For the last two weeks, and now to
be the third week, I have been reading the message that our
Lord preached. And I want to do that again this
afternoon. I sure can't improve on what has been said, but I have
told you at different times that I am so thankful that the Lord
is so merciful to let us comment on what He said. And I love to
do that. We've all heard of the rich man
and Lazarus, haven't we? About that story our Master preached
to us about. And I want to look at the context
of that. If we get time, then we'll look
at the rich man and Lazarus. But I want to look at why. The
Lord seemingly, as I read His messages, He always had a reason
for preaching what He preached. He got a message from what was
happening and going on. And it's sort of that way tonight
in this message in Luke chapter 16. But I tell you, sometimes
it is difficult to understand what our Lord is saying. It's amazing to me, and I think
of myself sometimes how foolish I am that I don't even understand
what he's talking about when the Pharisees did it. He'd say
something to them, and I'm here thinking, what did he mean by
that? And they knew perfectly well what he meant. And that's
the way it is here in chapter 16. This is really two parables. We call the rich man and Lazarus
the parable. Now, whether we could truthfully
say that or not, I don't know. Abraham is mentioned in it, so
it may not be a parable at all. It may really happen. But this
first portion of chapter 16 of Luke is a parable. It's difficult
to understand until finally you begin to see some of it. So let's
just read it and maybe the Lord will bless us to say a few things
about it. Luke chapter 16 and verse 1. He said also unto his disciples. The Pharisees were there, but
he was speaking mainly to his disciples. This is a pearl. There was a certain rich man
which had a steward. He had a man who managed his
affairs, obviously a very rich man. And this steward, this manager
of his affairs, his business, was accused unto him that he
had wasted his goods. And he called him and said unto
him, How is it that I hear this of thee, given an account of
thy stewardship? for thou mayest be no longer
Now, aren't we all stewards? This was a parable, and he is
going to apply it in this manner, that we're all managers. What we have isn't ours. The
Lord has loaned it to us. He has put us over what He's
given us. Now, you may not have much. You
may not be rich. Most of us are rich in the world
standard. There are people living in other
countries that have a lot, but they don't have as much as we
have. But whatever we have, however much we have, we're spirits. Whatever we have belongs to God. And therefore, we are responsible
to use everything He has given us. And let's be honest with
ourselves, brothers and sisters, especially when we were lost.
How good of stewards were we? Were we in a way just like this
steward? That if the Lord had called us
to give account of ourselves, our stewardship, wouldn't He
have said to us, You may not be the steward any
longer. I've heard some things about you. The paychecks you've
been getting, the house you live in, the vehicles that you have,
all of this that I've given you, you've abused it. You've not
used it for my glory. Now, this is the way he's going
to apply this. And he's going to teach us a
message from it. The man called him and said,
give account of yourself. For you may be no longer steward."
Now, if the Lord called us today to account, what would He say
about us? How have we used what the Lord
has given us? How have we managed what is His? That's what He's going to teach
us. And He's going to teach us to manage it properly. And He's
going to teach us about this steward here that was a crook.
But he wants to show us how he mended his ways, how wise that
he was and took care of himself. Look what he says in verse 3.
The Spirit said within himself, What shall I do? For my Lord,
my Master, taketh away from me the stewardship. I ain't going
to have a job anymore. I'm not going to have a means
of supporting myself. What am I going to do? Well,
why don't you find you a job digging ditches? Can you dig
ditches? Well, look what he said. I cannot
dig. You cannot or you won't. Sometimes
just won't, ain't it? I just won't. Why are you letting
the government support you? Well, I can't do anything. Can't
do anything or won't do anything. I cannot dig. Well, you probably
could. And if your master strips you
of the stewardship, you may have to. Well, I don't want to. And I'm going to do everything
I can to keep from digging. Everything I can. Well, why don't
you bag? Why don't you just go around
bagging? A lot of people are baggers. Well, he said, to bag,
I am ashamed. I just don't have enough spunk
about me to work, and I've got too much pride about me to bag.
So I'll be shut out. What am I going to do? And that's
what the Master wants us to think about. What am I going to do?
