Debbie's brother, Randy, went
for his second radiation treatment. He's had three. He's had three
radiation treatments. And he's real sick and hasn't
taken radiation treatments, too. So it's, you know, it's out of
our time. So remember him in your prayers,
if you will. We'll see if the Lord's helpful.
Let's begin our worship service in one of hymn number one. Oh,
worship the King. Hymn number one. O worship the
King, all glorious above, and gratefully sing his power and
his love. My shielded defender, the angel
of days, O villainous spender, anchored with praise! O terror of His might, O sin
of His grace, Whose foe is the light, whose hell of disdain,
His chariot's a breath of ink when we glance forward And our
gaze is back on the wings of the storm I found it, O Cairne,
what tongue can recite? He'll reason the air He shines in the light. He speaks from the hills. He sings to the plain. And He speaks to the blue and
the rain. That scripture in prayer we'll
sing hymn number 449 The Abbey of Isles drove me to
the 16th chapter of Luke. You can read it in verse 19,
you can read it through verse 31. It may be a portion of Scripture. There was a certain rich man,
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and buried sumptuously
every day. and there was a certain beggar
named Laspus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring
to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dog came and licked his sores. 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. He made
dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for
I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said, son, remember.
that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise
thy evil things. But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented. Beside all this between us there
is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence
to you cannot, neither can they pass to us which would come from
thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore,
Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for
I have five brethren. that he may testify to them lest
they also come to this place of torment. And Abraham said
unto him, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, Nay, father Abraham,
but if one went to them from the dead, they would repent.
And he said, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither
will they be persuaded that one rose from the grave. We are thankful for your word,
which sets forth things that challenge our minds and hearts,
and causes us to ponder things too great for us to understand.
We marvel at your word, for it covers all the bases, sets things
right in the right order. It teaches us, Father, continually
what we are, our need, our weakness, our frailty, our sinfulness,
the darkness of our heart and mind. Thankfully, it teaches
us a view to show us grace and mercy, saving us in spite of
what we are, causing your Son to come to this world with a
purpose of redeeming us by his blood and death, finishing transgression,
bringing in everlasting righteousness. Father, we ask this morning that
you would be pleased to meet with us in the presence of your
Holy Spirit, to take the things of Christ and show them unto
us. We pray for those who are sick and going through trial
and tribulations. Now knowest every case. We ask
Lord your help for them. Help us now to worship you. We
are gathered for that purpose. I pray you'd send all things
from our mind that would permit us to do so. Cause us to see
our utter need. And with a heart of thanksgiving
and praise, sing praises to you. Because you have remedied our
situation. We thank you, Father, in Christ's name, amen. And number 449, to
God be the glory. Be the glory! Great things He
hath done! To the people, world, and He
gave us His Son! Through You, His life, and atonement
for sin! praise the lord praise the lord To Jesus, the Son, and give Him
the glory, great things He hath done. Perfect redemption, the
purchase of life, to every believer, the promise Praise the lord. Praise the lord. to the Father, to Jesus the Son,
and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Great things He hath done, great
things He hath done, and great are rejoicing through Jesus, Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice! Father again we approach in the
name of Jesus Christ to honor this portion or the means that you have ordained
for your children. Your center is saved by grace. And one's blessed to have you
cause them to approach you. You know something of what it
is. And what is a gift? A gift of
grace, a gift of faith, a gift of repentance. We have been given
so much. Fathers, we return it to thee
that which belongs to you. Let us do so with the full knowledge
that we're privileged to do so. In Christ's name, amen. and and and Okay. so I invite your attention back
to Luke chapter 16. This passage is for the most
quintessential text used to describe heaven and hell. I cannot count the times, but
I've been heard messages concerning the torment of hell, the awful
place it is. Though very little is said about
it in scripture, I am convinced that it is a place that I certainly
do not want to go. Many preachers use these things
to scare people and to get them to make some type of confession.
Hell is an unhappy place. There is no doubt. Ralph Barnard
preached from this text one time. And the title of his message
was, My Son, Remember, which is what Abraham says to the man
in hell, my son, remember thou hadst good things. And his whole
message was that all those great saints that had been killed down
through the ages were brought before those in hell. And the
head of John the Baptist was brought before Herod, Herod burning
in hell, and the angel held the head of John the Baptist and
looked at Herod and said, my son, remember, remember. It was kind of a scary message.
