I think my message this morning
is very, very important. I believe it will be important
for you, and I hope the Lord will be pleased to bless it. But my subject this morning is
lessons from a lost soul. Lessons from a lost soul. Our Lord said here in verse 19,
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.
Desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table moreover the dog came and licked his sores. And it came
to pass that the beggar died. He was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. Now listen to this. The rich
man also died and was buried. And being in hell, he lifted
up his eyes. Being in torment, saith 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'm tormented
in this flame. Lessons from a lost soul. You
know, life is full of lessons. Life is full of lessons. We start
learning when we're very, very young. We start teaching our
children when they're very, very young, very small. And then as
we go through life, we'll have lots and lots of lessons, things
that we learn from. And some of us, we learn our
lessons far too late. As an old saying, too soon old,
too late wise. And that's the way it is with
most people. They're too soon old and too late wise. But any
lessons worth learning are learned hard. They're hard to come by. And the lessons we learn, we
learn them by experience. When you learn a lesson by experience,
you've learned it. You've really learned it. But
thank God our Lord Jesus Christ condescends to teach us. He comes to teach us. He instructs
us in His Word. We're His disciples. We're His
disciples. And a disciple is one who follows
and learns. And we want to learn. We want
to learn. We want to learn of Him. And
we want to learn from Him. We want to be like Mary. We want
to sit and hear His Word. Now in the previous verses, look
here with me in 13 through 15, look what our Lord said here.
No servant can serve two masters. No servant can serve two masters. He will either hate the one and
love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the
other. You cannot serve God in 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. Now Lord Jesus
Christ sets forth this truth here, that no man can serve two
masters. He can't do it. And he's showing
how sinful and how blinding and how deceiving covetousness is. Now not just money, but covetousness
is pride, honor, glory, being ambitious in this world to get
all that you can. And he's showing how sinful and
blinding and deceiving covetousness is that men, even religious men,
find any means to justify themselves. And our Lord says you cannot
serve God or mammon. And mammon means wealth, deified,
love of riches, pleasures of sin. And our Lord calls mammon
a master. Calls it a master. One that rules
over you. And then He says God is a master.
And there could not be a greater difference in character than
Mammon and God. Greater difference in the two.
But yet both God and Mammon demand the mastery of our being. They
demand the mastery of our lives. And if the love of God in Christ
doesn't master us, be our master, and if he's not our master, Then
the love of the world will be our master. One or the other
is going to rule us. One or the other is going to
be our master. One or the other is going to have control over
us and ruin us. One of them will save us. One
of them will damn us. Just that simple. And our Lord
begins a most solemn story here about a certain rich man and
a beggar. What a difference in character
between these two. A certain rich man and a beggar.
And that beggar's name, he named the beggar. He didn't name the
rich man, he named the beggar. His name was Lazarus. And our
Lord's meaning is clear and unmistakable. If we serve any master, any master
besides God, what the consequences is going to be. That's why he
says covetousness, desire, wealth deified. This rich man and this
beggar, so different in character. And I have some lessons to learn
from this rich man and this lost man who ended up in hell and
who's ended up lost, eternally lost, everlastingly lost, being
in torments from all eternity. And what's some lessons we can
learn right here? And here's the first lesson that
we can learn from this man who died lost. That a man may have
a beautiful appearance in the sight of man, and yet be utterly
and absolutely corrupt before God. Now that's what he says,
that is well-pleasing in the sight of men, and you will justify
yourself. He said that's an abomination
in God's sight. And here's a man. It says in
verse 19, a certain rich man. Certain rich man. Oh, everybody
wanted to know the rich everybody wants to be a you know, they
have People just follow folks around who's got money And people
who's got money won't everybody know they got money But here's
this man, he's a certain rich man. Look what he says how he
dressed in purple Purple's a royal color. Purple was very expensive
in those days. That's what kings wore. Purple
robes. That's what they put on our Lord
Jesus Christ at the cross. They put on him a purple robe.
