If you would, and you wanna follow
along, please turn to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. Well, since we're by myself today,
I'm gonna, let's go ahead and just read the whole thing from
verse 19 on. Now these are the words of our
Lord Jesus Christ speaking himself, and Luke wrote it down. Luke
16 and 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 and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and
was buried. And in hell he lift up his eyes
being in torments. And seeth Abraham afar off and
Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, father
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that 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 receiveth 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 gulf
fixed So that they which would pass from hints to you cannot
Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. And 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. And you know what that is, right? That's the God honest truth. I like that statement because
it was spoken by God, Jesus Christ. Now the first thing I wanna say
about this is this, and Earl made this very clear years ago
and I still got it in my head, this is not a parable. People
talk about it like it's a parable. Preachers talk about it like
it's a parable. It's not a parable. Check every
other parable where the Lord Jesus Christ would say, here
now the parable of the sower. You know, hear this parable.
Or John or one of the others will say, Jesus spoke unto them
this parable. You don't see that here. And
the other thing you do see here that you do not ever see in a
parable is this. There was a certain rich man. But even more certain is this. And there was a certain beggar. named Lazarus. Check every other parable in
the Bible. You will never find a name used in a parable, ever. There's parables about princes
and kings and mustard seeds and all this. You'll never find a
parable with a person's name in it. This is a real account
of something that happened and it was related to these people
that day by our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I looked in the, I
looked in the, on the concordance, the strongs, to see what, you
know, you look for the meaning of names. And I like this one. Lazarus means whom God helps. I like that, I do, I do. Because
here it is, guess what? There was a certain rich man,
you never get his name. Why? I hate to put it that way,
but he doesn't matter. Just as you look in Genesis,
when you see those things about this one lived and this one died,
and this one lived and this one died, you look at the descendants
of Cain, and it says, and they died. So and so had a son, and
they died. Never said they lived. Oh, they
lived, but it wasn't recognized. And that's what this is. This
rich man lived, but it wasn't recognized. But he gives us the
name Lazarus. There's a certain beggar named
whom God helps. I like that, I do. But I will
tell you this, Strong's Concordance also says this. It is the name,
it's probably from the Hebrew Eleazar. But right after that
it says this. It says the name of two Jews
in the Bible. One real and one imaginary. I don't believe that. This is
a certain man named Lazarus. This is not an imaginary story.
It's not a parable, it's not a fable, it's not a myth. It's
the word of God from the lips of our Savior and our Lord, Jesus
Christ. And I think it is incredibly
important that we understand this. Granted, it would make a wonderful
story. But it's not a story. This is
an account of what actually happened. Because Jesus Christ himself
said, this is certain. A certain rich man and a certain
beggar named Lazarus. And I believe him before I believe
anybody else. So what's it say? Verse 22. That's
where I'm gonna start. Back up a little bit here and
there, but it's okay. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom
and the rich man also died and was buried. Lazarus, the beggar, died. And the rich man died. The thing I wanted to point out
here just before I get to some other things. And I just love
this phrase of this verse. And it came to pass the beggar
died. But then it says this, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom. You understand? When Lazarus
died, he didn't have to do anything. the angels carried him to Abraham's
bosom. You understand what that means? I just, it's just, I wanna wrap
my head around this. You know, Jesus told us that
the very hairs on our head are numbered. You know? Not a sparrow falls without my
father. It doesn't say, without my father
knowing it, that's true, but he says, without my father, nothing
dies. No one dies. Oh, what's it say
in the Old Testament? Precious in the sight of the
Lord is what? The death of his saints. Lazarus died, the angels were
waiting. They were there. And they carried him. How am
I gonna get to heaven? Well, if you're not carried there
by angels, you never will. That's the truth of it. You understand? I mean, like I said, this is
not something Jesus Christ made up. This is the way things are.
And that shows how precious we are in the sight of God. He has angels waiting to carry
us home. Now see, some people might think,
oh my, you sound presumptuous. You sound like you're proud of
yourself. No, I am not. But I am extremely proud and
praise my God as high as I can. He takes care of his own. I've heard the stories, you know.
Well, there's a white light and I started to reach for it. No,
don't you worry about that. That's who he, that's who he. Here's what happens. The angels
carried him. And you know why? There was never
a doubt as to where Lazarus was going. Is a certain beggar whom God
helps. And you know what he does with
some certain beggars? He lifts them up. and raises
them up. Why? Two, for the express purpose
of sitting down with princes and kings. And where'd he go?
