by cutting the debt of what they owed, by doing someone a favor, he scratched their back and they scratched his, right? And they've given him a habitation. They've given him some place to go and live, all right? And basically Jesus says, hey, learn from the unjust steward. Wow, all right? That you may receive you into everlasting habitations, all right? So let's understand this. Jesus is definitely saying, verse number nine, I say unto you, okay? This is something that we need to learn from. And you know what? We can learn things from the non-believers. We can learn things from those that are unsaved. I learned a lot of excellent business practices, not unjust ones, okay? But just good stuff by other people that I worked with. You know, one point of advice that I was given early on in my career was always be nice, always be friendly, always say hello to the CEO's secretary, okay? Or their personal assistant, okay? Always be nice to them, you know? Because sometimes you may not get your voice to the CEO, okay? But if you show kindness to their helper, to their secretary, you know? Then that person will know you, okay? And they'll speak highly of you. You know, if your name gets mentioned, that person will go, yeah, you know, that person's a great guy. And that's how you get your name heard by the CEO is. Rather than speaking of yourselves, rather than you trying to push yourself from promotion, you know, find the people that you have easy access to, be nice to them, invest in them, okay? Invest in relationships, invest in friendships, and you might benefit from that in the future. You don't know for sure, but you might benefit from that in the future. I think that's a great principle to live by, you know? And the idea here, guys, is to invest in relationships, okay? Now, you might be tempted when you get saved, you know? Especially when you get saved and you have all these non-believing friends and, look, I'm not the kind of person that says you should have nothing to do with your non-believing friends. I don't take that approach because I believe if you maintain a good friendship, you can use that opportunity to give them the gospel, okay? You can use that. But, look, if you live righteously for Christ, more often than not, your friends will leave you anyway, okay? I mean, those that are bad influence in your life, they'll probably leave you anyway, okay? But there's nothing wrong with maintaining good friends. There's nothing wrong with maintaining good relationships by doing people a favor. You know, if someone, you know, comes and visits, you know, I might take them out for lunch, I might take them out for coffee, you know, I'm investing in that person and, hopefully, if I ever have a need myself, that person can come and be a help to me, okay? There's nothing wrong with that. This is what Jesus is teaching. We can learn from even the wicker people, okay, in building these relationships, you know? And, you know, I've never been fired from a job like the unjust steward, but like I said, I have resigned. And every time that I resigned from a job, I always made sure everything was in order, I always made sure everything was prioritized. You know, in one of my last jobs, I just made sure that all my employees would have a pay rise before I left, alright? And that way, I would leave and they'd be happy. They got a pay rise, alright? I mean, I've always left and made sure that things were taken care of. You know, I always worked hard, but when I resigned and I gave my notice, I always worked harder, okay? I always worked harder for those last few weeks. Say, why? You know, why are you leaving anyway? No, but I wanted to make sure that I'm left with a good reputation, alright? That way, if I ever needed a job, if I ever lost a job in the future and I needed somewhere to go, I had people in other places that I could contact and I have no doubt they would offer me a job. And I don't know about you, but that's a really good practice to have, if you ever have a need to, you know, offer yourself up, serve yourself so other people can come and help you in your needs, okay? That's the principle. This is good advice from Jesus Christ. Good practical advice. You know, I once worked in a job which I left and then several, maybe a year later, I was contacted by that manager and he said, look, please come back and work for me. You know, please build the business up again and basically said you can pay yourself whatever you want, okay? I wasn't looking for a job at the time. I already had taken on a new job. I wasn't looking for it and I said thank you, but I knew that if I ever needed one, I could contact that person, alright? And even my last job that I had, I worked hard, you know, I gave six months notice, I made sure that whoever came in replaced me, got all the training, you know, everything was handed over. And even then, unpaid, after I resigned, I was there for that person. I said just call me up, here's my number, if you need some help, you get stuck on something, give me a call. And then, some months later, I had a call from the business and they said, hey, can you come and help us, you know, we're stuck and we're getting behind on a few things, can you help us catch up? And I was doing that from Chile. I was working from Chile when I went