And here's this man. He's dressed in this royal garment,
in this beautiful, expensive garment. And not only that, but
he wore fine linen. The finest linen money could
possibly buy. He's top care of number one.
He took awful good care to take of himself very well. Pampered
himself. Pampered himself with the best
that this world possibly had to offer. He was the Donald Trump
of his age. He lived and had gold-plated
faucets and let everybody know that he did. Wanted everybody
to know what he was like. How wealthy he was. And that's
what this man was. He was very wealthy. Outdone
to the world. He appeared beautiful. He appeared
powerful. He appeared wealthy. He appeared
great. Oh, everybody loved him. Boy,
there goes the wealthiest man in town. Watch that car go down
through there. Man, he drives the best automobile
in town. Look at him. He's got somebody
driving it for him. But look what it says over here
in Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19. Our Lord Jesus says about the Laodicean church. They said, we're rich and increased
with goods and have need of nothing. And our Lord says, knowest thou
not that thou art wretched, poor, miserable, blind, and naked? And that's what this man was
in the sight of God. In the sight of the world, he
was everything. In the sight of God, he was naked.
And look what he said here in Proverbs 19, 4. Wealth maketh
many free. Wealth maketh many free. Right
off the top of my head, right off the top of my head, I know
three preachers. Three. That wherever they went,
They went to the wealthiest people in the congregation to take a
get-around. And fastened themselves to them
wealthy people. I know for a fact that one preacher
bought tens of thousands of dollars off of a wealthy man. Never paid
him back a dime. And this fella's still preaching.
Go to the wealthy. Connect yourself to the wealthy.
Endear yourself to the wealthy. And that's what people do. And
look what it says here. Wealth maketh many friends. Oh
yeah, well, everybody likes to, you know, if you ain't got any
money yourself, you like to be a people to do. But look what
it says. But the poor, his neighbor don't
even want him to come around. He might want some. Might want
some. Listen, go back over to our text. And not only was he clothed in
purple and fine linen, but it also said that he fared sumptuously. Fared sumptuously. Can you imagine
what it is to fare sumptuously? People waiting on him hand and
foot. Hand and foot. People stood around just waiting
for him to give an idea of what something that he wanted. Fared
sumptuously every day. Every single day. And I want
to show you something else. Look at 2 Kings 5. I thought
of this this morning. So what I'm saying, the first
lesson is that no matter what you are in the sight of men in
this world, how powerful you may be, how wealthy you may be,
how well off you may be, and how folks may view you, that
don't mean anything in the sight of God. No, you appear beautiful
out to men, but yet be entirely corrupt in the sight of God.
Look what it said here in 2 Kings chapter 5 and verse 1. Now Naaman, captain of the host
of the king of Syria, Syria, listen to this, was a great man
with his master and an honorable man. oh my honorable man because by
him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria and was also a mighty
man in valor but look at this bud he was a leper everybody else he's a great man
in God's sight he is unclean unclean. And then look, go back
over in our text with me if you will. So the first lesson is
that a man may have a beautiful appearance in the sight of man
and yet be absolutely utterly corrupt in the sight of God.
And the second lesson is this, that a man may be poor and loathsome
in the eyes of his neighbor in the eyes of the world and yet
be rich and beautiful in the sight of God. And look what it
says there in verse 20. Now a rich man fared sumptuously,
and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus. Lazarus, a certain beggar. And
oh, look what it says, which was laid at his gate full of
sores. Desiring to be fed with the crumbs
which fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came
and licked his shoes. He no doubt was the object of
disgust to the rich man and to his friends as they rode out
and hid out of their homes. They no doubt looked at him and
said, oh my, and I know, I've done this and I know you have
too. You went by people on the streets. the street people nasty
and dirty and stinking and sleeping on the streets and when you go
by them and you just look at them and you say oh my and they
beg for something from you but here was this beggar loathsome
in the sight of the world loathsome in the sight of anybody But oh,
what he was in God's sight. That's what counts. What he was
in God's sight. First of all, it said he was
laid. The rich man was laid. That means that he couldn't get
there on his own. Somebody had to take him and
take him over there and lay him at that rich man's gate. If you're
going to beg, go around somebody and beg where people got money.
