Okay, this morning then, Luke
chapter 16. We bring the message today from
verse 19 down to verse 31 of Luke chapter 16. I'm taking the
title from the parable that the Lord of glory gives concerning
these two men who died. and the state of both of these
men after they died. Now here's the title of the message,
Vital Lessons That We Need To Learn. I need to learn this,
you need to hear this, you need to learn this. Vital Lessons
We Need To Learn. Now the beggar in this story
represents believers, those sinners who were seeking salvation by
the Lord Jesus Christ. If you would look back to Luke
chapter 15 verse 1 and 2, and this is really where this whole
narrative begins, "...then drew near unto him all publicans and
sinners for to hear him." Publicans and sinners. And the Pharisees
murmured saying, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. So this man who is a beggar in
this story represents those sinners seeking salvation in the Lord
Jesus Christ. The rich man here in this story
representing those self-righteous Pharisees who railed on him,
who scorned him, who said over here in Look at Luke 16 verse
14 and 15. You remember they railed on Him. The Pharisees who were covetous
heard all these things, verse 14, they derided Him. That is,
they openly mocked Him, trying to put Him to shame. And our
Lord said to them, you are they which justify yourselves before
men, but God knows your heart. your hearts, for that which is
highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of
Almighty God." Now this parable that we have before us today
is very well known. This is a very somber portion
of Holy Scripture and I tremble, I tremble before Almighty God
trying to deliver such a solemn message. This is a portion of
scripture wanted to be very carefully studied, meditated upon, and
applied to our heart, and by faith is to be heard, received,
and believed. There is a real place called
heaven. The redeemed of the Lord will
all enjoy heavenly glory. And there is the reality of what
we call eternal condemnation and eternal hell. Now, most religious
people believe one of these two things. that God is too good
to send any man to hell. Now we studied this morning from
Romans chapter 11, behold the goodness of the Lord, but also
we behold the severity of the Lord. But most religious people
believe either that God is too good to send any man to hell,
some even deny the Bible truth of eternal torment and eternal
condemnation, or they believe this, They certainly believe
they are too good themselves to be sent there to be condemned
before God. I have found over the years that
most men usually die as they live. That's so. Usually. They were just one dying thief. It's the only one I read of in
Scripture. Most men usually die as they live. Those who live
for themselves, seeking salvation by their goodness, will die in
their sin. Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am, you will die in your sin. That's why faith is
so precious. Those who are blessed of God
to live for Christ, to die in faith, will be eternally blessed
forever in Him. I don't want to die in my sin.
I want to die in faith. The scriptures teach this, John
3, 36, He that hath the Son hath life, eternal life. He that believeth not the Son,
he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life. He that believeth
not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on
him. In the Revelation we read chapter
14 verse 13, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. Now it doesn't say blessed are
those who die. Blessed are those who die in
the Lord. who die in the Lord. Now, I want us to consider this
text this morning very prayerfully and ask the Lord to give us understanding. And know this, I preach as a
dying man who may never preach again. This may be my last sermon. I preach as a dying man who may
never preach again, but I'm also preaching to dying men. You may never ever hear another
sermon that tells us of salvation in Christ. You may never be privileged
again to sit under the preaching of the gospel of God. May God
give us ears to hear. If you knew by the end of the
day that you would face God in judgment, would you listen very
carefully this morning to the word of God? You would, wouldn't
you? Now, I don't know when you will die or when I will die,
but I do know this, as we'll see in the message today, the
end of this flesh is death. And the older I get, each day
that I live is one day closer to that day when this flesh is
going back to the dust. Now again, the subject and title
of the message, lessons we need to learn. May God be pleased
to teach you and to teach me. We read this in scripture, those
who have heard and learned of the Father, you know what they
do? They skedaddle to the Lord Jesus Christ. They come to Him.
Now, let's look at this carefully. Verse 19. Down through verse
21. And there was a certain rich
man, which was clothed in purple, the best, fine linen, the best.
And he fared very well, sumptuously. He had everything he needed every
day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus. Notice he was a beggar. He was blessed of God,
but yet he didn't have much. In his name, I love how the rich
man remained nameless, And this beggar, the Lord knows his sheep
by name. A beggar named Lasbeth was laid
at the rich man's gate. He lived in a gated community.