I listened to it a couple of times and it was kind of scary. Though I do not believe you can
scare someone into salvation any more than you can sweet talk
them into salvation. I do think that a healthy regard
for the woes of the damned is reasonable and prudent for everyone.
I cannot imagine anyone in their right mind having read this description
of hell and desiring to go there. There is a division among scholars
and theologians as to whether this story is a parable or a
recorded incident or a recorded bit of true history. Some say
that because a name is given of a poor beggar named Lazarus,
therefore it can't be a parable, which is generally a story that
does not use proper names or surnames. Some difficulty is
found in the connection to this passage with the rest of Luke
16, which by any standard contains some of the oddest words in all
of Scripture. If you look back with me at Luke 16, the Lord
talking to His disciples says some strange things in this passage.
He said of His disciples, there's a certain rich man, I mean that
character plays over to the rich man that we just read about in
the text, which had a servant, which had a steward, and the
same was accused, was accused unto him that he had wasted goods.
And he called him and said of him, how is it that I hear this
of thee, and give an account of thy stewardship, for thou
mayest be no longer a steward? In other words, he's threatened
to be fired because he supposedly misused the funds. Then the steward
said, what shall I do? Well, my lord taketh away from
me my stewardship, which is his life, his earnings. Again I did,
to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that
when I am put out into a stewardship, that they may receive me into
their houses. So he called every one of his
Lord's debtors unto him, and said unto them, How much owest
thou unto my Lord? And he said, A hundred measures
of oil. And he said unto thee, Take thy bill, and sit down quickly,
and write fifty. And he said to another, And how
much owest thou an hundred measures of wheat? And he said, take thy
bill and write four score, which is 80. And the Lord commended
the unjust servant, because he had done wisely, for the children
of the world are in this generation are wiser than the children of
life. And he said, are you making yourself, and he said, that's
good disciples, making yourself friends of the mammon or the
riches of unrighteousness. everlasting habitations. That's
a strange language. He that is faithful in that which
is least is faithful also in that which is much. And he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore ye
have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit your trust in true riches? And if then you've been unfaithful
in that which is another man's, who will give you that which
is your own? No servant can serve two masters. Or either you will
hate the one and love the other, or else you'll hold to the one
and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Pharisees also who were covetous
heard all these things and they derided the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said to them, ye are they
which justify yourselves before men. But God knows your hearts,
for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in
the sight of God. The law and the prophets were
until John. Since that time, the kingdom
of God is preached, and every man presseth unto it. And it
is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than one tittle
of the law to fail. Whosoever put away his wife and
marrieth another committed adultery. Whosoever marrieth her that is
put away from her husband committed adultery. Then comes this story. Now text and context are always
what matters in teaching the scripture. And in order to understand
verses 19, 31, our text, the passage must be viewed in light
of that context somehow. This may make it seem to be more
difficult because of the nature of the message in the first part
of the chapter. Since all scripture, however, is about a single thing,
it's about the Lord Jesus Christ, then this passage also has to
do with him. When heaven and earth, or heaven
and hell are set forth, we can rest assured that they are not
the subject of this passage. The subject of all passages ultimately
is about Jesus Christ in one aspect or another. You have a
rich man and a poor man. righteous, unrighteous mammon.
You have all these things mentioned. You have a just servant, a servant
who, in order to get out from under what he did, calls his
buddies to help him out with the payment. And once he does,
he's the Lord. So that's a good thing to do.