And that's what he did. They picked him up and took him
there and laid him there. He couldn't walk. They had to
lay him there. And then it said he was full
of sores. Full of sores. His body, hands,
feet, legs. His whole body, it says, was
full of sores. Coldful sores. Pitiful looking
sores. Runny sores. Scabs on some of
them. And he was just absolutely full
of sores. And nobody seemed to want to,
nobody said, let's get a doctor for him. That rich man could
have said, oh, listen, let's get Lazarus in here, clean him
up, put some clothes on him, and let's feed him real good,
and let's take him over here to the doctor and see if we can
get these sores taken care of. But that old rich man was too
busy. Very sumptuously. And Lazarus was laying there
sores all over him. Huh? And look what it says. And designed to be fed with the
crumbs which fell from the master's table. He just laid there and
said, if they'll just bring me the crumbs out here. That's all
I asked for. That's all I desired. The crumbs
from that rich man's table. I don't want his stakes. I don't
want his ham. I don't want that big loaf of
bread, just give me the crumbs. Just give me what, just bring
a bunch of crumbs around here and give them to me. And on as he laid there at the
rich man's gate, and look what it says, and moreover the dogs
came and licked his sores. Now I don't know about you, But
I don't want no dog to lick my face. I don't want dogs to lick
me. I don't want a dog to do that.
Now you do what you want to do. I don't want that. But here's
a man laying there and his sores are so loose and so off when
they're running that those dogs will come over and go licking
on him. Licking on them sores. It doesn't
say dog. It says dogs. Dogs would come
around and lick on that poor old man. Lick that corruption
coming out of his sores. Lickin' that blood coming out
of his sores. Lickin' that old fested stuff
that comes out of his sores. Them dogs would sit and lick
on that old man. And he'd lay there. He couldn't
run them off. And they'd come up and start
licking on old Asher. Probably gave him some relief
from his sores. Oh, this man's sore. Can you
just see him laying there? He's laying. It's all full of sores. Hungry, hungry,
hungry. And oh, listen, just bring me
some of them crumbs out of here. And the dog's standing there
looking at him. And here's this rich man covered with purple
fine linen. The lattice is covered with sores. One bared sumptuously, the other
desires just the crumbs. The rich man was well known in
this world, but not the poor. But I tell you where the poor
are known at, especially the poor in spirit. They're known
in the next world. poor in spirit are blessed are
the poor in spirit for they they shall be comforted and I tell
you this tells us that the Lord looks not on the outward appearance
but on the heart he looks right here you know there was a revolution
in France and you know what started the revolution And they ended
up slaughtering all the wealthy people over there just about
until they get out of there. You know what started it? People
were starving. Starving. And the king and the
queen and all of them were sparing sumptuously riding around in
their gilded carriages and gold carriages, fancy horses, having
great big lavish parties. And the poor started meeting
around, gathering around outside the palace. And they started crying out for
some food. And Marie Antoinette said, let
them eat cake. And her hair was full of flour
to make it look white. Let them eat cake. And when that
word got out, they took her, they took the king, they took
everybody in that place and put them to the guillotine. And they
had a revolution and they slaughtered people by the thousand. Because
people was hungry. And I tell you what, beloved,
poor in this world, and I tell you what, poverty, that's one
thing, but being poor in spirit, that's what God looks at. And
let me show you something else. Look what else, there's another
lesson for us to learn. In verse 22, it came to pass
that the beggar died. That the beggar died. The beggar
died. Boy, everybody say, man, that
poor old fella. He's much, much better off now.