Abraham's bosom. I love that, I do. What does
this verse say about the rich man? It says the rich man was
buried. That's it. That's it. That's
all it says. Oh. I listened to a message by
Jack Shanks the other day. And it's about whether or not
we should enjoy things in this life. And his answer is yes. And the scripture's answer is
yes. Enjoy what God has given you. And you understand, I'd never
thought about this. He related it, and he related
it quite well. The reason we have rich people
is so that they can give us a way to make a living in this world. And I got to thinking, I already
had this down. And I got thinking about this
certain rich man and this certain beggar, Lazarus. And you understand,
Lazarus, what? was laid at his gate, this rich
man's gate, full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs
that fell from the rich man's table. You understand, after
God took Lazarus, that rich man's purpose was over. Because he
took it. You understand, bad people don't
die without God either, knowing about it. See, people don't want to think
about this. People don't want to talk about this. I mean, I'm
not speculating. This happens way more than the
world ever thinks it does. Because the next verse says,
and in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torments. And I'm not
speculating about this, this is the absolute truth. This happens
way more times than the world will ever believe. You understand,
I, you know, I remember Earl talking about this, and I found
my experience to be the same. I don't know anyone that's ever
had a funeral and went to hell. Because whenever you go to their
funeral, they're the most wonderful person you ever saw in your life.
All you're ever gonna hear is the good stuff, and most of that's
made up. That's just the way it is. That's
the way we are. Because people don't wanna think
about this. There is life after death, but there is two lives
after death. One's in torment and one's being
comforted. And people don't want to deal
with death or the aftermath. But our Lord Jesus Christ did.
He told us. That rich man's purpose was over
on earth because God killed him. God's purpose was fulfilled.
You understand, there are other people who wanna say, well, he's
outside of the will of God. Not really. Not in some ways,
okay? There's no one and nothing outside
of the will and the purpose of God. You know? He maketh alive and
he kills. He's the potter who can take
the same lump, the very same lump of clay and make one vessel
unto honor and another unto dishonor. I know some preachers wanna say,
well, that's honorable and common. No, you look at the word, it
says dishonor. Our Lord is in control. I believe
and preach as best I can a completely, totally sovereign God. Who does what he wills, when
he wills, where he wills, and with whom he wills. And if you
got a problem with that, you got a problem with this book.
Because he raises them up and he sets them down. The rich man lifted up his eyes
in hell, what? being in torments. Guess what? Angels didn't carry him. Angels
didn't carry him. No one carried him. How do you
end up in hell? You die and you wake up there. That's what the scripture says. What's it take to end up in hell?
Absolutely nothing. Just Don't believe God. And guess what, we're born that
way. We're born not believing God. We're born in rebellion
and we are raised up in iniquity. We drink iniquity like water.
What's that mean? We like it. We're thirsty for
it. We want it. See, the odd thing is, when you
don't want iniquity. That's the strange thing. That
goes against human nature, wanting to be good some days. All we know about this rich man
is that he died and he woke up in hell. And that's what's gonna happen
to everyone who does not believe the Christ of God, Jesus. Jesus Christ said it himself.
What? If you believe not that I am
he, you will die in your sins. This rich man, this certain rich
man died in his sins. And in hell he lifted up his
eyes. I'm telling you, I believe that happens every day, many,
many times a day. But let me point out a couple
other things. Because what else do we know from this verse? You
can see some things in hell. He lifted up his eyes, being
in torments, seeth, he sees Abraham. Now that's far off. He sees Abraham
and Lazarus in his bosom. The rich man saw and recognized
Abraham and Lazarus. Lazarus laid outside his gate.
See, this is the thing. I mean, these are the words of
Christ, but he's actually repeating what this man said. I believe
that. This man knew Lazarus's name. And he knew who Abraham was.