And this beggar had a diseased body and desiring to be fed with
crumbs. He was a starving man. He was
a beggar laid at the gate. He was probably crippled. He
was probably a cripple. Someone had to carry him and
lay him at the gate, desiring to be fed with crumb which fell
from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and they
licked his oozing, weeping, infected body. Now, here's the first lesson
we need to learn. Being rich or poor has nothing
to do with our spiritual state before God. This rich man had
everything, but he was a spiritual bankrupt man. The rich man had
much. He fared very well every day,
fine clothes, nice house, plenty of money, his bank account full,
he had plenty to eat. I'm sure he had plenty of friends,
I'm sure he had a lot of influence in the community, but he was
a bankrupt sinner spiritually, and it says in this story that
he perished in his sin and went to eternal torment and eternal
condemnation. His riches had nothing to do
with his salvation or his condemnation, either one. While Lazarus had
nothing, that is materially speaking, he was a homeless beggar out
on the street seeking to eat crumbs which fell from the rich
man's table which the rich man threw out his waist. His body
was diseased. The only friends that he had
were the neighborhood dogs who came by and the dogs had compassion
on him. Maybe the dogs were looking for
a meal too. And they came and they licked his sore body. Now which man would you say was
blessed of God? Lazarus, even though he was poor,
naturally speaking, was a rich man spiritually. We read in Scripture,
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though
he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, there on Calvary
Street, that you through his poverty might be made rich. You see, Lazarus was a rich man
spiritually and blessed of God in Christ. How do I know that? The Lord took him to glory. The
Lord took him to glory. He was chosen of God in that
eternal covenant of grace, where we read in Scripture that God
hath from the beginning chosen a multitude of sinners unto salvation,
and it's called the election of grace. They're the remnant
according to the election of grace. Beloved, we are bound
to give thanks to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord,
because God hath chosen you unto salvation from the beginning.
Lazarus was one of those elect. chosen of God in that unconditional
and eternal election of grace. The second thing we know about
Lazarus the beggar and why he was rich, he was redeemed with
the precious blood of Christ. For as much as you know, Peter
said, we are not redeemed with silver and gold, But we are redeemed
with the precious blood of Christ. It's the blood of Christ that
puts away all our sin. All our sin that's in of God's
elect laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and He made full satisfaction
for those sin. None can perish for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life, and He said, I lay down
my life for the sheep. Wealth and health, therefore,
are no marks of God's favor, and adversity, poverty, and sickness
are no marks of God's displeasure. Not about riches, health, or
wealth, or what you have. Now, if you want to turn to this
scripture, I'm going to turn and read this to you. Jeremiah
chapter 9, verse 23. Jeremiah 9.23 We are told to
set our heart on things above, not on the things of this earth.
Jeremiah 9.23 Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom. A lot of people do that, don't
they? Neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Let not
the rich man glory in his riches. Now this rich man's problem wasn't
that he had riches. His problem was his riches had
him. That was the problem. But let him that glorieth glory
in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord
with exercise, loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in
the earth. For in these things I delight, saith the Lord." God
saves sinners by His sovereign mercy and by His sovereign grace. God measures men only by one
standard, by one rule. What is their relationship to
the Lord Jesus Christ? Can you say, with Paul I count
everything else, dung, lost and ruined, that I might win Christ
and be found in Him? You see, the Scriptures teach,
1 John 5, 11, He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the
Son hath life. He that hath not the Son hath
not life. Whatever else you do have, if
you do not have union with Christ by that God-given faith, you're
bankrupt spiritually before God. Now here's the second thing we
need to learn is this. I need to learn this, you need
to learn this. The second thing, verse 22 and
verse 23, and it came to pass. Now whenever you read that in
Scripture, know immediately that God brought it to pass. It didn't
happen just by luck. No such thing in God's universe.
Don't ever use that word in your... just strike that out of your
vocabulary. I had a lucky day. Don't ever
say that. We don't believe in luck. We
do believe in the good providence of God and it came to pass by
the Lord bringing it to pass that the beggar died. and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom." Now, Abraham always represents the elect of
God who believe. Abraham, when he died, in his
soul and spirit, he went to eternal glory to enjoy the Lord Jesus
Christ forever, and that's where the angels of God carried Lazarus,
the beggar, to glory, And the rich man, he also died. And the rich man was buried.