They don't even think about where he's going or nothing like that.
But what a change for Lazarus. Here's the death of a pauper.
Here's the death of a poor man. Here's the death of a man who
had sores and desired to come from that rich man's table. He died, the death of a pauper,
unnoticed. But yet, look who took care of
him, took who noticed. But, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. Now Abraham here is typical of
our father. Our father Abraham. We walk in
the footsteps of the faith of our father Abraham. And here
is Abraham. Representing God himself. And
that's what our Lord Jesus said. He sent the angels to gather
his elect from the four winds. It's in the angels to separate
the wheat from the chaff. It's in the angels to gather
the chaff and burn it. He'd gather the wheat and take
it into his garden. And here's this man, his beggar,
he died. And boy oh boy, the angels come
and picked him up. Oh, people have been carrying
you blame at the rich man's gate. Now the angels come and took
him and laid him and put him down in glory in the presence
of the Father. Put him down where there's nothing
but glory and peace and rest and now he ain't got no more
sores. Now, he's really rich. Now, there ain't no more dog
gonna be bothering him. And oh, listen. One day the dogs
cared for him, the next day the angels are caring him. But let
me tell you, he didn't go because he was poor. He didn't go because
he was a beggar. He didn't go because he had sores
on his legs or all over him. He didn't go because he couldn't
walk. He went because Christ died for him and God knew him. That's why he went. He didn't
go because he was poor. He went because God loved him
from eternity. He didn't go because he was a
beggar. He went because Christ died for him and shed his blood
for him. Oh, God knew him. The world didn't
know him, but God knew him. And you know how many John and
Jane Doe's have been buried in this world? Unattended by anybody. No names on the tombs, no names,
no names nowhere. Nobody has any idea. You can
go out to Thomas Springs and there's stones out there that
has no name and they all just wore off. And there's, I tell you, multitudes
of John and Jane Doe's buried unattended by anyone, no names. That God's angels were the funeral
directors for old Lazarus. Who are we going to call when
they die? God said the angels are going
to come for you. You know who come and got Isaac's
body? The angels come and got him. Took him to glory. Let me show you something over
in 1 Samuel. Look with me in 1 Samuel. Oh, you're talking about a blessing. Man may not amount to nothing
in this world, but if God knows him, that's all that matters. And I tell you what, by the time
they call the funeral director to come get your body, You will already be one place
or the other. Just as quick as your spirit
leads you. Just as quick as likely as your body. You're either going
to go to Christ, or you're going to go where this rich man went.
Just that quick. You'll be gone long before, long
before you can get on the phone and call the fellow to come get
you by. You say, boy that's awful cold. That's reality. That's reality. Look here, 1
Samuel 2, 7. 1 Samuel 2, 7. The Lord maketh
the poor and maketh rich. He bringeth low and he lifts
up. Now listen to this. He raises
up the poor out of the dust, lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill, And where does he settle? Among princes. And make them inherit the throne
of glory. For the pillars of the Lord,
the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and He has set the
world upon Him. And all, listen, He'll keep the feet of His saints,
and the wicked shall be silenced in darkness. For by strength
shall no man prevail. And all, listen, Here's old Lazarus. He died. Now look what else happens
here. Back over here in Luke 16. A
man may have a grand and glorious and pompous funeral and multitudes
and multitudes follow and multitudes and multitudes go and still be
a miserable soul for all eternity. And look what it says here. Abraham
the beggar died and then it says last part of verse 22 the rich
man also died and was buried Rich man died too His wealth
didn't keep him His wealth didn't keep death from coming after
him And all listen and men Men eulogize the past of those who
are great and wealthy and powerful. They eulogize them. And great,
great men come to eulogize the great, great people. I know Muhammad Ali died. You
know who's going to do his first eulogy? President Bill Clinton
is going to be the first one to eulogize him. The great eulogize
the great. But nobody eulogized Lazarus. And what are they going to do?