Understand, you can see something in him. Now notice very carefully,
you don't see any word here about this man seeing other people
with him in torment. Although Abraham later on says
those over there can't come here. In the plural, talking in the
plural. But this man shouldn't see anyone
around him as far as we know. Didn't mention anyone around
him, anyone nearby him. Being in hell is being alone
and in torment. And he saw Abraham afar off and
Lazarus and he knew them both. And you know what he saw? He saw Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. You know what that means? Lazarus
got a hug. He was hugged, Abraham was holding
him to his bosom. They were hugging. Lazarus was
welcomed. Lazarus, here's the point, Lazarus
was not You are never alone in Christ
Jesus Not in life and not death and not after death He was in Abraham's bosom it
says later on being comforted being comforted But he was being
hugged he was being welcomed to the place by Abraham himself Isn't that just amazing? See,
people have a tendency to focus on this rich man in hell, and
I know why. Because they're wanting to scare people. And it's true,
it's a scary thing. But don't forget, Lazarus was
there being comforted. You understand, there are two
places. One you wanna go and one you don't wanna go, but let's
think about what happened in the one you wanna go to. Lazarus,
a beggar, who'd just been laying, getting his sores licked by a
dog outside some rich man's gate, eating off the crumbs from his
table. Lazarus is welcomed by Abraham
himself, whom God said is my friend. And I'm gonna make of
thee a father of many nations. And there's this beggar. Ain't
it the truth, the grace of God is glorious? This beggar who
died laying there begging, as far as we know, that's all it
says he did was he begged. And he ate crumbs from the rich
man's table. That beggar was hugged, welcomed
by Abraham, whom this rich man called Father Abraham. I'll make
of thee a father of many nations. Thy seed's gonna be like the
sand of the sea and the stars in the sky. And yet he's there
and he welcomes this beggar who just died outside a rich man's
gate. I think that's just glorious.
And you know what, that rich man saw it. And of course the rich man cried
out It 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.
Do you believe hell's hot? I don't know, it says there's
flames. Usually flames are hot. You don't
really believe that, do you? Here's the thing, it doesn't
matter what I believe, it matters what Jesus Christ said. And this
is what he said. Here's one thing that happened
to that rich man. In hell, you recognize the need
for mercy. There is none, but now you recognize
it. You recognize the need. This rich man, Abraham tells him, remember thou
not a lifetime. Thou receiveth thy good things
and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou
art tormented. Now, there are people who want
to take that verse and make this a difference between poor people
go to heaven and rich people go to hell. Okay. Now, I believe
what other thing Christ said, it's harder for a camel to go
through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go into heaven.
But I also believe what David read this morning. You understand? It says not many mighty, not
many noble, not many, didn't say not any, it said not many.
God save anybody he wants. Guess what? That's what he does.
He saves anybody and everybody he wants. And if you got a problem
with that, it's your problem. Rich, poor, doesn't matter. But
Abraham's just laying it out the way this situation was. You
were in good shape when you were alive. And Lazarus wasn't. And that's not the point anyway.
And besides all this, between us, there is a great gulf fixed. Fixed. And I'm gonna tell you
something, it wasn't fixed by Father Abraham. It was fixed
by God. Because what is it? He told Moses,
told Moses to tell Pharaoh, he says, I'm gonna put a difference
between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt. You
understand? There's no real difference in
the people themselves. But I'm gonna put one there.
You understand? That's how God works, by grace. And that's how this works right
here. He put a difference between a certain rich man and a certain
beggar, what? Whom God helps. A certain beggar
named Lazarus. God put a difference between
them. And then he put a gulf between them. And guess what? That gulf between those two is
so fixed, you can't go there and they can't come here. That's grace. That's grace. As they were naturally born,
there was no difference between that rich man and Lazarus. As
they were naturally born. The difference is the grace of
God. He chose Lazarus from before
the foundation of the world. and he did not choose that rich
man, that certain rich man. Therein lies the difference.
The difference is always with God, and he has fixed this great
gulf, and no man is gonna ever overcome his great gulf. Not if it's fixed, and it is. I'm gonna do a little summarizing
here before I get on to that other thing. What can we learn
from the word of God spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ in this
account of the rich man and Lazarus? Well, the first thing everybody
better glean from this is that everybody dies. Rich doesn't
matter, poor doesn't matter, old doesn't matter, Young doesn't
matter. Until Jesus Christ comes again,
everybody's gonna die. That doesn't mention, both of
these examples are male, but females are not exempted. Old,
young, rich, poor, male, female, barbarian or Scythian, Jew or
Gentile, everyone's gonna die. Death comes to us all until Christ
comes again. But the second thing to learn
here is there is life after bodily death on this planet. Because
death, according to Jesus Christ here, death is an ending of life
on this world and the beginning of life in the next. There is a life of torment and
there is a life of comfort. And there is absolutely no contact,
contact between the two. Because there's a great gulf
and it's fixed. It's fixed. I'm not gonna go into it. But
you realize, just realize this for a second, think about it,
because it's just one of them things that you kind of got to
get into where I'm at. This happened before Jesus Christ
died. This happened before that sacrifice
was made. This happened before he was resurrected
and went before the Father. and was accepted as the perfect,
complete, holy sacrifice for sin, and yet Lazarus is already
comforted. Abraham is already comforted.