Verse 4, I am resolved what to do that when I am put out of
the stewardship, they may receive me unto their houses. He seemingly was living in his
master's house. And he said, when I don't have
a job, where am I going to live? Where am I going to eat? Where
am I going to sleep? I don't have anything. I've been utterly
dependent upon my master, and I've abused his goods. Now I'm
being put out. What am I going to do? In verse
5, he thinks of this. Look at this. And he calls every
one of his Lord's debtors unto him. And he says unto the first,
How much do you owe my Lord? How much do you owe my Master?
Boy, he was a slothful servant, wasn't he? He didn't even have
a record of it himself. He should have known if he had
been an honest man. But he had to call and take their
word for it. I'd have fired him a long time ago, wouldn't you? And he said, in verse 6, that
a hundred measures of oil, that's how much I owe your master. And
the steward said unto him, take your bill, and set down quickly,
and write fifty. Pay him half of what you owe
him, and you can keep the rest, and I forgive the rest of the
debt. You don't owe him anything. I'm going to write on here debt
paid in full so that frees you from any obligations. They'll
never arrest you or try you for it. Your debt is paid. Give me
half of what you owe me. But listen, about next week,
about this time, I ain't going to have a job. I ain't going
to have a place to sleep. And I want you to remember me.
I've just saved you a lot of money. I've just cut you a good
deal. So you remember me. You remember.
But he wasn't satisfied with that. He said, I'm going to need
more than this one fellow. So he said in verse 7, Then said
he to another, And how much do you owe? And he said, Nine hundred
measures of wheat. And he said unto him, Take thy
bill, and write out eighty for a score. I'm going to save you a lot of
money. But I want you to remember me next week. that I saved you
a lot of money. You wouldn't have been able,
maybe, to pay this whole bill. I've done you a favor, but I
want you to remember me. When I'm without food, I'm coming
to your house. When I don't have a place to
sleep, I'm coming to your house. I want you to remember me. Boy,
I tell you what, he didn't do any favors, probably, to his
master. But you know something? He sure took care of himself,
didn't he? He sure took care of himself.
He got his Master's attention of how smart he was. Well, you
didn't do me any good, but I'm telling you, you sure took care
of yourself. I've got to commend you. I've got to commend you. And look what he says in verse
8. And his Lord, the Lord, the Master, the Lord commended the
unjust steward because he had done wisely. Didn't help me out, but you sure
helped yourself out. You took care of yourself. When
I see you next week, you won't be hungry. I'm going to fire
you, but you're going to have a place to eat, aren't you? They're
going to welcome you into your house. Boy, you're a smart fella.
I wish you'd acted that wise when you was my steward. I'm
going to put you out of stewardship. Man, you've got some brains in
the back. You're taking care of yourself. I'll have to give
you that. That's what he said to himself. And then the Lord
makes this statement. The children of this world are
in their generations wiser than the children of light. Why? You know, there's lost people
out there, brothers and sisters, that's much wiser about taking
care of themselves and providing for themselves than we are providing
for ourselves. They're very careful about temporal
things. They're really more careful about
temporal things than you and I are about eternal things. Aren't they? And that's what
the Lord Jesus is teaching us in this parable. You know, you
think about lost men and how they take care of themselves.
They look after themselves, don't they? They're looking for a good
deal. We had a place there in Muncie
that sold air conditioners, and I went in and bought me an air
conditioner off a fellow, and it wouldn't work. And I took
it back, and he wouldn't take it back. And he said, listen, I'm in this
for the long term. He said, I can't take that back.
But he said, listen, I'm going to be in this for the long term.
I said, I'll tell you what, people are smarter than you think they
are. You ain't going to be in business no time if you're going
to treat people like this. You better watch out for yourself.
I'm looking for an honest, good deal. You know, that's what the
people of this world, if you go to a restaurant and they serve
you food and it's no good, you won't go back, will you? If you
go to a used car dealer and buy a car and they lie to you and
the car's no good, I tell you, that man will be out of business
pretty soon. People are looking for a good deal, aren't they? The people of this world are.