What are they going to talk about? They're going to talk about their
power, their glory, their accomplishments, the things they said, their wealth,
their foundations. But one thing they won't be able
to say about this rich man here, he helped the poor. He'll never
be able to say that about him. They'll never be able to say
this rich man here, he sure loved the poor and took care of them.
He ain't gonna be able to say that about this fella. Oh, listen. They utilize the
past to depart who are great and what about their present?
What about their future? Because they can't talk about
the present. They certainly can't talk about the future. And look
what it says now. The rich man also died and listen
to where he was now. And what was going on with him.
One went to the angels, carried him away. And he was buried and
in hell. he lift up his eyes, being in
torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."
Oh my! He was probably carried to his
grave in the best casket, carried by wealthy other wealthy men,
but this rich man Went from a life of ease and fairness sumptuously
to a life of torment. Just like that. Just like that. He sought to save his life in
this world and he lost it. And look what he said. He lift
his eyes up. He looked up. Why didn't he ever
look up before? He never looked up before but
decided after death it's time to look up. Time to look up,
but it didn't do him any good to look up this time. And inhale,
inhale. He lift up his eyes. Lift up
his eyes. Oh, Lazarus went from torment
in this life to rest and peace and glory. The rich man went
from ease and comfort to torment. And I tell you, here's another
lesson for us to learn. That a man may have abundance
in this world, and yet not have the least mercy in the world
to come. Look what this fellow asked for
in verse 24. And I tell you, if you're going
to ask for mercy and seek mercy from God, you've got to get at
this side of the grave, that's for sure. It tells us that. If
you're going to get mercy from God, you better ask for it right
now. You better look for it right now. You better cry out for it
right now. Because look what he said. And
he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Father Abraham, he never asked
for mercy before. He didn't need mercy. Father Abraham, have mercy. on
me. Huh? But I ain't no mercy for him
now. There's nothing that God gonna
do for him now. Nothing can be done for him now.
What an awful thing to think about. I had a funeral one time. Years
ago, young man, I made good friends with him, he's a Vietnam veteran and I made friends with him.
Got to know him and he'd call me occasionally when he'd get
down and get in bad shape and he'd call me and talk to me.
But he was on his way home one evening and he had an automobile
accident and he died. It was in his early 30s. took care of his funeral and
we carried him out and put him in the ground and you know what
his friends did? They all went out there and sat
around and drank beer and piled beer cans up around his grave
and said we'll have one last party for him before Thought they was honoring him. Oh my. Have mercy. And he ain't gonna
get the least mercy. And that's why we cry out continually
and constantly, Lord have mercy. How many times in the night have
you woke up and said, Lord have mercy? How many times during
the day when you see somebody in a situation say, Lord be merciful?
We cry for our children. God have mercy on them. Now, listen to what he says.
Now he knows who Lazarus is. Now he's going to recognize Lazarus.
And he said, have mercy on me and send Lazarus. Send Lazarus. Now he knows who Lazarus is.