And there's already a great goal fixed. There's a life after a
bodily death. And here's the third thing. There is memory. There is memory. And you can see, not only that,
you can see and you can remember. What did he tell him? Well, verse
25. Son, remember that thou in thy
lifetime had the good things, and likewise Lazarus the evil
things. Remember that. But then, you read down in verse
27, 28. He says, then I pray thee, Father,
that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, talking about
Lazarus, asking Abraham again, for I have five brethren that
he may testify unto them, lest they also come to this place
of torment. He remembered his brothers. He
remembered his family. He saw and recognized Abraham
and Lazarus, and he remembered his family. But Abraham said unto him, they
have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them, hear them. He said, nay, Father Abraham.
You understand? Hearing the prophets isn't good
enough for some people. It didn't do this rich man any
good. He knew who Abraham was. That means he knew something
about the writings of Moses. Ali-Adze knew something about
the writings of the prophets. But he didn't hear them, and
his brothers weren't hearing them, and he knew they weren't
hearing them. Guess what? You remember some
things in hell. He said, nay, but if one went
unto them from the dead, they will repent. That actually brings me to my
fourth point. In some ways, death does not make you different. That was the nice politically
correct way of saying that. The politically incorrect way
of saying that is you can't fix stupid. Because you understand,
this man's in hell. and he still don't understand
what's going on. He doesn't understand. First he wants Lazarus to come
bring him something. There's a great deal fixed. There's a
separation between the people of God and those who aren't the
people of God. There always has been. And this man didn't get it while
he was alive, and this man doesn't get it while he's dead. And then he thinks, that if one
rose from the dead, they'll repent. Our Lord told them, you asked
for a miracle, you asked for a sign, you asked for a wonder.
And guess what? Moses, in his day, they saw more
signs and wonders in that wilderness and on the way to it and in the
land of Egypt than men had ever seen before or ever seen since. Till Jesus Christ came. And guess
what? They rebelled. Men rebelled,
not only against Moses, they rebelled against God. And he's
the one that delivered them out of all that. This man says, oh, if one rose
from the dead, they will repent. And Abraham set him straight.
He said, if they don't hear Moses and the prophets, neither will
they be persuaded. The one rose from the dead. No one has ever been saved by
a sign or a miracle performed. There has been lives saved. Our
Lord Jesus Christ raised the dead. There have been eyes opened,
ears opened. He did both of those. But you understand, he didn't
perform a miracle that way to save anyone. He died, He was
buried, and He rose again. And He ascended, and He gives
life by His voice. There's a time coming, and now
is, when they that are dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live. And he wasn't talking about
raising the dead then. He talked about that later when
he says they're gonna hear the voice of the father and they're
gonna raise up from the grave. He's talking about the dead alien
sinner being given life. Because guess what? After you've
been given this life, you will hear Moses and the prophets. You'll hear them. You'll hear
his gospel preached and you'll want it and you'll love it and
you'll rejoice in it. This rich man still dead, didn't
understand any of that. This rich man was an unbeliever
when he died. and in hell he lifted up his
eyes, still being an unbeliever. He learned he needed mercy. He
didn't realize that before, because he had, he fared sumptuously
every day. He knew about Moses and the prophets,
but here's the thing, he didn't know the message of Moses and
the prophets. He didn't know the Christ of
God. And now he shows that. That he's
still an unbeliever. And he shows that he didn't know
Jesus Christ, and it basically shows the rich man was where
he belonged. Because what's he do after he gets there? This man prays to Father Abraham
and beseeches him. The reason I started doing this
is there was a thing in one of Tim James Bulletin written by
Joe Terrell. And this is what he wrote, one
of the things he wrote. Because this got to me, you all know
my Catholic background. And you know about the prayer
to saints and to pray to Mary and Peter, because Mary is the
co-mediatrix. Well, there ain't no such thing,
sorry. There's only one mediator between
God and man, and that's the man Christ Jesus. There is no other. There is no mediatrix, co or
otherwise. You know, there was a fellow
who said, y'all fly as high as you want with Mary under one
arm and Peter under the other, and I'm thinking, that's not
gonna get your rear end off the ground. I'm sorry, you ain't
flying nowhere that way. But here's the thing, this is
what Joe Terrell wrote, he got me, and I like this. He says,
there is a great superstition among many, and I put in parentheses,
probably millions, that there is a power and a grace to be
found by praying to saints, to saints who have gone before.