They take care of themselves. You're not going to buy an old
junkie car and know it. You're going to take somebody
with his nose car and you check it out. The Lord said you're
wise. You're wise. Boy, we got a good deal, haven't
we? I mean, we got a good deal. You know what the Lord Jesus
Christ said? He that believeth on me is justified from all things
by which you could not be justified by the law of Moses." Isn't that
a good deal? Have you ever heard of a better
deal than that? And yet there are poor people
of this world rejoicing over their cars and over their houses
more than we are rejoicing over this good deal that we've got.
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he that liveth and believeth
in me shall never die. That's the best deal I ever heard
of in my life. People are so careful. They want
a good deal. We got a good deal, brothers
and sisters. We got a good deal. The world is wise. I tell you
what else the world will do. You see farmers out right now.
They planted, they got their crops, got their fields all tilted
up back in the spring. They sowed it. They cultivated
it. They watched over it. And you
know they're out harvesting right now? And you know what they're
doing? They're getting ready for winter.
They're providing for themselves, aren't they? They're careful
to do that. Most of us have gardens. We have
gardens. We can. We store up for the winter. That's the way the world does
things. You know you and I should be
that wise. We should be that careful. We should store up for
the time that's to come. Oh, my soul, winter's coming,
isn't it? Eternity's coming. Use the men
of this world and how they provide for themselves and provide for
retirement and provide for old age and provide for the winter.
Provide for the rainy days. They're wise to do that. How
much more wise should you and I be, brothers and sisters, when
we think about eternity? The children of light, they're
wise. They're wise. In verse 9, I say unto you, make
to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that
when that when you fall, they fail, they may receive you unto
everlasting habitation. Now, what does he say? Make unto
yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when
you fail, when it comes time to fail, when it comes wintertime,
You may have friends to receive you and to everlasting happiness.
Now, what in the world does he mean by that? Well, let's just
keep it in this context. You and I know the Master is
not saying that we can merit heaven. He's not saying that
we can purchase salvation. This has got nothing to do with
that. This has got to do with using
what the Lord has given us. Use it for His glory. And He
said, take everything that you have, the unrighteous manna,
your property, your money, whatever the Lord has made your spirit
over, and lay it up. Lay it up. Lay it up like laying
up treasure. Like investing it in the stock
market. That when it comes time that
you have to leave this world, you're going to have treasures
laid up. This is the whole of that, and
look over in 1 Timothy, and let me show you that this is the
proper interpretation of this passage. Look in 1 Timothy, chapter
6. Look in chapter 6, 1 Timothy,
chapter 6. Look in verse 17. Here's what he said, 1 Timothy
chapter 6 and verse 17, "...Charge them that are rich in this world,
that they be not high-minded, and don't trust in uncertain
riches, but in the living God who gives us richly all things
to enjoy, that they do good, that they be rich in good works."
That they be ready to distribute, ready to share, willing to communicate,
to give to others. And look in verse 19. Laying
up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to
come that they may lay hold on eternal life. Ain't this amazing
that our Master would preach this? Take everything you have
Everything the Lord has blessed you with, everything from your
time to your talents to your money, everything, and so use
it for His glory that you lay up in heaven treasures. I have no idea how that works.
I don't know. But that's what He said. He's
encouraging us to use everything He's blessed us with. Be good
stewards of it. Be good stewardship. He can't
purchase you heaven. He can't merit you heaven. But
I tell you what, he'll be there commending you when you get there.
That's what he said. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was sick and you visited me.
I was in prison and you come to me. Lay it up in store. Lay
it up. Take the unrighteous mammon.
that you have that He's blessed you with, and use it for His
glory. And boy, that just applies to
everything, doesn't it? Your time is His. Redeem it. Your money that He's given you
is His. Use it for His glory. Everything
is His. Be a good Be a good student. That's what he's telling us.
And look in verse 10. Look back in our text, chapter
16, verse 10. He that is faithful in that which
is least is faithful also in much. And he that is unjust in
the least is unjust also in much. Now, boy, here's a principle.
Here's a principle. We sometimes don't believe this,
but this is a principle. If I won't be faithful, in the
little things that the Lord has given me. If I won't be honest
and sincere about the little things, you know something, I
probably won't be honest about the big things either. It's the
little things, the little things of this lifetime that we ought
to pay close attention and seek to be faithful in, the little
details. If therefore you have not been
faithful in the unrighteous manner, who will commit unto your trust
The true riches. True riches. What God has given
you, if you're faithful with it, you'll have the true riches. But who, brothers and sisters?
