Let's start reading at verse
19. And it came to pass that the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes,
being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me. and send Lazarus that he may
dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things, and likewise
Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. And beside all this between us
and you there is a great guff fixed, so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that
would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for
I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they
also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him,
They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said,
Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead,
they will repent. And he said unto him, If they
hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead. In Luke 16, 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 swords.
Desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table, moreover, the dog came and licked his soul. And it came
to pass that the beggar died, 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 lift up
his eyes. Being in torment, seeth 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 in this place. 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 have lots and lots of lessons, things that
we learn from. And some of us, we learn our
lessons far too late. There's 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 the 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 COVETOUS
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 damage 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, and 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 what he
says. Cubbishness, desire and 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 torment all 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 has 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 dressed in purple. Oh 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
taught 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. Out 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 it. Watch that car go down
through there. Man, he drives the best automobile in town.
Look at it. He got somebody driving it for
him. But look what it says over here
in Proverbs 19. Proverbs 19. Oh, 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 friends. Wealth maketh many friends. 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 congregations to take
a get-around and fastened themselves to them
wealthy people. I know for a fact that one preacher
borrowed tens of thousands of dollars off of a wealthy man,
never paid him back a dime, and this fellow is 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 that do. But look what
it says. But the poor, his neighbor don't
even want him to come around. He might want something. Might
want something. But oh, 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 waited on him hand and
foot. Hand and foot people stood around just waiting for him to
give an idea of what something anyone fared sumptuously every
day Every single day And I want to show you something else. Look
in 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. 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, but 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 lessons 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, designed to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the
rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. He no doubt was the object of
disgust to the rich man and to his friends as they rode out
and in and 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 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's got money.
And that's what they 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. Awful
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, fair and 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 steaks. I don't
want his ham. I don't want a 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 dogs 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 low and so awful and they're
running that those dogs would come over and go licking on him. Licking on them sores. It didn't
say dog, it says dogs. Dogs would come around and lick
on that poor old man. Look at that corruption coming
out of his sores. Look at that blood coming out
of his sores. Listen, look at them, that old
festive stuff that comes out of his sores. He and them dogs
were sitting licking on that old man. And he had laid there.
He couldn't run them off. And they come up and start licking
on old Lazarus. Probably gave him some relief
from his sores. Oh, this man's, oh, can you just
see him laying there? He's laying. Oh, full of sores. Hungry, hungry,
hungry. Oh, listen, just bring me some
of them crumbs out here. And the dog's standing there
licking them. And here's this rich man covered with purple
fine linen, but Lazarus is covered with sores. One fared 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. Our 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 them were fan-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 thousands 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, here's another
lesson for us to learn. In verse 22, and it came to pass
that the beggar died, that the beggar died, the beggar died. Boy, everybody's saying, 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 the poor man. Here's the death of a man
who had sores and desired the crumbs 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. and was carried by the angels
into Abraham the boozled. 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 has sent the angels to gather his elect from the
four winds. He'll send the angels to separate
the wheat from the chaff. He'll send the angels to gather
the chaff and burn it. He'll 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 and carried him. Oh, people have been carrying
him, laid him 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 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 Jane and
John, 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. But God's angels were the funeral
directors for old Lazarus. Who we gonna call when they die?
God said the angels gonna come for you. You know who come and got Isaac's
body? The angels come and got him. Took him to glory. Oh, let
me show you something over in 1 Samuel. Look with me in 1 Samuel. Look here. Look at this. 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
leaves, just as quick as life leaves 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 fella to come get
your body. You say, boy, that's awful cold. That's reality. That's reality. Look here at
1 Samuel 2, 7. 1 Samuel 2, 7. The Lord maketh the poor. and
maketh rich. He bringeth low, and he lifteth
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 set
them? 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, oh, 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, oh, 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 oh, 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's going
to be the first one to eulogize him. The great eulogized 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 going to be able to say that about this fella. I mean, oh, listen. They utilize
the past to departed 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
torment, 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 fair and 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 lifted
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. He 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. He was in his early 30s. Took care of his funeral and
we carried him out put him in the ground and they, 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. He'd have mercy and he ain't
gonna get the least mercy And that's what we cry out continually
and constantly Lord have mercy How many times in the night if
you woke up said Lord have mercy? How many times during the day
when you've seen somebody in a situation you say Lord be merciful
We cry for our children God have mercy on them and 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, he recognizes, wants Lazarus to do something
for him. I'm tormented. I'm tormented. I'm tormented. We're 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,
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 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 at 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 tormenting it. And I tell you what, that's like
Pilate. 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. And his wife came to him and
says, 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
of this. Do you reckon he got them clean? You reckon he washed the blood
of Christ off of his hands by doing that? And all listened. You know what'll
be one of the awfulest things? For people who die lost is their
memory. They'd say Lazarus remembered
anything, but that man in hell remembered. And that's what's
wonderful about knowing that people who go to glory, once
they leave this world and go to Christ, they never, this world
absolutely is, it never, people say, oh, they're looking down
at us. No, they're not. Not if they're in glory, they
ain't. Mary never knowed 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, Ruby.
He don't know nothing about you all. 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, Isaac and Jacob, and no soul
of 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 she'll say. Well, that man just got here.
That's not what they gonna 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 gonna
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 them. 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. They're in glory listening 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 when they'll be eternally separated.
Look what he said in verse 26. And beside all this, Between
us and you, there's a great guff fixed. I tried to think of some
things about the great guff 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 guff is right now.
But I know it is. It's such a great guff 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. They 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 garden. Separate the bad fish from the good fish. And that's what's going to happen
one of these days. Huh? Great gut 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 cried and said, Father
Abraham have mercy on me and send 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 him 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,
and 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, this is, 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 going to do them any good at all. But
if one went unto 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 spanned 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 says 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. Will 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's
from the dead going talking to him that won't have no effect
on him either That won't have any effect of me Won't change
their mind won't change their hearts won't change their natures
Won't make them new creatures Go ahead and let somebody go
back from the dead My goodness day when you did Lazarus. I was
well boys good to see you glad you're back 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, Oh Holy Spirit. Oh such solemn. So solemn. So serious. Lord have mercy. Lord have mercy
on the living. Have mercy on the living here.
There'll 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.
O God, have mercy for Christ's sake. Amen.