Now the only man in all of scripture who did that is this fella right
here. The only fella who ever did that
in the scriptures is a man in hell. And it is never wise to
follow the example of the damned. I thought, boy, that's pretty
darn good. And that's mean, too. You understand? It is never wise
to follow the example of the damned. That's good. That's what kind
of got me started on this thing. I thought, well, I've got to
be able to read that to you. It took a lot of introduction
to get to it. But you understand, because this man, this rich man,
and here, this is a serious point, this rich man, entreated, spoke
to, prayed to, asked for a favor from a real bonafide saint of
God. You understand? This rich man
entreated to Abraham. And Abraham was real and Abraham
was there. He saw him and he saw Lazarus
being welcomed and comforted. He didn't pray, he didn't pray
to a false made-up saint, of which there are many, many, many,
many, many, many. I'm not going into that. But
he didn't pray to Mary either. He didn't pray to Peter. He prayed
to Abraham, who he could see with his own eyes. Because here's
the thing, without the spirit of adoption, without knowing
Jesus Christ, He didn't know anybody greater to pray to than
Father Abraham. You can see in hell, but you
can't see everything. He didn't know God because he
didn't know the Christ of God, Jesus of Nazareth. Now I'm not
slighting Abraham in the least. He's in Hebrews 11. He is a true
bonafide saint of God. God called him my friend. He
talked with him face to face as a man would his friend. But
here's the thing, neither Abraham nor anyone else can get you a
drop of water in hell. And that's the God's honest truth.
Because at the end of all this, what did the rich man get? He
got nothing. He got nothing at all because
he was where he belonged. Even in hell, the man didn't
pray to God. Believers are told to pray and
believers have been taught to pray by Jesus Christ. He said, pray on this wise, our
father, which art in heaven, or who art in heaven. Holy be thy name. Now it's just
an example, it's not a repeat after me and everybody all recited
together, he said don't do that. Right before he gave them this
prayer he told them not to do it, so what do we do? They do
that. Let's say our father all together.
Christ said don't do that, that's what the heathen do, they think
they're gonna be heard for their much speaking. That's why I'm
leery of prayer chains, as they were called. I'm not leery of
them, I won't have one. I mean, you know, the prayers
of a righteous man availeth much. He didn't say the prayers of
a righteous bunch availeth much. He said the prayers of a righteous
man. Pray one for another. You don't have to tell me about
it. I'd appreciate it if you prayed for me. And I try to pray
for you. Although I'm not real good at
it, I will admit it up front. But here's the thing. Who do
you pray to? You pray to the Father. Now,
Jesus Christ said, whatsoever you ask, he'll say, in my name. When you talk to my Father, mention
my name. And if you ask something in my
name, it will be given to you. unless you want to consume it
up on your own lusts. James said that. You ask, but
you ask amiss. I was listening to a health and
wealth gospel guy on TV today. I don't know why I do these things,
but I do them. But here's the thing, oh, he
says, oh no, you've got the, do you say, how'd you doing,
fella? And the fella gets up and says, oh, my arthritis is
pretty bad. He says, oh, you claim that,
do you? No, you're supposed to say, well,
the devil's after me a little bit, but I'm not going to give
in. I'm thinking, yeah. Yeah, have that discussion with
arthritis. We'll see who wins if you've got arthritis. OK? I want to give that guy arthritis
and see his conversation. People irritate me to no end. Oh, yeah. Name it and claim it.
I'll name them something they can claim, but they don't wanna
talk to me, and I don't wanna talk to them. Whatsoever you ask in Christ's
name, ask the Father. And if it's a real request, and
if it's according to the will of the Father, he'll give it
to you. He'll give it to you. I think
Paul the Apostle knew how to pray. I really do. And he prayed three times for
a thorn in the flesh to be taken from him, and you know what,
he got an answer every time. God said no. God said no, and
God said no. And he said my grace is sufficient
for thee. His grace is sufficient for thee.
