The Rich Man and Lazarus

Introduction

Well, I want to encourage you to please go ahead and get your Bible out, whether paper form or digital form, and turn into your New Testament to the book of Luke. Please go into your Bible to Luke the 16th chapter this morning. Luke chapter 16 is where I invite you as we get ready to read a lot from Luke 16. You might want to go ahead and put your Bible marker in Luke 16. As you turn there, I just want to say good morning to you. It’s so good to see you this morning. It has been a wonderful day of worship, and it is especially good to be back home again. I send you greetings from the Dallin Road Church in Beaumont, Texas, a place where I have so many dear friends, where my mentor Max Dawson is.

It was good to see all of those brethren again where Genese and I began our journey in the ministry 20 years ago. So good to see all those folks, but there’s no place like home. And there’s no place like being with South Bumbi, my South Bumby family, no place like being with my family again, being with my wife and kids again, being in my own bed again. Nothing like that as well. I have one more meeting that I’ll have to go on in a few days from now in Virginia, and then after Thanksgiving, I will be home for several months. And that’s going to be good for me, but bad for you. But I am looking forward, I am looking forward to that. But it’s so good to be together, and it’s especially good to be able to dig into the word of God right now.

In Luke the 16th chapter, and in verse number 19, Jesus says this, verse 19. Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen. Joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man’s table, besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried in Hades. He lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and sent Elizaret so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.

But Abraham said, Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things, but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all of this, between us and you there’s a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you would not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, that you send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Like a lot of people, one of the things that I like to do is I have a habit of picking favorites.

Do you by any chance have that habit? That’s something I do all the time in my life. Many people who know me well know that I have a favorite football team, and I have a favorite athlete, and a favorite food, and a favorite genre of music, and a favorite color, and a favorite number, and a favorite letter, and a favorite season of the year, and I even have a favorite gospel. I have a favorite gospel. While I do enjoy reading all four of the gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, my personal favorite has to be the Gospel of Luke. Brothers and sisters, I love to read the Gospel of Luke, because it contains so much teaching from Jesus that it’s exclusive to its gospel. For example, the Gospel of Luke is the only place where we find the three famous parables of Jesus in Luke chapter 15.

The parable of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost boy, or the prodigal son. And only in the Gospel of Luke do we find the famous parable of the good Samaritan, and the parable of the rich fool and the friend at midnight and the unjust steward. And Luke is the only gospel that gives us the story we just read in Luke 16. The story in Luke chapter 16. Going back to what we just read here in Luke 16, I submit to you that what we just read here may be one of the most intriguing and discussed stories in all the Bible, and it is the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The story of the rich man and Lazarus. Do we have that on the slide, please?

The story of the rich man and Lazarus. The story of the rich man Lazarus is a very intriguing story. In fact, it is a very controversial story among brethren today. It is a very controversial story. And here’s why it’s controversial. It is controversial because some see it as a parable, like the parable of the Good Samaritan and the prodigal son, and others see it as a retelling of a real life event. In other words, a lot of people see it as something that really happened. Many people, many brethren are divided on whether or not this is a parable or a retelling of a real life event. But for me personally, I don’t really think it matters. I don’t think it’s something worthy of debating to spend a lot of time discussing this morning whether it is a parable or a retelling of an actual event.

The fact of the matter is the lessons are still there. The content is still there. The main message that Jesus is trying to get across to the hearers is still there. And so instead of wasting our time debating about something that really doesn’t matter in the big scheme of things, how about we focus on that? How about we focus on the lessons? How about we focus on the content? How about we focus on the main point of this story that is often overlooked? You see, unfortunately, so often today, as Christians, the only time we go to this story to study what it has to say is to consider one thing and one thing alone, and that’s what it reveals about death. Death. Death in the afterlife.

1. Greed Will Cost You Your Soul

That’s all we want to talk about when we study this story. I mean, since we’re so curious about what’s going to happen to us when we die, that is usually the main thing we focus on when we study this story. And while there are certainly some key lessons to be learned about those things from this story, I want to suggest to you that there is so much more Jesus wants us to take away from this. There are so many other reasons why this story is still relevant and why it still speaks to us today. For example, consider how this story, the story of the rich man in Lazarus tells us, it still speaks to us about greed. About greed and how greed will cost you your soul.

Brothers and sisters, that is the key message being preached in this story. That is the main point of this story. That’s the reason why Jesus told the story in the first place. And please take that home with you. If you don’t take anything else home with you this morning, can you take that? Can you please remember that when we study this story in its context very carefully, we see that the main point Jesus is driving at here is not what’s going to happen to us when we die. It’s not what’s death gonna look like and smell like and taste like.