Now he wants something from Lazarus. He wasn't going to give Lazarus
nothing, but he wants something from Lazarus now. And send him
that he may dip the tipper of his finger in water and cool
my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. This is all he
asked for right here. One drop. That's all he asked
for. One drop. Stick his finger in
water. And just one drop. That's what
I want. That's all the mercy I'm asking
for. Let him stick his finger, let Lazarus, but Lazarus later,
he was at your gate. Why didn't you do something for
him? Oh, my. You think men ain't wicked. And you think, listen, this is,
he recognizes, wants Lazarus to do something for him. I'm
tormented. I'm tormented. I'm tormented. Where at? In this flame. Now
that, whether it's a literal flame or not, I personally don't
think so. I think the flame is the wrath
of God. Knowing that it's going to burn
on you and judgment on you for all eternity. That in and of
itself will be torment. That you had a life and you squandered
it. You had a life and you wasted
it. You had a life. But you didn't
need any mercy. And oh, if a man neglects his
opportunities in this life, Here's the next lesson. If a man neglects
his opportunities in this life, he'll have all eternity to remember
what happened. Look what it says here again
now. But Abraham answered him, Oh, let him 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 you in your lifetime,
you receive good things. Remember in your lifetime, in
your lifetime, all your life, you had good things, great things,
wonderful things. Oh, money, wealth, power, prestige,
comfort and ease. The best clothes, the best everything
you could possibly think. You had the best. And look what
he says now. But now likewise, Lazarus, he
just had evil things. That's the way the world looks
at things. The rich, he's got everything. The poor, he ain't
got nothing. And he had his evil things. No,
listen. Look what Abraham said to him
now. Now he's comforted. He's comforted
now. He is in comfort now. He is in
rest now. He's in peace now. He's enjoying
God now. He's enjoying Christ now. And
guess what? You're the one now in trouble.
You're the one really poor now. You're the one tormented. And I'll tell you why. That's
like pilot. When three times he went out
and told that crowd, I find no fault in this man. Three times
he went out there and told them that. And his wife came to him
and said, don't have anything to do with this just man. I've
been troubled by many things about him in a dream. And so
since they kept going, the old pilot said, bring me a pan of
water. And he stood in front of that
crowd and he dipped his hands in that water and done like this.
He said, I'm washing my hands in this. Do you reckon he got
them cleaned? Do you reckon he washed the blood
of Christ off of his hands by doing that? And all listened. You know what
would be one of the awfulest things? For people to die lost
is their memory. This Saint Lazarus remembered
anything, but that man in hell remembered. And that's what's
wonderful about knowing that people that go to glory, once
they leave this world and go to Christ, they never, this world
absolutely, people say, oh, they're looking down at us. No, they're
not. Not if they're in glory, they
ain't. Mary never know that she had
a husband named Donald. She don't know anything about
her two children or her grandchildren or her great-grandchildren. Ed
don't remember you, he don't know nothing about you all. He ain't thought that when he
left this world, he left you and every memory in this world
behind and entered into a place where there's nothing but peace,
joy, and rest forever. Well it'd be awful to have to
look down on this mess, if you was in glory. It'd be awful to
let them look down at you and see what you're going through. That wouldn't be heaven. But
oh, to go there and walk where our Lord is and to sit down with
Abraham and walk with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and those
Saul and Tarsus who became Paul. To see John and James and all
the apostles. Now, Mary and your daddy will
know one another because they knew one another here. But they
won't know one another. Well, that's old James over yonder.
That's not what you'll say. Well, their marriage just got
here. That's not what they're going to say. They'll say, oh,
it's so good to see you. Ain't this the most wonderful
place? Oh, it never entered our hearts and minds what this is
going to be like. And that's why when we, people we
love, that's saved by the grace of God and got a hope in Christ,
that's why we rejoice when the Lord takes them from this world.
That's why our hearts, now of course we grieve and of course
we cry over. But yet at the same time we rejoice
greatly because they don't have to deal with nothing else in
this world. They don't have to deal with
sickness. They don't have to deal with troubles. They don't
have to cry another tear. They don't have another pain
in their body. They'll never have to work another
day. They'll never have to sit and listen to a two by four preacher
like me. Listen to Christ And that's where Lazarus was
The rich man down here. He had a memory. He had a memory
Let me here's another lesson. Let me hurry on Saints and sinners
may meet together now, but the time will come of them be eternally
separated Look what he said in verse 26 And beside all this, between
us and you, there's a great gulf fixed. I tried to think of some
things about the great gulf fixed, but I'm not going to say anything
about it because I'm going to preach on it one of these days. So I'm
not going to say anything about what the great gulf is right now.