And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, seeing
Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Now, here's the
second thing. Both men died. Both men in this
story died. Death is a result of what? S-I-N. Sin. Death is the result of sin. Romans 6, 23. The wages of sin
is death. The gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ, but the wages of sin is death. When sin
is finished with this vile body, it's headed for the grave. Now,
I see this more evident every day. As I look into the mirror
each day, the mirror doesn't lie. What it reflects is true. This body is headed back for
the dust. You can paint it, pump it, prime
it, do all you want to this flesh, it's still flesh. It's still
rotting, corrupting flesh and it's going back to the dust.
When sin is finished with this vile body, it's headed to the
grave. The scriptures teach and it's still true, dust thou art
and to dust thou shalt return. Death is no respecter of persons. Is it? Every time I look in the
newspaper I always read the obituaries if I read nothing else. Are you
like me? I always look at the obituary
and I find in there sometimes Infants, stillborn, a day old,
two days old. I see in the paper oftentimes
young people, teenagers, young adults, 30, 40, and all the way
through. You see the point I'm making?
Death is no respecter of person. The young, old, rich, poor, they
all die. Death's a great leveler, isn't
it? We read in Ecclesiastes 3, there's a time to be born and
there's a time to die. That day's already fixed. It's
appointed for you and for me. Death is an appointment of God.
We read in Hebrews 9, 27, it's appointed unto men once to die.
After that, judgment. You must face God in judgment. with a mediator or without one. If you face God in judgment without
the mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, you'll be forever cast
out. Death is an appointment of God,
no man shall escape it. Man's days are determined of
the Lord, the number of our months are with him. Job 14, 5. Let
me read this to you. Seeing his days are determined,
the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed
his bounds, that he cannot pass over it. Sometimes you go to
a funeral home and visitation and somebody will make the statement,
well his death was an untimely death. Maybe on your time schedule,
but not on God's. Man's days are determined of
the Lord. Deuteronomy 32 said, See now
that I, even I, am he that there is no God with me, no God else
beside me. I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal, neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. You're in his hand. Isaiah 40
tells us about the flesh. All flesh is grass. All the goodliness
thereof, as the flower of the field, the grass wither, the
flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass. The grass wither, the flower
fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. The psalmist
says this, Lord, teach us to number our days. are days that
we may apply our hearts to wisdom, and that is Christ. Has the Lord
ever taught you that, shown you that? You're a dying creature.
That which is born to flesh is flesh. We're just here for a
little while. Our life is like a shadow that's
passing away. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle. Now here's the third thing, death
is not the end of a person. Verse 22, Lazarus died, the rich
man died. I think it's interesting it says
about the beggar, no mention of his burial there. And the rich man, he died and
he was buried and in hell. He lifted up his eyes, being
in torment, seeing Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send
Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool
my tongue, for I am tormented, I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received
your good things, and likewise Lasbeth evil things, but now
he is comforted, and you are tormented." Eternal condemnation
is for every unbeliever. Now notice The scriptures teach
the immortality of the soul. We are made up of body, soul,
and spirit. Man has a body. You're looking
at a body. Man has a body, a tabernacle,
but he is a soul before God. We read this in Ecclesiastes
12, 7. Then shall the dust return to
the earth as it was. That's our body, that's our flesh.
But the spirit shall return to God who gave it. And that includes
our spirit and our soul. Back to God who gave it. Now,
Lazarus, being a believer, redeemed by the blood of Christ, having
his sin put away by the blood atonement of Christ, Lazarus
died a blessed death. I've often said of those who
have been here and who have passed away by the appointment of God,
I've often said that for the believer, death is not punishment,
it's promotion. It's promotion. Being a believer,
resting in the righteousness of the Lord is a great blessing.
Lazarus was carried away to the presence of Almighty God like
Abraham who believed God. Abraham believed God, it was
counted to him for righteousness. Blessed is that man to whom the
Lord would impute righteousness without works. Lazarus was immediately
upon his death went to heavenly paradise and was greatly comforted
when his soul was separated from his body and that's what happens
when a person dies. Lazarus went to that paradise
like the dying thief as the Lord said to him, today you will be
with me in paradise. We have some dear friends who
have departed who are now with the Lord in paradise. The Apostle Paul writes about
it in Philippians 121. For me to live is Christ, to
die is gain. 2 Corinthians 5.8, we read a moment
ago, we are confident and I say willing rather to be absent from
the body is to be present with the Lord. Death for a believer
is a blessing. Don't weep for me when I die. You can weep with my wife and
pat her on the back, but don't weep for me. I'll be with the
Lord. That's where I want to go. Psalm
116 says, Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his
saints. That's a precious thing with God. You know, each time
a believer dies, it's the answer to the Lord's prayer in John
17 verse 24, where it says, Father, I will that those which you have
given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. You see, death as a believer
is a precious, precious thing. Now, if you will turn with me,
hold your place there, and let's look at a couple of scriptures
here. I want you to find 1 Thessalonians. You hold your place there in
Luke 16. And then I want you to hold your place here in 1
and 2 Thessalonians, but find 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, and
then we'll look at 2 Thessalonians in just a moment. But 1 Thessalonians
4 verse 13, I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them which are asleep, those who have died in the Lord,
that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. But
if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and certainly
He did, delivered to our offenses, raised again for our justification,
even so them also which sleep in Him will God bring with Him. For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the
coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with
the voice of an archangel, with the trump of God, and the dead
in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. Death for a believer is
a comforting, comforting thought. To be with the Lord forever.