It's a good thing to do. Maybe he's saying, I thought
about this. Maybe he's saying those who love
unrighteous mammon, unrighteous riches, that's the best they're
going to get. They better get good at it. Maybe
you say make good friends in this world, in your business
world, because you may need them when the time comes to bail you
out of a bad situation. I don't know. But I know this. Christ is this passage. That's
what it's about. It says, Christ in the work of
salvation and redemption and justification. In several, this
passage refers to some aspect of that truth. One thing or word
that occurs throughout the passage is this riches of mammon. or
unrighteous mammon. We read it several times, verses
9 through 13, verses 19, verses 20 and 22 and 25, all speak of
this mammon. And since this passage must be
weighed in light of all scripture, comparing spiritual things with
spiritual, and since the Bible makes it clear that no person
is justified before God but works, phrases such as being received
into everlasting habitations in verse 9 do not put forth a
good stewardship or being faithful as means of justification before
God. We know that by grace you are
saved through faith, and that knowledge tells us it's a gift
of God, and how it works, lest any man should boast. The words
of our Lord discern these things are parabolic in nature. That
means they speak in parables. And being such, even the words
of our text are designed to teach one specific thing. Whatever
it is, because they're parabolic in nature, they're teaching a
single thing. The theme taught, being taught,
the lesson our Lord is delivering is actually very simple, and
it's a theme that He's used in other places. Making use of what
the Lord has made available to you is an important portion of
Scripture. Our Lord said of Zacchaeus, that he was saved that day. He
used this as an illustration. He said, because he used what
was available to him to see me. He was a short man and couldn't
climb up. Couldn't see over the crowd. Everybody was taller than
him. He wanted to see the Lord Jesus Christ, so he climbed a
tree. Must have been quite a sight.
Zacchaeus was a very rich man. But this little man climbed up
a tree in order to see the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord said,
I see you, Zacchaeus, come down and go into your house today.
Salvation's coming to your house today. Salvation. And a lot of people were upset
about that. A lot of sons of Abraham, because he was called
the son of Abraham, he said, a lot of the sons of Abraham
were upset about that. I'm a son of Abraham, too. Can
I get that? But that son of Abraham, I don't differ from anyone that
applied to Zacchaeus. What did Zacchaeus do? Climb
the tree. That's what he had to see Christ.
What do you have to see Christ? What tree are you going to climb? You got the gospel. That's it.
This world has the gospel. This is the means that God has
ordained by which his sheep are brought to life in Jesus Christ.
That's what you got. If you don't use it, if you don't employ it, if you don't
avail yourself to it, if you don't climb that tree, you ain't
never gonna see Jesus Christ. If you don't see Him, there's
no hope in you. Our Lord went on after that to
make that statement about giving men money. He said the Lord gave
one servant five talents, another servant one talent, and another
servant ten talents. And the one who gave ten to,
after he came back after a period of time, he said to that servant,
what have you done? He said, well, I've investigated.
And then made you another ten. He said, well done, thou good
and faithful servant. And he went to the one that had
five, and he said, what have you done? He said, well, I invested,
and I've got you five for five. I've doubled your money. He said,
well done. And he went to the one he'd given
$1.00 to, and he said, what'd you do? He said, well, I knew
you as sovereign. I knew you as God. You can do what you want
to. You can move things around, manipulate
things around. And I said, well, I just buried
it. He didn't use what God had given
him. He didn't climb the tree like
Zacchaeus did. He didn't pay attention or avail
himself of the preaching of the gospel. That's what this is all
about. Our Lord uses natural finance
to teach this spiritual truth. Stewardship, having riches, and
proper use of what is available to you are metaphors for the
gospel and Christ, and the Christ that declares the response of
men toward them. These parables are guided missiles
targeted for one specific group of people, the bullseyes, the
Jews in general, and the Pharisees in particular. It is they who
believe that they can serve God and mammon at the same time.
It is they who are offended at the words of Christ and deride
Him because they were covetous, which means they wanted more
than they had. They were not pleased with what
God had given them. It is they who justify themselves
before men. It is they who are highly esteemed,
that which is an amalgamation of God. This is what the Pharisees
did. They thought that our Lord was
speaking about money, about their money. They looked at their pocketbook
and he looked at their heart. They thought that the riches
they possessed in their bank account was what he was referring
to, but our role was speaking of their unique privilege. These
were Jews. These were Pharisees. These were
learned men. What were the riches that they
actually possessed that they had available to them which they
did not properly serve and did not use? What was their covetousness? What abominable thing did they
highly esteem? What mammon did they serve in
opposition to serving God? They had the Word of God. They
had the Law and the Prophets. He actually said that to them.