But I know it is. It's such a great gulf that nobody
can pass it. So that they would pass from
hence to you, they cannot. Neither can they where you're
at pass from us to us. They can't do it. Be eternally
separated. He said, put the goats over here
on my left and put the sheep on my right and the goats on
my left. Take the chaff and burn it. Take the wheat and put it in
the gardener. Separate the bad fish from the good fish. And that's what's going to happen
one of these days. Greg got fixed. And here's another lesson. that
the prayer of the lost avail nothing neither for themselves
or anybody else. This shows you that praying for
the dead is absolutely a waste of time. The prayer of the lost
avail nothing neither for themselves or others. Look what happened
here in verse 24. He said, cried and said, Father
Abraham have mercy on me. And said, Lazarus. So you see
he prayed there. Have mercy on me and just do
this one thing for me. Then he asked for another thing.
Look down in verse 27. Look what he asked for. Then he said, I pray thee therefore
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house. If you won't
send Lazarus to cool my tongue, if you won't send Lazarus with
a drop of water for me, well, would you do this for me? Would
you send me back to my father's house? For I've got five brethren,
five brothers, that I may testify unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment." He's praying. I mean, he's dead
earnest. He said, I've got five brothers.
I don't want my brothers to come where I am. I don't want my brothers
to be where I'm at and suffering what I'm suffering. Huh? Now, he wouldn't call on God
in this world, but he's calling on Him in the next. He wanted
mercy after he left, but he didn't want no mercy while he was here.
He didn't want nothing to do with Lazarus while he was here.
Now he wants Lazarus to either dip his finger in water or else
go preach to my brothers. And oh mister, look what he said
here now. I've got five brothers. I don't
want them to come into this awful place. And Abraham saith unto him, now
listen to this. This is such important. This is so important right here.
Abraham said they have Moses and the prophets. They have the
word of God. Listen to what they say. Hear
what they say. Let your brothers do what everybody
else has been saved by the grace of God. Listen to what Christ
said. Listen to what Moses said and
the prophets said. And he said, oh no, no, no, no, no, Father
Abraham. Oh no, that ain't gonna do him
any good. That ain't gonna do him any good at all. But if one
went under them from the dead, if Lazarus rose from the dead
and went back and preached to them and testified to them and
talked to them, they'd believe then. No, they wouldn't. Because somebody
did rise from the dead. One rose from the dead, the Lord
Jesus Christ, after he by the sacrifice of himself put away
our sin once and for all. After he had done that gulf and
spent that great gulf for us, he set out the right hand of
the majesty on high. And he rose from the dead and
I tell you what, they went everywhere trying to prove that somebody
stole his body and everything else. But he rose from the dead.
And you can preach on Christ and his resurrection and his
power and his glory and his sacrifice. Does anybody listen? Not unless God does something
for them. And look what happens now. and this is it right here
and he said unto him if they won't listen to Moses if they
won't hear what Moses has to say and they won't hear what
the prophets have to say somebody from the dead going talking to
them that won't have no effect on them either that won't have
any effect on them either won't change their mind won't change
their hearts won't change their natures won't make them new creatures Go ahead, let somebody go back
from the dead. My goodness, weren't you dead
last year? I was. Well, boy, it's good to
see you. I'm glad you're back. Go on. That's the way it would be. That's
the way it is with Christ right now. Ain't it? Listen to Moses and the prophets.
Listen to the gospel. Please listen to the gospel. Our Father, O our Father, O Holy Spirit, O such solemn, so solemn, so
serious, Lord have mercy, Lord have mercy
Have mercy on the living. Have mercy on the living here. There be none for the world to
come. Have mercy now. Have mercy for
Christ's sake. Have mercy for His blood's sake
and His righteousness' sake. Oh God have mercy for Christ's
sake. Amen. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. Blessed Lord, how merciful thou
art to me. Oh, how merciful, how merciful. May grant that today for Christ's
sake. See you tonight at 6 o'clock. God willing.