Here's something to think about. Do you think the Lord has blessed
a man with the riches of faith and the riches of His grace?
Well, all along that man is living. a dishonest lie. I don't think so, do you? I think
when the Lord saves us, He makes us new creatures, and then we
begin to learn right then and there to be honest in our daily
lives. A Christian can't deal under
the table. A Christian can't lie and cheat.
to keep what the Lord has blessed him with? He has to be honest
with it. And if he's not honest with it,
our Master said, do you think my Father's going to give him
the true riches? Don't let that man think that.
Don't let that man think he can live in sin and serve his sins
and be unjust and dishonest, and yet God's blessed me with
His grace. That would be deceiving for a
man to think that about himself. The Lord said it won't happen.
If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous manner,
who will commit to you the true riches? Nobody. God is not going to do it, is
He? And look in verse 12. If you have not been faithful
in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which
is your own? He makes a distinction here,
doesn't he? Everything we have belongs to God. It belongs to
God. Usually, it passes from one man
to another. The bank on my vehicle for years,
until I finally got it, and somebody else lifted somebody else's.
We just passed it around. It's not mine anymore. It belongs
to him. It's not his anymore. It belongs to somebody else.
It's somebody else's. Everything is the Lord. But you
know there's something, the true riches, they're ours. They're ours. He gives it. But then we say, it's ours. He
gives us faith. We're not born with it. It doesn't
lay in our heart dormant. He has to give it. But yet when
He gives it to us, He says, it's yours. It's your own. Live by it. Live upon it. It's yours. Here we are born
dead in trespasses and sins. He comes to us and gives us life
and He says, it's yours. I give it to you and nobody can
ever take it away from you. That's yours. It's yours. That's
why the Lord told Martha when she said, ask my sister to come
and help me wash these dishes. I need her to cook. We need to
be busy about these worldly things. And he said, Martha, listen,
Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away
from her. Everything else that's going
to be taken away, isn't it? Oh, but there's some things that's
never going to be taken away. The Lord's given them to you
and they're yours. In Christ, they're yours. And
they'll never be taken away. Verse 13, No servant can serve
two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other,
or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot
serve God and wealth or anything else, can you? You may be a rich
man and serve God. You may be a poor man and serve
God. But you can't be rich or poor
and serve God and man. Old Bob Dylan wrote that song.
You're going to have to serve somebody. It may be the devil
or it may be the Lord, but you're going to have to serve somebody.
And that's what he said. Who are you serving? Who are
you serving? What are you serving? God is
such a sovereign that you can't serve anything else than Him. You can enjoy everything else
when you serve Him, but you cannot serve Him and anything else.
It's impossible. You cannot serve God and mammon. I had an old deacon friend of
mine. He said he was seeking the Lord
just before he got married. He was a young man. He was dating
this girl. He just loved her to death. Loved her too much,
he told me. And he said, I was seeking the Lord. And the boy
said, she kept coming. She kept coming to my mind. Kept
coming to my mind. You can't serve me and her too.
You can't have me and her too. And he said, I'd push her out
of my mind. Lord, please have mercy upon
her. She had come to his mind. Push her away. Get out of my
thoughts. I'm talking to the Lord. And
he said he struggled with that for a long time. And finally,
he said, her too, Lord. Let her go. Let her go. You can't have God. You can't
have Christ and something to rival Him in your heart. You
cannot serve God and mammon. Now that was the parable. That
was his parable. Pretty good parable. And here's
what happened when he preached that. In verse 14, the Pharisees,
also who were covetous, they heard all these things and they
were so upset with him. They derided him. They got mad
at him. They gnashed at him with their
teeth. Got on, didn't it? Got on. Why did this bother them? Well, they were trying to do
it. They were the most covetous men. Most of them were rich. They made long prayers in the
widows' houses so they could take up a collection and keep
it for themselves. They lived on the backs of poor
people. They were robbers. They were thieves. They were
covetous people. And they said, we can serve God
and we can be rich, too. We can love God and we can love
our riches, too. And the Lord says, you can't
do it. You can't do it. The Lord said, you're just like
these unjust stewards that I told you about. You've wasted everything
God's given you. Look how you've wasted it. Look
what you've done with everything God's given you. You're unjust
stewards. That's what He told them. Boy, they got so upset with Him.