on my holidays last year, okay? So look, you know, don't burn your bridges, okay? It's very tempting sometimes to just burn all your bridges, like, oh, this person's, you know, no, no. Maintain the relationships, be friendly, be nice, okay? I mean, don't be unjust, but that's the principle, okay? To have good relationships in case you ever have a need, you know, people can be there and help you out, alright? So that's the teaching, and like I said, I've never heard any preaching on this. It's like it's too challenging to understand what in the world is going on, okay? Look, we can learn from non-believers, okay? We shouldn't be afraid. Now look, when it comes to doctrine, when it comes to Bible, when it comes to things of God, only listen to those that you are guaranteed, you know, you're guaranteed are saved. Are saved people that have the Holy Spirit in them, that can teach the Word of God, yes, but when it comes to other things in life, you know, maybe health, maybe, you know, building, you know, some sort of project, doing some sort of works, there's nothing wrong with going to the world, to the non-believing world and getting some good advice. I see that, I personally think there's nothing wrong with that whatsoever, and that's what Jesus Christ is saying, hey, even with the wicked, even they have some element of wisdom, and we can learn from that, alright? Let's go to verse number 10, Luke chapter 16 verse 10. 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. What this is teaching, guys, is that we, with the least that we have, you might say, I know I'm great, I don't have any major responsibilities in my life. Look, but we all have some level of responsibility, we all have something that we need to take care of, okay? And the Bible is saying here, Jesus is saying that we need to be faithful in the least, in the small things, guys, alright? And sometimes I hear people, they wanna be pastors, they wanna take up positions of leadership in a church, and they wanna stand behind the pulpit, and they wanna make themselves known. No, no, what you need to do is be faithful in the least, alright? You know, before I became a pastor, yeah, I preached once a month in my former church, but I was also cleaning the toilets, alright? I was also changing the toilet paper, and that wasn't a pleasant job, alright? And nobody saw that, okay? But I was faithful in the least, and I always made sure even the small things, you know, I would give myself a good account of even managing the small things. And then the Bible says here, hey, if you're faithful in the least, then you'll also be faithful in much. If you show yourself, if you show yourself, you know, with integrity, if you show yourself responsible, if you show that you care for the needs of others, you know, even for the small things, you know? God will give you the much in due time, once you've proven yourself, alright? When you walk through this building, like I said before, guys, you see a bit of rubbish, you see something not in its right place. Hey, be faithful in the least, just throw that in the bin, just put that in the right order, just pick up that whatever it is, just do the little things. You say, nobody's seeing me, God sees you, alright? God sees the little things that you do, alright? If the toilet needs to be cleaned, yeah, be faithful in the least, alright? And then it says in verse 10, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. Okay, so if you demonstrate yourself that you cannot even manage the small things in your life, then you're not going to get much. You know, if you're someone that says to me, I want to be a pastor one day, you know, are you going to think about training me, give me the opportunity or day in me? And I give you the responsibility to mop the floor every week, alright, just out there, and I look and it's not mopped and it's always dirty, then obviously, you're not going to be someone that's faithful in much, you're going to be unjust in much. Okay, so please keep that in mind, great principles that we can live by. Verse number 11, if therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, that's mammon, it means money basically, who will commit to you, sorry, who will commit to your trust, the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? What's the principle there? Before we can be masters, before we can take ownership of things, we must first be faithful in that which is another man's, alright? Before you can become a supervisor or a manager of a business, you've got to be that best employee, you've got to serve in another man's business, alright? If you've got an apprenticeship, that's a great example of you serving in someone's business, you're usually on a low pay, but if you work hard, you learn the skills on the job, one day you can have your own business, but you need to first be faithful in another man's business, okay? If you want to be a part, this is why I'm against self-ordained pastors, okay? People that just raise themselves up and give themselves a title of pastor and lead a church, no, that's the wrong way to go about doing it, you first have to be faithful in which is another man's, alright? I was faithful in other churches in my past, faithful and learnt as much as I could, I used the opportunities that were offered to me to preach and to be a leader and to guide and help other believers, and then I was seen as someone that could lead their own church, that can pastor their own church, alright? That's just the way of life, in every way of life, okay? If you want to be someone that gets promoted, you must first promote others, alright? Work hard for others. Verse number 13. 