2019-09-29 Luke 16:19-31
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19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.
20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.
21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.
24 ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’
25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’
27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—
28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
I. What we think matters today, doesn’t really matter in eternity.
I. What we think matters today, doesn’t really matter in eternity.
19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.
20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.
21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.
24 ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’
lk.
A. We spend our lives building lives that won’t matter one bit in eternity.
A. We spend our lives building lives that won’t matter one bit in eternity.
19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.
20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.
21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.
24 ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’
lk 16:
Illus: Have you ever been to the beach? Imagine with me going to the beach and starting to build a sand castle. But you don’t want to build just any sand castle, you want to build a huge detailed sand castle.
You get to building, packing the sand, digging a moat, building layer upon layer of with turrets, towers and even a bridge. You spend an entire day at the beach building this castle.
As people walk bye they are impressed by the shear detail of your structure. As a couple of kids playing Frisbee get a little close to your castle, you stand between them and your castle to protect your building.
As the day comes to a close you leave to go sleep. Tomorrow you are comeback and build on to what you started. YOu are going to take this castle to another level.
But what happens to sand castles? As the tide comes in, all the work you did during the day will become a distant memory. You come back and the beach will show no evidence to all of your work.
This is the way we live our lives. We are all busy building sand castle kingdoms which will be washed away the moment the tide of eternity rolls in.
You’ve worked you whole life to grow a business, to gain a title, to gain the recognition of others.
You’ve strived to get “that house”, “that truck”, “that boat”.
You’ve done everything you can to make a name for yourself, but your sand castle kingdom will fall.
When you step onto the shores of eternity you will realize all that you found important in this world was not worth a hill of beans.
When you look at what your life is all about… are you building a life that will be wiped away, or are you building eternity for yourself and others?
mk 8:34
34 Calling the crowd along with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it.
36 For what does it benefit someone to gain the whole world and yet lose his life?
B. We do not live with eternity as our focus.
B. We do not live with eternity as our focus.
19 “There was a rich man who would dress in purple and fine linen, feasting lavishly every day.
20 But a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, was lying at his gate.
21 He longed to be filled with what fell from the rich man’s table, but instead the dogs would come and lick his sores.
22 One day the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried.
23 And being in torment in Hades, he looked up and saw Abraham a long way off, with Lazarus at his side.
24 ‘Father Abraham!’ he called out, ‘Have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this flame!’
Lk 16:
Illus: Do you invest your life or do you spend your life.
This is what I mean… do you give your life for the mission of God investing it into the eternity of others, or do yo spend your life on temporal things that will all fade away.
Most of our lives are spent pursuing the temporal. We wake up, get ready for the day, work, eat, work, eat, go home, watch television, and go to bed. The next day is more of the same.
That is a futile life. That is a life which will be washed away.
We try to make life matter more. Sometimes filling it with experience, sometimes filling it with success, sometimes attempting to gain a name, or be recognized.
We look for meaning in social media. How many likes will it take to give you eternal value.
Hear me friends. We need to stop looking to world to define what a meaningful life looks like.
An eternally valued life is one purchased by Christ on the cross. A meaningful life is one lived in a growing relationship with God on mission for Him.
In the midst of the drudgery of work, eat, work, eat, tv, sleep routine, there is meaning when you use your time at home and work eternally.
If you never gain riches, a promotion, a large internet following, or all that the world says matters, but you introduce others those around you to CHrist, you have given your life far more meaning than any of “the most successful” people in this world.
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
II. There are eternal consequences to our decisions on this earth.
II. There are eternal consequences to our decisions on this earth.
25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’
Lk 16:
A. Earthly wealth and success are not a sign of God’s favor, and are idols which will leave you empty.
A. Earthly wealth and success are not a sign of God’s favor, and are idols which will leave you empty.
25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’
Illus: I can imagine the rich man probably on many occasions talked about how God had blessed him.
Just like we do saying that God’s blessing are connected to temporal pleasures.
We get a better paying job and we say we are blessed. We make that expensive purchase and say God has blessed us. We show off our home and say I’m blessed.
What if the poor person is really the blessed one because their heart finds contentment in God and not in things.
What if the day laborer is really blessed because they find their value in God and not in their status?
In this parable, Abraham turned the tables on the rich man showing that that guy he always despised, looked down on, pitied was the truly blessed on because God was his treasure, not the kingdom he had built.
mt 6:
19 “Don’t store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.
20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves don’t break in and steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
B. Once you die, what is done is done.
B. Once you die, what is done is done.
25 “ ‘Son,’ Abraham said, ‘remember that during your life you received your good things, just as Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here, while you are in agony.
26 Besides all this, a great chasm has been fixed between us and you, so that those who want to pass over from here to you cannot; neither can those from there cross over to us.’
Illus: It has been a rough few weeks. In the past three weeks I have done funerals for a 16 year old, a friend who was taken to soon, and the mom of the 16 year old who passed on from a heart attack.
Tomorrow is not promised. It is not promised for you and it is not promised for any of your loved ones.
When we think about sharing with them the eternity changing news of Jesus Christ we procrastinate thinking… there is always tomorrow.
I can tell you, tomorrow is not promised, and once a person passes away there is not a second chance.
The decisions of faith in this life are final in eternity.
If you don’t compel your friends to place their trust in Jesus, and they pass away tomorrow, you won’t get a second chance.
Heaven is real. Heaven is the eternal home of every person who places their faith God’s work on the cross through Jesus.
Hell is real. Hell is the eternal place of torment and judgment for every person who that has not placed their faith in Christ.
Hear me friends. Every person gets hell. Doing nothing today get you hell. The only escape for you is faith in Christ.
If the only escape from hell is faith in Christ.... why do we remain silent to those we love?
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
18 Anyone who believes in him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God.
III. You don’t get a second chance to share.
III. You don’t get a second chance to share.
27 “ ‘Father,’ he said, ‘then I beg you to send him to my father’s house—
28 because I have five brothers—to warn them, so they won’t also come to this place of torment.’
29 “But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’
30 “ ‘No, father Abraham,’ he said. ‘But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.’
31 “But he told him, ‘If they don’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.’ ”
lk 16:
A. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. Are you living for your today, or for your “one’s” eternity?
A. Tomorrow is not guaranteed to anyone. Are you living for your today, or for your “one’s” eternity?
Illus: Imagine with me that your “on”e has cancer. Now, not just any cancer, but a fatal form of cancer that will claim their life.
No imagine that today you were given a single pill which would completely cure your friend. It was a hundred percent guaranteed.
Would you sit back and say, “you know I’m kind of busy today, I’ll get them the pill when I have time in my schedule”
Would you say, “I don’t know if I want to give them the pill, because all giving them the cure would do is remind them that they have cancer.”
Would you stick it in your pocket and forget all about the medicine?
Wouldn’t you get the medicine, drive immediately to your friends house and do whatever was necessary to convince them to take this life saving treatment?
Why would you put so much effort into a physical solution when there is a far greater eternal cancer at war in your friends and family?
And we know the cure beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Rev
4 “I say to you, my friends, don’t fear those who kill the body, and after that can do nothing more.
5 But I will show you the one to fear: Fear him who has authority to throw people into hell after death. Yes, I say to you, this is the one to fear!
2 cor 5:16
16 From now on, then, we do not know anyone from a worldly perspective. Even if we have known Christ from a worldly perspective, yet now we no longer know him in this way.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
18 Everything is from God, who has reconciled us to himself through Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation.
19 That is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and he has committed the message of reconciliation to us.