No tears, no pain, no sorrow. Just worshiping God as we ought
to do. Now hold your place there. 2
Thessalonians chapter 1. Now, Lazarus had a blessed, blessed
death because he died in the Lord. Not so the rich man. It
says in Luke 16, verse 23, that in hell he lift up his eyes,
present tense, he lift up his eyes being in torment. In verse
24, it mentions in Luke 16, being in torment. In verse 25, it also
mentions about Lazarus being comforted and the rich man being
tormented. Again in verse 28, he says, For
I have five brethren, I have five brothers, that he may testify
unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Those who die in their sin can
never be justified before God because of this great gulf that
is fixed. A lot of people have this notion,
well, after I die, at some point down the road, there's going
to be some kind of a second thing happening. Oh, no. As you die
in your sin, God will find you. As death finds you, God will
judge you. As God judges you, eternity will
keep you. Revelation 22, 11 says this,
He that is unjust, let him be unjust still. He that is filthy,
let him be filthy still. He that is righteous, let him
be righteous still. He that is holy, let him be holy
still. Hell, H-E-L-L. is the place of the damned, and
it is as real as heaven. I don't know where it is, I cannot
imagine how horrible it is, but it is real, it is no sham thing. Many say that hell is only the
grave. That's not what the Lord says
here. This man was in great torment of his soul, having his desires
never, never satisfied. Now, 2 Thessalonians, you still
there? Chapter 1, look at verse 7. To you who are troubled, rest
with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, taking vengeance on them that obey not the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory
of his power. That is a hopeless end. No mercy, no grace, no peace,
no rest. Now think about this. No one
in Scripture spoke more about the eternal fires of eternal
condemnation than the one who delights to show mercy. the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen to these scriptures, Matthew
10, 28. The Lord says, Fear not them which kill the body, but
are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is
able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 23, 33. We read this
last week. He said, You serpents and generation
of vipers, how shall you escape the damnation of hell. How can you escape? By your works?
By your deeds? Never! Only by His mercy. Matthew 25, 41, You shall say
to them on their left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire. It's real, isn't it? It is real. Someone said this, What is hell?
Hell is truth realized too late. There are no unbelievers in hell. Did you know that? They all believe
now that God is God. That the Lord Jesus Christ is
the only way of salvation. You see, the believer has endless
comfort and peace in Christ. The unbeliever has endless torment
and unrest. It is real. The only way of salvation is
in Christ. Now, how do we know anything
about salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ? That leads me to the
last point in this message. Verse 26 down to verse 31. We see the importance the Lord
Jesus Christ places upon the preaching of the gospel, the
preaching of the Word. For we know that faith comes
by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the Lord. Verse 27, he said, I pray thee,
therefore, father Abraham, that thou wouldst send him, that is,
send Lazarus, back to my father's house, for I have five brothers,
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment. And Abraham said unto him, They
have the word of God. That's what he's saying here.
They have Moses. They have the prophets. Let them, your brothers,
what do they need to hear? They don't need to hear about
some man coming forth from the grave. They need to hear the
truth from the word of God. Let them hear them, the prophets,
the word of God. And he said, Nay, father Abraham,
but if one went unto them from the dead, They would repent. Now that's what we naturally
would think. But we know that repentance is
a gift of God. It's the goodness of God that
leads a man to repentance. And he said unto him, here's
the wise answer from God, from the lips of the Lord, if they
hear not Moses. What did Moses write about? Our
Lord said, if you would believe Moses, you would have believed
me. Moses wrote about me. If they hear not the word of
the Lord and the prophets, what did the prophets preach about
to him? Give all the prophets witness.