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, alright? Now, this is true obviously, as believers our job is to serve God, alright? And it's not just a pastor's job, it's not just a deacon or whatever other title people have in churches, it's not just their jobs to serve God, it is all of our jobs to serve God, alright? It's all of our jobs to serve God. But you know, all of us also need a bit of mammon in our life. We all need a little money, okay? Because it's a tool, we need it to survive, we need it to buy the groceries, we need it to pay the rent or to buy the house or to buy the car, we all need it, okay? But some people serve mammon, some people serve money, alright? And it's like the whole life is consumed about how much money can I make? Hey look, you can take that approach if you want, but Jesus makes it very clear that ye cannot serve God and mammon, okay? It says, or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. If you think your life is all about money, how much you can make, then the Bible says you despise the other master which is God, okay? Ye cannot serve money and love the Lord. You can choose to serve money, but that means you hate the Lord, okay? But if you love the Lord and you set first his kingdom of God and his righteousness, then all these things shall be added unto you. Jesus Christ promises that you're going to have everything that you need in life if you put him first, okay? And of course, we need our jobs, we need the money so we can live our life, but please never become servants of money, okay? Never become servants of money. Make sure that you use it to provide for your needs, and above and beyond that, don't waste your time on that. Use your time to serve the Lord God. And now when Jesus Christ said those words in verse 13, in verse 14, that's when it pricks the ears of the Pharisees that were listening, okay? It says, and the Pharisees also who were covetous, so what does that mean? They were people that were seeking money, they were seeking wealth, heard all those things and they derided him, okay? So this teaching about serving God and mammon touched a nerve with the Pharisees and they begin mocking him and begin mocking Jesus Christ, all right? This tells me that these Pharisees were not just religious leaders, but they were wealthy religious leaders, okay? And so people would look at them and say, wow, look how righteous they are on the outside, we know they weren't righteous on the inside, and look at all their wealth, you know, surely God is blessing them. Look how God is blessing them with all this wealth. Doesn't this remind you of the tele-evangelists? Doesn't this remind you of those preachers, the one in the Philippines, whatever his name is, the richest preacher in all the world, appearing to be righteous on the outside and they have all this great wealth? Listen to me, if you ever attempted to listen to one of these preachers with great wealth, you know this, they hate God, they despise God, because what they're doing is they're serving mammon, they're serving money, all right? And when you see this poor preacher right here behind the pulpit, you know that I love God, all right? Because I know they're not doing this for the money, okay? Be careful, okay? They had the same problems, they had the tele-evangelists in their day as well, all right? Anyone that makes themselves rich because of Christian ministry is not serving God. They're serving mammon. Verse 15, and he said unto them, who? The Pharisees, right? And he said unto the Pharisees, 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. There you go again, these preachers that are wealthy, these preachers that have their own TV programs and their own private jets, Jesus says of them that they seek to justify themselves before men. They don't have any intention to justify themselves before God. They're looking to men to justify themselves. They're looking for the praise of men, and God knows their hearts, God searches their hearts, and it says it's abomination in the sight of God. Right? Be careful who you look up to, be careful who you listen to, the preachers that you listen to, okay? They can't, you know, if people are trying to look good to men, that's probably someone you shouldn't be listening to, okay? Someone you shouldn't be listening to. Verse 16, now here we go, we go to another challenging passage here, and I've done a thorough study here, and I know brother Callum was asking me about this a little bit as well, so let's look at verse 16. It says, the law and the prophets were until John, that's John the Baptist. Since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. Alright, so let's understand this, the law of the prophets were until John. There's two ways to understand this. You know, when you talk about the law of the prophets, quite often we're talking about the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. So you can look