Do you have the Law and the Prophets? They had the Word of God. They
had Genesis through Malachi just then. The Bible and the New Testament
had not been written. Some 20 years down the road,
the first epistle to the Corinthian church to be written by Paul,
that would be the first epistle in the New Testament. Gospels
didn't come until AD 100 or so. So what they had was the law
and the prophets. And we know from Peter's words
in Acts chapter 10 that all the law and the prophets spoke of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul said, I worship God. in
a way that in called heresy, I worship God, believing all
that's written in the law and the prophets. So they have the
word of God. This is the riches they have.
They have the word of God. Look over at Romans chapter 9.
Paul is addressing this matter. In Romans chapter 9, verses 4
and 5, he says, Who are Israelites? To whom pertaineth the adoption?
The glory, that is the Shekinah glory dwelling above the cherubim
in the holy place. The covenants, the Noahic covenant,
the Abrahamic covenant. The giving of the law in Mount
Sinai. The service of God in the ceremonial
aspects of the law. And the promises, all that they
had. whose are the fathers and of
whom is concerning the flesh, Christ came. Christ came from
that outfit in the house of David. God bless forever and amen. But then the question arises,
well how come they don't believe Christ? They got all that. Does that mean that all that
work against the Malachi meant nothing? It had no effect on
people? It wasn't really important? He
says, not as though the word of God had taken none effect,
but they are not all Israel, which are Israel, but in Isaac
shall our seed be called. We know Isaac here represents
those who were born, not naturally, but spiritually born again. That's
who Isaac points to. But these had great riches, didn't
they? They had the Word of God. They had the Oracles. They had the Prophets. They had
the Law. They had the Priesthood. They
had the Sacrifices. They had the Ceremonies. They
had all that stuff. And then all spoke of Christ.
The man whom they served, the riches that they were unjust
stewards of. The abomination that they highly
esteemed was their own self-righteousness, their self-justification based
on their abuse and rejection of the Word of God. They were the only nation in
the world that had access to it. They were rich in that
they robbed widows' houses while making own pretense of prayer.
They were religious treasures of almsgiving, and prayer, and
fasting, and they had their reward. Which says they did it so they
could be seen of men. So they got their reward, they
got what they wanted. They trusted in themselves that
they were righteous and despised others. That's what the Lord
said to the Pharisee and the public, and they prayed in the
temple. He believed himself to be righteous. Which if you believe
that about yourself, that you're naturally, or you have merit
before God, you're gonna end up despising other people. You're
gonna do it. You can't help yourself. Because in order for you to have
a righteousness that can be known, it has to be recorded, and the
score has to be kept. Can't be otherwise. Can't be
otherwise. You gotta be righteous, more
righteous than somebody else is how you become righteous.
They used the economist's approach to the natural election, accounting
them that they had wealth in this world because God had chosen
them. I remember when I had an economics class in college, and
when I was studying western civilization, one of the things about these
reformers, who were basically legalist Calvinists, They believe
that if they have made it in this world and were rich, it's
because they were elected, because God had chosen them. But that
doesn't fit with this, does it? Because who's the one that goes
to heaven? Not the rich man. It's a man
who has nothing. You know, that's nothing. They
used the law, the word of God, as legal means of self-justification. They would fail in the end because
they abused their riches and they would be without excuse
or recourse. They were rich. They were rich. They were THE rich of which our
Lord speaks here. The religion of human merit was
their bankroll and they served it and not God. Neither in reverence
to adultery has its root in the marital ties, but in the religion
of the flesh. Legalistic self-righteous free
will works is what our Lord uses marriage to explain. In Romans
chapter 7, over there, he explains those who live by the law and
he takes the marriage as an institution that explains that. In Romans chapter 7, verses 1-5,
it says, No you're not, brethren, that I speak to them who know
the law. When he says know the law, love the law, seek to keep the law, now that
the law has dominion over man as long as you live. If you're
under the law, the law dominates you. It's as simple as that.
You don't have any rights, as to say, under the law. The law
has dominion over you. For the woman which has no husband
is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the
husband be dead, now wait a minute, now it's going to change the
whole thing. Remember, he's still talking about the law. The law is the
husband. But if the husband be dead, the
wife is loosed from him. Loosed from her husband. So then,
if while her husband liveth she is married to another man, she
shall be called an adulteress. But if her husband be dead, she
is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though
she be married to another. What are you talking about, Paul?