And verse 15, He said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves
before men. You know what they were saying?
Look how God has blessed us. Look at the riches that we've
amassed. Look how well off we are. We're living the good life. And look how much gain we've
had. And after all, gain is godliness. We are blessed men. Look at us. And boy, they exalted themselves.
And men looked at them and said, Boy, oh how God has blessed them. Just look at what they've got.
Oh, we reverence these fellows. And I tell you, they had them
in such high esteem. One of the old sayings was, if
there's only two people that made it to heaven and only one
of them was a Pharisee, only one person could go to heaven?
It'd have to be a Pharisee. If anybody makes it all the way,
it's a pharisee. That's what they said about these
folks. We don't steal. Well, they did too. We don't
embezzle. They didn't. We fast twice a
week. We pay tithes of all that we
possess. We are such holy, good people, and God has blessed us. Look at us. Look at us. You justify yourselves before
men, but look at this, but God knows your hearts. He knows you, God. He knows you. He doesn't look on what you do
to get men to pat you on the back, to get yourself a good
reputation. He looks at your heart. And when
God looks at your fellow's heart, though you're white on the outside,
you're like a grave full of dead man's rotten bones. You're full
of wickedness. You're full of covetousness.
You're full of blasphemy. You're, in the eyes of God, abomination. Ain't that what he said? Look
in verse 16. Or look in verse 14 or verse
15. For that which is highly esteemed
among men is abomination. in the sight of God. Stop trying
to impress people. It just kills me anymore when
I do that, when I find myself trying to impress people. I get
so mad at myself, I go home and I get in the car and say, God
forgive me. Why did I do that? And it makes me mad when people
try to impress me. Why can't we be ourselves? Just
be what we are. God knows our heart. And when
people brag on us and they want to pat us on the back and highly
esteem us, I bet you ninety-nine times out of a hundred that is
abomination in the eyes of God. This disexalting flesh is all
it is. The law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached, and men don't get into it by their riches.
Men don't get into it by outward advantages. How does a man get
into the kingdom? He presses his way into it. Well, we see examples of that,
don't we? That woman with an issue of blood, she said, I've
got to get to Christ. Oh, there was all kinds of people
between her and her salvation. She got him out of the way. She
pressed. She pressed until she touched
the hem of his garment. The blind man who began to cry,
Jesus, have mercy upon me. And they said, would you shut
up? What did he do? He had to press his way, didn't
he? It's got nothing to do with the riches or whether you're
poor or whether you're rich. It's got nothing to do with that.
You get into the kingdom of heaven by pressing your way into it. You get to Christ. You get over
your obstacles or under them or through them. You get to Him
and nothing stops you. It's got nothing to do with anything
else, is it? You may be rich. But if you get
to Christ, you're going to find your pressure weight. You may
be poor, but if you get to Christ, you're going to have to press
your way. If you get in the kingdom of God, you ain't going to do
it setting. You're going to do it by seeking
Him in your heart. I press. Paul said, I press. Well, they started thinking when
the Lord make this statement, then the law and the prophets,
you're just setting them aside. You're setting aside the law
and the prophets, and you're telling us now we've got to be saved
by a different way? We press into it? What about
Moses? What about the prophets? You're
just going to set those fellows aside? Look what he tells them
in verse 16, verse 17. It's easier for heaven and earth
to pass than for one tittle of the law to fail. No, it's never
going to fail. It's all going to be fulfilled.
One jot, one pill of the law is never going to fail. It's
never going to be unfulfilled. I've come to fulfill it all.
The prophets wrote of me and said he's coming. Here, I've
come. I fulfill the prophets. That ceremonial law foreshadowed
me, and here I am to fulfill that. It's not going to fail. And he gives them examples here
in the very next verse. of what he's talking about and
shows them how the law, how strict it is and how they broke it.