at it like that. The Old Testament scriptures were until John. And what that would say, basically, if you've seen the end of your Old Testament, in Malachi chapter 4 verses 5 and 6, it does prophesy of John the Baptist coming and making the way of the Lord, okay? So you can look at it like that, that the Old Testament laws and the prophets were until John. They prophesied until John, and now, you know, now we're having all the New Testament writings coming into play, you know, in the near future. That's one way to look at it. The other way to look at this is that the Old Testament was till John. So the law, the prophets, and even John the Baptist represents the Old Testament, and when Jesus Christ has come into the scene, he is now coming in and bringing in the New Testament, okay? That's another way. There are very similar ways to look at it, okay? I'm not sure which is the best way, but I think they both kind of fit the bill there. And then it says, since that time, the kingdom of God is preached. So we know already how to enter into the kingdom of God. That's by being born again, okay? Believing on Jesus Christ. And it says, and every man presseth into it. What this tells me is that everybody, okay? Even when, look, when you go door knocking, you preach the gospel, people say, I'm not interested, okay? Or they say, I don't believe in God. I'm an atheist. I don't believe there's enough life. What Jesus Christ is saying here is every man presseth into it. Every man wants to know how to enter the kingdom of God. Everybody's seeking that. That's why we have all these false religions. That's why we have all these false churches and all these false preachers. It's because everyone's trying to find, how do I make it to the kingdom of God? That's what I believe is being taught here. That every man is pressing into it. Everyone wants to know. Now, keep your finger there and turn to Galatians chapter 3. Galatians chapter 3 verse 21. What is the significance of the law of the prophets and pressing into the kingdom of God? What's the significance? Galatians chapter 3 verse 21. Galatians chapter 3 verse 21. The Bible reads, Is the law then against the promises of God? God forbid. For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the Scripture have concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. And after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. So here's the relationship that the law and the prophets, the Old Testament commands, the standard that God has taught us in the Bible, all the commands, is there to serve as a schoolmaster to point us to Christ. When we look at the law, we go, Wow, we've come short of that. We can't reach perfection. We can't attain all the commands and all the righteousness that we see in the Bible. We come short of that. I'm a sinner. I'm a sinner. I'm a failure. And I need a Savior. And that's going to point me to Jesus Christ. That's the relationship there, okay? That everyone recognizes they're not perfect. And that's why they're seeking, How do I enter into the kingdom of God? All right, let's turn to Matthew chapter 11 verse 12. Matthew 11 verse 12. And if you guys have some other ideas about these passages, please let me know after the service. But Matthew 11 verse 12, this is the one that brother Callum's asked me about before. And I've often looked at it and just scratched my head, all right? But look at this in Matthew 11 verse 12. Because it's very similar to Luke 16, 16, all right? And it says, And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violence taketh by force. But look at this, For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Do you see the similarity there? Okay, we've got the law and the prophets till John. We also have the kingdom of God, but this time it's referred to as the kingdom of heaven. Though there's something else related to this. It's not just that every man is pressed into it, that every man wants to know, How do I get saved? How do I make myself right with God? But also that the kingdom suffereth violence. And the violent take it by force. All right. So, at first reading, it sounds like that violent people take the kingdom of God for themselves. Like they're the ones that make it to the kingdom of heaven because they're violent. That's sort of the first reading when you look at it, you might get that impression. But this is why we compare scripture with scripture, all right? This is why we compare spiritual with spiritual. Anytime, you can do your own search on this. Anytime the Bible mentions the word violence or violence, it's always a sin. There's always a negative connotation to it. It's always wrong. All right. Then I looked up just the word violence just a few first times in the Bible, and I found something interesting. So, you don't need to say in Matthew, turn to Genesis 21. Genesis 21 verse 25. I just want to give you three examples of violent people, and we'll see some similarities here with what we read in Matthew 11 verse 12. And don't worry, once we get through all this, I'll put it all together for you. But Genesis 21 verse 25. Genesis 21 verse 25. This is the story of Abraham and King Abimelech. Remember, King Abimelech took Sarah to be his own wife, and the Lord rebuked him and warned him in a dream about not taking her as