Wherefore, my brethren, you are also become dead to the law by
the body of Jesus Christ, by his death, his birth, his resurrection,
that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised
from the dead, that you should bring forth fruit of the garden.
So he said to the believer, like the wife whose husband died,
she's free to marry somebody else. You who are under the law
know this, that the law is dead. It's been fulfilled and it's
been set aside. It's dead to you and you are
dead to it and you are dead by it. You're dead to the law. So you're
free to marry somebody who? Jesus Christ? Nothing wrong with the law. He
was a good husband, but he was really a hard husband. Did white glove inspections every
day. Commanded his wife to be in the
kitchen and have a meal prepared three times a day and have the
clothes pressed and then down to the hankers and the undershorts.
Everything had to be pressed. That's the husband. Wife was
on pins and needles all the time. That's the law. He died. And now she's met this other
guy. Who loves her? Loves her. All he wants for her
is good. He wants for her to rest. I'll
sweep the floor, sweetheart. I'll do the dishes. I'll do the
ironing. You just lay down, you beautiful
thing. You just rest, dressed in your white robe. You're looking
good. I'll take care of you. Anything,
I'll die for you. I'll die for you and save you.
That's a new husband. That's a new husband. So when
the Lord was talking about marriage and adultery back here in our
days, he's talking about the law and grace, which the Pharisees
didn't understand. which only those who are enlightened
by the grace of God can get a picture of this. We're married to Jesus
Christ, and what does He require of us? To rest in Him. What does He require of us? To
trust Him. What does He require of us? That
when we're in the worst kind of trouble, just look to Him.
I will fight for you, He said. I will do the battle for you. So when He talks to these Pharisees
about that, that's what He's talking about. They don't get
it, but that's what He's talking about. They had that which spoke of
Christ, and they had Christ standing in front of them. They had this
Bible that talked about Christ from Genesis to Malachi, and
He was standing right in front of them. And they derided Him. They abused and misused and rejected
Him for the riches that they already had. It was to these
that our Lord spoke the words of our text. a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day. He was clothed in purple. This
is the Latin word from which we get our word profusely or
profoundly. His wealth was great and openly
grand. He was also clothed in fine linen. This fine linen was from Egypt
and was renowned for its beauty and its fragility. It was the
same linen that covered the whore's bed in Proverbs chapter 7. She
said, my bed is covered with tapestry and fine linen. What does that picture self-righteousness? The rich man is the religious
Pharisee who had at his disposal the riches of the law and the
prophets and had before him the Christ of whom they spoke. But it was his own righteousness
he looked to. Then there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus. Who was this beggar? If this
is a parable, why is he named? He was named because he must
be named. The one standing before these rich men, dressed in a
shepherd's robe, has no money. It is said of him, he has no
place to lay his head. Sometimes the stones are his
pillows out in the mountainside. He says of himself, I am meek
and lowly, and often calls himself a poor man. Speaking of the humanity
of the Lord Jesus Christ, His name is Lazarus. His name is Jesus. His name is
above every name under heaven, given among men whereby we must
be saved. The name Lazarus is a Greek rendering
of the name Eleazar, a name which means God is my help. Our Lord
often said that in the Old Testament concerning God. God said, I have
laid help on one who is mighty. Speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the word beggar means a poor person who is in need. This is
difficult for us to consider our Lord in this capacity is
nonetheless the description our Lord gives of himself and his
humanity and his suffering. He said, I'm a worm and no man.
He said that in Psalm 22. I'm a worm and no man, no man. Psalm 34 says, the poor man cried,
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of his troubles. Psalm
40, verse 79, but I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh
upon me, thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying,
O my God. Psalm 41, one, blessed is he
that considereth the poor. The Lord hath delivered him out
of times of trouble. Psalm 69, but I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set
me on high. Ecclesiastes 9, now there was
found in it a poor, wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered
the city, but no man remembered that poor man's name. All that's
about Jesus Christ. Isaiah 66, for all those things
hath my hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord, but
to this man will I look, even to him who is poor, and of a
contrite spirit, and tremble at my word. You know what the Lord said,
come unto me, all you that labor and ever labor, and I will give
you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn me, for I am meek,
lowly, poor, and you shall find rest unto your soul. He laid at the rich man's gate.