Look in verse 18. Whosoever puts away his wife
and marries another, commits adultery. And whosoever marries
her that is put away from her husband, committeth adultery. And they allowed divorce all
the time. The Jews allowed it all the time.
And here they were bragging about how they kept the law and honored
the prophet. And he said, you do that all
the time. And he said, I'm telling you this, from the very beginning
it wasn't so. God made them male and female
and joined them together. And there's only two things that
break that, death or fornication, adultery. That's what preceded this message
about the rich man and ladder. My goodness, I said all this
just to get to my text. But I ain't got time now to preach
some attacks. But here's what he tells them. Here's why he
preached about the rich man and Lazarus to them. He said, you
fellows are rich. And you think God has blessed
you because He's blessed you with all these riches. And then
he tells them about a rich man that was just exactly like they
were. He said, let me tell you about
a rich man who was so rich that he fared sumptuously every day.
He was clothed in soft apparel. He had all he wanted to set at
his table. His dogs were fat. He had everything
in his heart to desire. And there was a poor man. He
was a beggar. And not only was he a beggar,
he was a crippled man. And not only was he crippled,
he was full of sores. And they carried him and laid
him at the rich man's gate every day. And he begged for the crumbs
that fell from that rich man's table. That's the same way you guys
are, he said. You guys are rich, just like this man. Look at the
poor people around you, and you guys are rich. Look at the people
you guys could help. You unfaithful stewards. You
covetous stewards. Look how you've abused what God's
given you. You're just like this rich man. You're sustained. You won't give your stuff out
for nobody. Not even for God's glory. You
won't do it. You're just like this rich man.
And he said the rich man died and was buried. And Lazarus died. And he said, now who would you
rather be? Who would you rather be? Oh,
you know their answer? Men have said it before. I want
to be the rich man when I live and the poor man when I die.
Ain't that the way people think? But he said, here you are, here
you are, and you're rich, but you're going to die. And they're
going to bury you and make a bigger deal about your funeral. But
in hell, you're going to lift up your eyes. Ain't that what
he's telling them? That's what he's telling them. The poor man, he couldn't afford
a funeral. They didn't have a funeral for
him. They just said he died. That was it. What'd they do with
him? I don't know. They throwed him down in the
valley and burned him. Put him under a pile of rocks. The rich
man, they honored him. And boy, he had pallbearers.
Can you imagine the pallbearers? He had the mayor. He had the
sheriff. He had the governor. Man, he
had six Paul Burroughs. Everybody, oh, look at that.
Look at Burroughs. How'd he get the governor to
be his Paul? He's somebody. He's rich. Who was the Paul Burroughs for
the poor Lazarus? Huh? Angels. Angels. The Lord said, My loved one has
died. The one that I redeemed has died. And He sent the angels down,
and they bound Him up in their arms, and they tugged Him up
through this air, through outer space, unto heaven in the presence
of His Lord. They were the paupers. You can't look at a man who's
enjoying this life with all the things and say, man, God is blessing
him. And look at the poor woman down
in the nursing home that's down to 40 pounds yesterday when I
was there, groaning and dying, and say, boy, I wouldn't want
to be that. You know who I want to be? I
want to be the man, rich or poor, that has Jesus Christ abiding
in his heart. I want to be the man that lives
by faith upon the Son of God. I want to be a man who dies with
hope in the world to come, a good hope, a good hope through grace.
That's who I want to be. Die rich or die like Lazarus. That's who I want to be. Things change at death, don't
they? They just turn upside down. The rich man died, and in hell
he lift up his eyes, being in torment. Now it's changed, you see. Lazarus is carried into Abraham's
bosom, and now he's comforted. Everything's different, ain't
it? Brothers and sisters, don't worry about what you have to
go through in this life if you belong to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Don't worry about it. It's just a short time. It's
just a short time. And I tell you, what you suffer
here will only add to your glory yonder if you're in Christ. You know,
our Lord said more. They tell me the Lord said more
about hell than he did about heaven. He probably did because
he finishes the rest of this parable talking about the rich
man in hell. And what makes it so, so gripping,
he was talking to these Pharisees, most of which probably wound
up there. And this rich man began to talk
to Abraham. I told you, I said something
the other Sunday about The church in heaven is probably
nearer to the church on earth than we could ever know. This
seems to indicate that, doesn't it? He had eyes to see Abraham. And he saw Lazarus in Abraham's
bosom before all. He saw that. And it was a torment
to him. It had to be a torment to him.