his wife. So, later on, we have Abraham and Abimelech making peace. Making an agreement, making a covenant between themselves. And then in verse, Genesis 21 verse 25, it says, And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away. All right. So, Abraham's trying to make peace with Abimelech, make this covenant, but then he rebukes Abimelech because some of his servants had taken away a well of water. And the significance of that was Abraham had actually dug that well. Okay. But that's not so important right now. But what they had done is they had violently taken away that well. Okay. Either they had prevented others from using it or they had destroyed it themselves. So, nobody can access that well. Okay. But notice that the Bible calls them violence and they took it away. Okay. Now, turn to the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 1. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 1. Leviticus chapter 6 verse 1. I'm not trying to expand on these Old Testament passages. I just want to take just a few thoughts here. It says here in verse 1, And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, If they sold sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, so someone's a sinner, and lie unto his neighbor in that which was delivered him to keep or in fellowship or in anything taken away by violence or have deceived his neighbor. So, this is an example of someone who has stolen something away from their neighbor and the Bible calls this person violence. They had violated their neighbor. They had stolen that away. Okay. So, if I came into your house and stole something, then obviously you can't use it. You don't have access to it. It's been taken away from you. Alright. Now, go to the book of Deuteronomy. The book of Deuteronomy chapter 28. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 31. Deuteronomy chapter 28 verse 31. The Bible says, Thine ox shall be slain before thine eyes, and thou shalt not eat thereof. Thine ass shall be violently taken away from before thy face, and shall not be restored to thee. Thy sheep shall be given unto thine enemies, and thou shalt have none to rescue them. So, Deuteronomy chapter 28 is basically God spelling out blessings to Israel. Hey, if you keep my commands, if you make me your God, you serve me, I'm gonna bless you. And then he also says, but if you don't keep the commands that I've given you, I'm going to curse this nation. And what we just read is one of those curses. That the Israelites would lose their cattle. It says he would lose his ass or his donkey. It'll be, what did it say? It'd be violently taken away. Okay. So again, he can't use his donkey or his cattle for work. You know, it'll be stolen from him. That's gonna be part of the curse that God gives to Israel. All right. Go back to Luke 16 now. Luke 16 verse 16. Let's understand. Let's just try to get an understanding of this. So Luke 16, 16. We already read it, but let's read it again. The law and the prophets were until John. So we know what the law purpose was to be the schoolmaster that would lead us to Christ. To lead us to the kingdom of God. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presseth into it. So everyone wants to know. You're so winning they say, I'm not interested. They are interested. Okay. They're just full of pride. Okay. And they don't want to accept what you have to say, but they do. Deep down inside of them, they want to know, how do I make myself right with God? All right. Then what we read in Matthew 11, 12, which was similar, and from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffered violence and the violent take it by force. Okay. So what do we understand? What is Jesus Christ teaching here? We already saw what the Pharisees were. Okay. We saw the Pharisees were righteous on the outside. They were wicked on the inside. They wanted to be seen of men. They were serving mammon instead of serving God. Okay. And all the while there are people pressing in. They want to know, how do I get saved? How do I enter the kingdom of God? And these evil, wicked false teachers, these preachers had violently taken away the kingdom of God. They had removed it so people could not enter in. Okay. They had presented the broad way that leads to destruction. Okay. So that's how I understand these passages. When you put it all together, when you understand what is happening here, why is Jesus Christ constantly? I mean, I don't know about you, but when I was younger I used to read the Bible and I'm like, Jesus, maybe you're a bit too hard on these Pharisees. You're calling them serpents. You're calling them hypocrites. You know, you're saying all these things about them, but they're preventing people that want to get saved to know the way to heaven. They're taking away the kingdom of heaven. They're taking away the kingdom of God violently away from people. It's wickedness. They're damning people to hell. And that's why Jesus is constantly calling these people out. All right. Let's move on from there. Look at verse number 17. And this is now Jesus just rubbing a bit of salt into the wound of the Pharisees because the Pharisees are trying to establish their righteousness based on the laws of God. They're trying to make it the way to heaven themselves because of their own