He came to his own. His own received him not. He
was full of bruises and sores. He said that about himself in
Psalm 38, I am bruised. I'm bruised, I'm beat up. Also
in Isaiah 53, I'm wounded for our transgressions, bruised for
our iniquities. With these stripes, we are healed.
And it says the dogs licked his soul. Two of the dogs, the Gentiles,
the sinners, the publicans, they loved him. They licked his soul. Dog don't lick the soil from
food. You watch them, they'll lick another dog's soil to heal
him, because a dog actually has antibiotics in its saliva. But that's the picture of those
who love Jesus Christ. The Lord. He came to pass as
ordained, and according to the purpose, the beggar died. Went
to glory. When did he go to glory? When
he had purged our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the
majesty on high. Went to glory. A religious pharisee died and
went to hell. And he told me he cried for Lazarus
to ease his pain. One whose God is his help, ease
my pain. Cried for the water of the word
to slake his thirst. He desired what he had before
him. Discounted. He had all that. He had the word of Genesis to
Malachi. Had it all. Now what does he
want? He's tormented in hell. Just
a drop of water on your finger, because I'm tormented in these
flames. Christ said, I won't judge you,
but there is one that will judge you. Even the words that I speak,
they will judge you in that last day. Word of God. How this man thirsted for that,
but couldn't have it. Lazarus said, Son, remember what
you had. You had the Law and the Prophets.
You had Christ at your gates. You sought to justify yourself
and extend what God despises. You are tormented and Lazarus
rests. And that will never change. He
rests forever. He's entered into his rest. It
says in Hebrews chapter 4. He ain't coming back. When he
come back again, he gonna wind this thing up. Send him back,
the poor, the rich man said. Send him back to tell those I
love not to come to this place. Well, they had all those books
of the Bible too. All those books of the Bible. He said they would believe, they
would believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead,
walked upon this earth for several days, witnessed by 500 or so
different people in one place, all his apostles, all his disciples,
by the women who attended his grave. Surely, if somebody rose from
the dead, men would believe. They don't, do they? Christ flowed
from the dead. We tell people about His resurrection,
that that's our justification. He was raised for our justification.
Without the resurrection, we don't have anything to preach.
Our faith is in vain without the resurrection. We tell them
the resurrected Christ who lives in glory now. Surely, he said,
my brothers would believe if they had someone raised from
the dead. They'd repent. Repentance does not come by sin.
It comes by believing, and that is granted by the grace of God.
The latter part of this story in verses 25, 29, and 30, he said, you know, Abraham said, Son, remember thou
that life hath good things received it, that good things in my trust
thou hast received it. But now he's coming, and thou
art told him. And Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and
the prophets. They have Moses. Tell them not
to come to this place. This is an awful place. They
have Moses and the prophets. This world has this word. They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. He said,
no father Abraham, but if one went like Lazarus, if Lazarus
came back to earth after dying, if he was rose from the grave,
then they would repent. They could see that. He said,
if they hear not Moses, oh my, if they hear not Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded that one rose from
the dead. did not believe. Rather use the Word of God and
Christ to establish your own righteousness. That's what they
did. They used the Word of God as
a proverbial blunt instrument to keep people in check and control
their lives and exalt themselves. But here's the thing, if you
use not the riches that you have properly, you're without excuse. The word is received by faith,
not by sight. Will you hear Moses and the prophets? Will you hear one that actually
did raise from the dead? This is the lesson I believe
this is teaching. What's available to you in this
world today This is what's going to last,
my friend. I had a thing on Facebook the
other day, an old preacher, 87 years old. He said, I can't preach
no more. I said, I just don't have it
in me. Can you stand up and do it? He said, my mind don't work
like it used to. I'm not able to walk like I used
to. I just can't do it anymore. I got to quit. I got to quit. He does. And I will. And everybody
who stands today and preaches, if the Lord doesn't go away,
I'll quit one day. It's going to be over for them. Well, what
will you have? Don't ignore this. Ignore this that you're unparalleled.
This is the Word of God. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.