How everything had turned upside down now. And all these riches
I trusted in, took comfort in, hasn't done me a bit of good.
It made it worse. All the things that I abused
upon this earth, all the things that I labored for and spent
my time and loved, look where it's gotten me. Look where it's
gotten me. And he said, Abraham, would you
send Lazarus? No, he said it like this, Father
Abraham. That's what these Pharisees called
Abraham. John said, you better quit saying we have Abraham to
our father. Abraham may not be your father. Abraham is the father of those
who believe in Christ. And he says, Father, Abraham
sinned last year that he may dip his finger and let one drop
fall on my tongue. Why was he worried about his
tongue? We know, don't we? What's the smallest member of
our body? that more embarrass us and cause
us more guilt and heartache than anything else isn't at this time.
It's a world of our iniquity. It's set on fire of hell. Every animal and every fish can
be tamed, but not the tongue. Isn't it funny, the Bible says,
talks about people whose eyes are full of adultery. Their feet
are swift to shed blood. I've murdered and all of this.
But when he talks about the tongue, that's the only thing he wanted
water on. He didn't say a thing about his eyes or his ears or
his feet. My tongue, my tongue. No, no,
those that are up here can't come down there. Those that are
down there can't come up here. There's this gall fixed. God's fixed it. Well, you can't
get out. And they can't come to you. I've
got one more request, he said. I've got five brothers. And he
knows them. Lazarus knows them. They know him. They've seen him
coming and going. Would you send him back to my
five brothers and let him testify to them lest they come to this
place of torment? He said, no. No. You see, in hell there's no request
answered. Here, we've got the promise.
Those who seek Me with all their heart, they shall find Me. Ask
anything according to His will, and He cures us. But there, nothing,
nothing. No, He's competent. He ain't
going no place. He's competent. Ain't it awful that a man in
hell would want to disturb a poor saint who is at rest in heaven?
He wouldn't feed him here. You wouldn't bring him into your
house and give him a place to sleep. You wouldn't call the
doctor to put medication on him. And finally, he's at rest in
the bosom of Abraham, and you want him to go, are you rich?
No. Now he's comforted and you're
not going to disturb him. Nothing is going to disturb him.
You know, he's still not disturbed today. Here we are just rastling
around. We wonder what's going to happen.
to our lives and our insurance and our country and everything
else. What's going to happen in the next... He don't think
about anything like that. He's restful. He's peaceful. He's confident. You know one
of the best things about heaven? There's nothing there but comfort.
There's nothing there to disturb the poor soul. It's all You won't send him, no. Not going
to send him. You leave him alone. You leave him alone. They got Moses. They got Moses. Let them hear Moses. Let them
believe what Moses said. But the gospel's not in Moses.
It ain't going to... Oh, yes, the gospel is in Moses.
We've been reading it, haven't we? Moses wrote a cross. The gospel is there. Let them
believe Moses. And he shows he still didn't
put any value upon the Word of God. No, Father Abraham. No,
that's not enough. He never valued the Gospel when
he was here, and he still doesn't value it. That's not enough.
If one went unto him from the dead, they would believe. But
one did go to him from the dead, didn't he? The Lord Jesus raised
from the dead and sent his apostles to preach the Gospel, and they
still didn't believe. No, they won't. If a man won't believe
the gospel, he ain't going to be saved by signs and miracles. And that's the truth. And that's
the gospel the Lord preached. And I tell you what, if I'd have
been there and I'd have been a Pharisee, God given me grace,
I tell you, I'd have fell right at the feet of my Savior. And
I'd say, Lord, I'm sorry. It's yours. I've abused myself. I've abused Your name, I've abused
everything You've given me, Lord, forgive me, save me, and cast
my soul upon Him. That's what I would have done
by His grace. Lord bless His Word.