righteousness. And Jesus says in verse 17 and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass than one tittle of the law to fail. He says, look, one tittle of the law that's just like I said the crossing of a T or the jotting of an I. You know, it's easier. You have more hope for all of creation to disappear, to burn up, to be destroyed than there is for one little jot or tittle to be removed from the law of God. Hey, even though Jesus Christ came in the New Testament, the law of God still is in effect. Okay. It still shows us the righteousness of God. It still teaches us good judgment on crime. Okay. And it shows us, hey, we come short and we need Jesus Christ to save us. It still serves an important purpose. Okay. And again, these Pharisees are trying to justify themselves, trying to say, hey, we've kept the law and I love this. Verse 18, I couldn't understand. Why is it there? Okay. Whosoever putteth away his wife and marrieth another committeth adultery and whosoever marrieth her that is put away from her husband committeth adultery. Just out of nowhere. It just seems like Jesus Christ is now talking about adultery and remarriage and divorce. And the reason once I've understood this was because the Pharisees were claiming to be great, but they were those that were divorced and remarried. They were the ones that were saying, it's fine to leave your wife, to divorce your wife over any cause, over any reason. They're the ones that were not upholding marriage. They were the ones destroying the laws of God and the laws of marriage that God had instituted. And so it's like Jesus rubs in a little bit more. Hey, you think you're righteous, but I know you're full of divorced and remarried people. Okay. You can't establish your own righteousness. The law has proven that you've come short of that. Okay. That's why the Pharisees hated Jesus Christ because he just called them out on their hypocrisy. Okay. So I hope that gives you some idea of these first half of this chapter because honestly, I've never heard it much preached. Okay. I don't think I have. Okay. And I normally pay attention. Like if there's something new that I've not really heard before, I normally pay attention to the fact that I don't even remember it being preached in these passages because they are challenging. All right. Is Jesus Christ speaking highly of a wicked steward here? What does it mean that people press it into the kingdom of God, all these kinds of things, and why is this divorce and remarriage just come out of nowhere? And I think people just avoid it because they're not sure what to say about it, but let's keep reading. Verse number 19. Verse number 19. So we already saw that the Pharisees are people that serve mammon. They make wealth and riches of themselves. So this story follows through because now Jesus Christ is teaching about a certain rich man and Lazarus, who was a poor beggar. Okay. And by the way, this is not a parable. This is a true story. The reason why we know it's true is because Jesus uses names of real people. Okay. It's not just like other parables, it's just like random, you know, there was this rich man, this rich steward, that kind of stuff, you know. But now, when Jesus Christ gives real names, it's because it's not a parable, it's a true story. Okay. Verse number 19. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fed sumptuously every day. This guy had more than he needed. Okay. He lived the good life. Verse number 20. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gates, 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. All right. So Lazarus, a beggar, he's just wanting to eat the leftovers. The stuff that the rich man is throwing out, you know, he gets his meal, he eats, there's still stuff left on his plate. That's what the beggar wants. He just wants a bit of food. Okay. He'd eat the leftover. We see that he has sores, so he doesn't have, you know, healthcare, he's not being looked after, and he's got sores in the fact that the dogs come and lick his sores. And I did not understand, what is this? Because I've never had a pet dog. Who's had a pet dog before? Can I see a show of hands? Do dogs actually, if they see a sore, do they come and lick them? Yeah. All right. So there you go. All right. I'll look this up, and I don't know if this is something God programmed into the DNA on purpose, but apparently, their saliva has antibacterial properties. Okay. So it'll help a sore from getting infections. Okay. But even knowing that, I don't know if I'd let a dog lick my sores. I don't know what else is on that tongue. Don't they go back and eat their own vomit? All right. I don't know what else is on their tongue. I don't think I'd do that. Anyway. Okay. But we have here that, you know, all he had were dogs that would come and lick his sores. 