His grace is sufficient for all. Whatsoever you shall ask in my
name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. So if what you're asking in his
name is not glorifying to the Father by the Son, it ain't gonna
happen, folks. Might as well give up. I'd have
been a millionaire a long time ago. I probably would have won
the lottery five times if that worked. But here's the other thing. Understand,
rich man was an unbeliever on the earth, and the rich man was
an unbeliever in hell. Guess what? What's that make
Lazarus? Lazarus was a believer on the
earth, and he was a believer being comforted in Abraham's
bosom. He was carried by the angel to
Abraham's bosom and he was comforted, he was hugged, he was welcomed. We need to recognize, we need
to celebrate, we need to marvel in and we need to praise God
for his grace. To Lazarus. As you understand,
Lazarus didn't get to Abraham's bosom without the grace of God. In death, there is comfort. There is life and comfort for
the believer. For the believer. You know why? Because it is an eternal salvation
that our Lord Jesus Christ has given to us. That's this life
and the one to come. Now what do I know about salvation?
Three things real quick. First of all, the Father brings sinners to
the Son. You can look at John 6, 44. In
John 6, 65, no man can come unto me except the Father which has
sent me. Draw him, and I'll raise him up at the last day. And he
said, therefore I said unto you that no man can come unto me
except it were given unto him of my Father. If the Father hasn't
chosen you in his Son, given you to his Son, and drawn you
to his Son, you don't know the Son or the Father. I'm not saying
you're not elect, but you don't know. You got no reason. The father brings sinners to
the son, okay? Second thing I wanna tell you,
the son brings sinners to the father. For it became him for whom are
all things and by whom are all things in bringing many sons
unto glory. to make the captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings. You understand? He brings us
to his father, to God. You understand? He has reconciled
us to the father. The father brings him to the
son, and the son brings him to the father, redeemed, reconciled. justified, glorified in the Son. Because if He doesn't bring you
to the Father, to the glory, you won't be there. That's just
the way it is. So there's two things, the Father
brings sinners to His Son, the Son brings sinners to His Father,
but here in particular in this story, All those that the Father
brings to the Son, and those that the Son reconciles and brings
to the Father, all those that believe the Lord
Jesus Christ, what? Shall never die. Shall never die. They're gonna
be carried by angels and be comforted. That's John 11, 26. And you know who Jesus Christ
said that to? The sisters of Lazarus, who was
raised from the dead. Now I'm not saying they're the
same guy, but I suspect they are. I mean, this is just on
me. You understand, it's awfully
coincidental that here in Luke, Jesus Christ is telling this
account of a rich man and a certain beggar named Lazarus. And the
rich man says, well, if somebody raised from the dead, they'd
believe him. And then in John chapter 11, we have Jesus Christ
going to see a fellow by the name of, to the grave of a man
named Lazarus, talking to his sisters, and saying, I am the
resurrection and the life. You know? If he believes in me,
you're never gonna die. And then he asks, do you believe
that? Then he raised him from the dead. I just find that awfully
coincidental, and I don't believe in coincidence. I believe in
God. He that lives and believes in
the Son shall never die, period. Lazarus was carried to Abraham's
bosom and comforted. He was carried there to be comforted. And he was comforted. Lazarus
was with believers that had gone on before. He was with Abraham.
I got no reason to suspect that it was just them two alone. I believe he was with Abraham
and Isaac and Jacob at least. Matthew 22, 31 and 32 says this. But as touching the resurrection
of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you
by God saying, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac
and the God of Jacob. God. is not the God of the dead,
but the living. But the living, he's the God
of the living. He that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. With this account of the rich
man and Lazarus, we are told by Jesus Christ that believers
shall never die. The God of glory, the God of
peace, the God of all grace has spoken. Guess what? He'll bring it to pass. He'll bring it to pass. His words
not returning unto him void. And if he said you're never gonna
die, you're never gonna die. And you know what? It doesn't
matter what any preacher says. It doesn't matter what I say.
If you believe Jesus Christ, you shall never die, even though
you may bodily depart this area. He brings it to pass. He purposed
it. He'll do it. He'll do it. Find
your comfort in him, for he cares for his own. He is the God of
the living, and he cares for you. He cares for his people. Heavenly Father, thank you again
for all you've done, for all you're doing, and for all that
you shall do. Most of all, thank you for your
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given eternal life to his
people. He's redeemed them, bought them back bottom. He owns us. He's reconciled us to you. He's
justified us to you. Thank you, Lord Jesus. In his
name, we pray. Amen.