They all tell us about the Lord Jesus Christ. Neither will they
be persuaded to repent and believe the gospel, though one is risen
from the dead. Now, my friend, faith comes by
hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord. What do you need
to hear? You didn't hear about some wild dream I had last night? Or some wild vision somebody
said, well, I saw there on the side of that barn, there was
an image of a man. And it must have been, must have
been something spiritual. Do you look for some kind of
sign or wonder? My friend, don't look to feelings. Feelings come and feelings go.
Feelings are deceiving. My warrant is a Word of God.
Nothing else is worth believing. So we don't look to dreams and
visions and feelings. We look to the Lord as He's revealed
in the Word of the Lord. The rich man wanted Abraham.
to raise Lazarus from the dead, to warn his five brothers not
to make the same mistake he did by ignoring the Word of God.
Abraham wisely says, being a faithful servant of the Lord, they have
the Word of God. They have the prophets of God.
In Acts 10, Peter said, "...he commanded us to preach unto the
people, and to testify it is he which was ordained of God
to be judge of the living and the dead, to him give all the
prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth
in him shall receive the remission of sins." Whosoever believeth
in him. How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? It is pleased God to ordain the means of preaching
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is the power of
God unto salvation, to call out His people, to quicken His people
from the dead, with the Word of Truth. That's why we make
much of the preaching of the Gospel. We tell the truth of
who God is, Almighty and Sovereign, the truth of who we are, sinners,
guilty before God, the truth of who the Lord Jesus Christ
is, the God-Man-Mediator and what He accomplished, put away
our sin, established righteousness, and we preach salvation, the
truth of salvation by the grace of God alone. Now, we don't make
much of preachers. I appreciate those who are sent
of God. But we make much of the means that God has ordained. It pleased God through the preaching
of the gospel to call out His people. That is why we make much
of the preaching of the gospel here. We're not trying to entertain
folks. I don't have any entertainment
for you. If you want entertainment, you need to go to the Expo Center.
They've got plenty of entertainment over there. We are serious right
here about preaching the gospel because that's the preaching
of the gospel and the hearing of it and the believing of it
that's going to set you free. That's why Paul said, I charge
thee before God and the Lord Jesus, who shall judge the living
and the dead at the appearing of his kingdom, preach the word,
be instant in season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort
with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they
will not endure sound doctrine, but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they
shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned
unto fables. Boy, that's our day, isn't it?
We're living in that day. You see, truth is born of a true
gospel. True faith is born of a true
gospel. Of his own will begat he us with
the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his
creatures. If they will not hear Moses and
the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one arose
from the dead. if they will not hear the Word
of God, if they will be not persuaded from the Word of God. What people need today is a constant
diet of thus saith the Lord. People today don't clamber to
hear the Word of God. They clamber to hear anything
but plain preaching of the Gospel of Christ. They're interested
in the traditions of man, the ceremonies of man, not the Word
of God. You see, the message of the Gospel
is Christ has already died to put away our sin. He said it's
finished. The message of the Gospel is Christ has been raised
up from the dead because He accomplished our salvation, delivered from
our offenses, and raised again for our justification. Christ
has ascended up on high, ever living to intercede for us. There
is a man that is risen from the dead who is seated at the right
hand of God, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, look
to Him. Look to Him and believe on Christ. Find in Him all your salvation,
all your righteousness before God. John 5, 24 says this, "...verily,
verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth
on him that sent me half everlasting life." What does that mean? Got
it? Got it! "...he that heareth my word,
and believeth on him that sent me half everlasting life, shall
not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life."
The Lord said, I'm the way, the truth, the life, No man comes
unto the Father but by me. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's no other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved." May God help us right now, every
one of us, right now, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit
the whole of our salvation to His hand, to His hand. I'm not asking you to do anything.
I'm not asking you to come down here. Salvation's not down here.
Salvation's in Christ. The Word of God encourages us
looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who's the author and finisher
of our faith. May God help us right now to
trust the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Come to Him by faith. As my dear
pastor used to say, come to Christ and don't move a muscle. Come
by faith in your heart. Look to Him. The Lord said, look
unto Me and be ye saved of all the ends of the earth. I'm the
only just God and Savior. Now look unto Me and be ye saved. May God grant us faith to hear
the Word, to hear the Word, and to believe God concerning salvation
in Christ.