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. Now, what is Abraham's bosom? It's not complicated. All right. Bosom means chest. Okay. So he dies, and angels... Is this gonna be for all of us? Are we all gonna get angels carrying us into heaven? I hope so. That'd be pretty cool. All right. But we see these angels carry Lazarus into Abraham's bosom. Hey, he gets brought to Abraham. To Father Abraham. Okay. To one of the most, you know, highly spoken men of God in the Bible. He gets to go and see him. He gets to not just shake his hand, but he gets brought to his bosom, to his chest. He gets comforted by Abraham. There are some that teach that Abraham's bosom is a location. They say, well, some... A location in heaven? No, no, no. They teach it's a location in hell. Right? It's a good side of hell that they'll teach. Okay? It's just crazy. And they'll say, well, this place of... This paradise in hell that's called Abraham's bosom, they'll also call it paradise. Now, go to 2 Corinthians 12. I know I've preached on this before, but let's just make sure if anyone has any doubts, the Bible's very crystal clear on this. 2 Corinthians 12. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2. 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2. This is Paul speaking. And I believe he's speaking of himself. Okay? In the third person. Anyway, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 2. It says, I knew a man in Christ above 14 years ago. Whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth, such an one caught up to the third heaven. Okay? What's the third heaven? The first heaven is our atmosphere. The second heaven is outer space, where the planets are. The third heaven is where God's throne is. Okay? We cannot see it with the naked eye. Okay? He gets caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I cannot tell, God knoweth, how that he was caught up into paradise. What is paradise? According to the Bible. The third heaven. It's where God is, where his throne is. Okay? He was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Okay? So let's dismantle this idea that paradise is somewhere in hell. Okay? The nice part of hell. No, no. Very clearly the Bible teaches it's the third heaven. Okay? It's called paradise, which makes perfect sense. You don't need to turn there because in Luke 23, or you can turn there, I guess it's Luke. Luke 23 verse 42, it says about the thief on the cross to Jesus Christ, and he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom, and Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, to thee shalt thou be with me in paradise. To thee you'll be in heaven, is what he's saying. In the third heaven, you're going to be rejoicing and you'll be with me, Jesus Christ said. All right? So, but those that teach that paradise is in hell, they teach that basically the thief on the cross went to the paradise of hell. Okay? No, no, no. I was very clear where paradise is. It is the third heaven. Okay? And this idea that it's also called Abraham's bosom, well, where did the righteous just people go before Abraham existed? Okay? Where did Abraham go? I don't understand. That's weird. All right? I mean, obviously, they went to heaven because they were righteous. They made righteous in the blood of Christ because Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. All right? Not just 2,000 years ago. Yes, in our time, 2,000 years ago, but as far as God is concerned, since the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ has been slain. All right? His blood covered every sin of everybody that believed on him. Now, let's just go back to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, we'll just accept the fact that he's in heaven with Abraham. Okay? And he's being comforted by Abraham. Verse number 23, and in hell, he lift up his eyes. This is the rich man. In hell, he lift up his eyes, being in torments and see if Abraham are far off and Lazarus in his bosom. As I say, they must be in hell because he can see Abraham. Look, it says he's a far off. That's all we know. Okay? He's far away and Lazarus in his bosom. He's being comforted by Abraham. He's not just in a location called Abraham's bosom. He's being comforted, being held, being embraced by Abraham in his bosom. Verse 24, and we know this because now we see Abraham. 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. So, like those dogs that would lick the wounds of Lazarus, he's now asking, look, can you please send Lazarus to tip his finger and put it on my tongue with a bit of water? This man is in torments. This is the reality of the non-believer who dies without Jesus Christ, who dies without believing on him. As soon as they die, they're not carried about by angels. They find themselves in hell. They lift up their eyes and they're in eternal torments. Being torments and being tortured in the flames, but not just that. Thirsty, okay? A thirst that cannot be quenched. Have you guys ever been so thirsty and there's nothing to drink and you're really uncomfortable and you feel like you're drying out. You're getting faintish and you're getting headaches. That's how uncomfortable hell's going to be. Not even including the fires at this stage. Just a thirst that comes upon you and is willing for Lazarus just to do that little task for him. Verse 25, And 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. Hey, this man served Mammon. He did not serve God, okay? He did not place his faith in God. He placed his faith in his riches. He placed his faith in his righteousness. Look how powerful. Look at all my material possessions. Look how much I have. I even have food to waste that can be fed to that beggar, Lazarus, that wants to eat my food. All right? But he did not come to believe on Jesus Christ. He finds himself now in hell. But Lazarus, the beggar, the poor beggar, he had put his faith in Christ. Praise God. Praise God that Jesus Christ loves even the poor and the beggars and those that have sores and need healing, okay? Look, you might die poor. You might die hurting, okay? But if you have Jesus Christ, you're going to be embraced by Abraham. You're going to be in heaven rejoicing, okay? You're going to have all the riches in heaven to look forward to. Praise God. Verse number 26. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. So Abraham's saying, look, there's a huge separation, a great gulf between heaven and hell. Once you're in hell, you cannot escape the torment. You can never cross and go to heaven. Hey, salvation is available to us today. As we're living on this earth, we can't wait. Some people say, well, I'll just wait it out. I'll just see what happens. You know, you go and preach the gospel to them and I will be all right. And it's like, well, I'll just wait and see. Well, once they're in hell, once they're in torment, they cannot go into heaven, okay? It's a sad reality. And look, but the great reality of it, once we're saved, once we're in heaven, we cannot go to hell. It's eternal security, okay? You cannot cross that great gulf. It's already been settled, okay? You believe in Christ, you're saved, you reject Christ, you're being damned to hell, okay? A great separation. It's good for us, but very sad and unfortunate for those that go to hell. They'll never be able to cross over, okay? It's not some purgatory. They burn off their sins and make it to heaven. No, they're burning. They'll never cross at verse 27. And he said, I pray thee therefore father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house. This is a rich man speaking. For I have five brethren that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Listen, what do people in hell want? You know what they want? They want more soul wares. They want people to get out there and preach the gospel. They don't want their loved ones, they don't want their family members, their friends, to come to the same place they're at. And again, people mock at the door, don't they? I'll be in hell with all my mates. No, no, no. When they're in hell, they're going to be like, man, I wish my mates were not here. I wish my family was not here. They're saying to believers, why aren't you out there giving the gospel if you believe in this place of hell and torment, eternal suffering? You know, at first they cannot be quenched. If you believe that, why aren't you going out there and preaching the gospel? Why aren't you going out there and doing that? That's what the people in hell want. And if you have loved ones, you have family members and friends that have gone to hell, they've rejected Christ, they're asking of you that know the truth to go and preach the gospel to your family, get them saved. That's what they want. He's concerned for his five brethren. I don't want them to come here. Verse 29. Hey, what's Moses and the prophets? Here, the Bible, the word of God. How do we get saved? You know, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. They have Moses and the prophets right here, okay? They prophesied, they testified of Jesus Christ. Let them hear them. And he said, nay, father Aram. But if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. Hey, if someone was brought back from the dead, if an amazing miracle occurred, then they would repent. Then they would believe on Christ. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded the one rose from the dead. Okay? Doesn't matter. Jesus Christ did so many miracles. And those that saw the great works of God, that knew that he was a Messiah, they believed on him. Those that believed the Old Testament scriptures, they believed on Jesus Christ. And those in his time that rejected him did not even believe Moses and the prophets to begin with. That's why the Pharisees were such hypocrites. They did not even believe the books they claimed to teach and believe. Okay? But you see how important the word of God is in preaching the gospel? All right? If you have a heart for somebody and you want to give them the gospel, you know, don't think you're going to convince them to take speeches or because we're best friends, they're going to give me time of day and they're going to let me just speak my knowledge and you're going to just paraphrase things that you know of in the Bible. No, no, no. You've got to take Moses and the prophets. Okay? You've got to take the apostle John and Paul and show them in the scriptures what they must do to be saved. The word of God is super important. Okay? And even if someone rose from the dead, even if they saw a miracle but they reject the scriptures, they will not be saved. Okay? Because the power of salvation comes through the word of God. Faith cometh by hearing the word of God. So that's what I've got for you today, guys. I hope that was interesting to study for you through the book of Luke 16. If you've got a title for me, let me know. All right? You'll get extra points from me, whatever that means. I'll give you something in heaven that I've got if you come up with a good title for me in Luke 16. All right. Let's pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.