What’s the main point? Why did Jesus tell it in the first place? Well, he didn’t tell it in the first place, so we can make these nice fancy charts and talk about Hades and what it’s gonna look like. No, the main reason Jesus told this story was to talk about greed. It was to talk about the sin of greed. It was to talk about selfishness and how we should not be lovers of money. How do I know that? Well, I know that because of how the chapter begins. Go back to the beginning of the chapter, please. Do you see verse one? Notice how this chapter is open up. Jesus begins here in the context telling a parable. What’s the parable? The parable of the unrighteous steward.

Do you see that? Who was the unrighteous steward? Well, for those of you who are familiar with that parable, you know that the unrighteous steward was a lover of money. The unrighteous steward was someone who had cheated and done corrupt things with his master’s money. The unrighteous steward was a covetous man. He was a greedy man. And look at what Jesus says in verse 13 after he tells that parable. Look at what is sandwiched between this parable, the parable of the unrighteous steward and the story of the rich man Lazarus. Luke 16 and verse 13. Here are the key verses. In Luke 16 and verse 13, Jesus says after he tells the parable of the unrighteous steward, no servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he’ll be devoted to one and despise the other.

You cannot serve God and wealth. You cannot serve God in money. Now the Pharisees, the guys that everybody thought had it all together 2,000 years ago. The guys who looked apart, they wore the phylacteries. They could quote the scriptures. They talked about the scriptures all day. They prayed the long prayers. These self-righteous men that people thought had it all together. Jesus says, the scripture says, now the Pharisees who were what? Lovers of money. There it is. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, were listening to all these things and scoffing at him. That’s the context. Those are the key verses to understand what’s going on here. Notice how, here in the context, Jesus is doing something with his teaching. He is exposing the greed and the selfishness of the Pharisees.

He is warning people against being like them. He is warning people against being greedy and lovers of money. That’s what Jesus is doing here in the context, and to drive that point home. Not only does he tell the parable of the unjust steward, but he also tells a story about a rich man who lived a pretty good life. He lived a life of splendor.

He ate the best food and dressed in the best clothes. And he probably lived in some huge palace somewhere in the city of Jerusalem. He lived an extravagant and wonderful life, and his life is contrasted with the life of another man, a man named Lazarus, who was Lazarus. Well, unlike the rich man, Lazarus, he’s a beggar. He’s a poor man. He is someone who lays outside the gate of the rich man’s palace every single day, just longing to be fed the crumbs that fell from his table. He doesn’t enjoy the physical prosperity that the rich man does. But not only that, Jesus says he also has bad health. He’s got some health problems. He’s got sores all over his body, and to get some relief from that, he has the dogs come and lick his sword.

This is a man who lives a miserable life every single day. And Jesus says this rich man would not help him. This rich man would not share his blessings with him for no telling how long he probably stood outside his window looking outside. He saw that poor man at his gate and he was disgusted by that. He was repulsed by that.

For no telling how long this rich man had an opportunity to share and help this poor man.

And because he doesn’t, when he dies, he’s separated from God. He’s put in a place that is very different than the existence he had while he was on the earth. That’s what Jesus is teaching there. And from that, he wants us to learn something. He wants us to learn that while there’s nothing wrong with having material wealth. While there’s nothing wrong with having money and stuff, we don’t need to be greedy with our money and our stuff. We don’t need to be greedy with our wealth and our physical prosperity. What Jesus is teaching here is something that is emphasized throughout the gospel. For example, do you remember what the Apostle Paul said to the Ephesian elders? As Paul meets with these elders in Myeletus as he’s on his way to Jerusalem with a contribution for the needy saints there.

The apostle Paul says to them, and everything I showed you, that by working hard in this manner, you must help the weak who are the weak. The weak are people like Lazarus. Paul says you are to help the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus that he himself said, it is more blessed to give than it is to receive. Paul there is teaching the same thing Jesus is teaching in Luke 16. But it’s not just there, going back to the verse that Brother Frank read for us in Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10. This is a verse for individual Christians. This is not a verse for the local church. This is a verse for individual disciples. For Sean Jeffries as an individual, for you as an individual.

Paul says, so then while we have opportunity as individuals. Let us do good to all people, Christians and non-Christians, but especially Christians, especially those who are the household of faith. Paul there is teaching the same thing Jesus teaching Luke 16. We need to help people. We need to help all people. And then look at what Paul says here in 1 Timothy 6. In 1 Timothy 6, verses 17 through 19. The apostle Paul says to Timothy here, instruct those as a preacher. This is what you must do as a preacher. This is what I’m trying to do right now. The same thing Paul told Timothy to do. Instruct those who are rich in this present world. Let’s just stop right there for a second. Let’s stop right there.

Who in the world is that? Who is Paul talking about there? Who are the rich in this present world? Is that just Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk and Bill Gates? Well, they’re part of that. That would include them. But it’s not just limited to people like that. The rich in this present world are not just the billionaires around this country and across the globe. No, that would also include people like us. That would also include people who have access to clean running water, unlike over two billion people in the world right now. That also would include people who have access to electricity, unlike over 700 million people in the world right now. That also would include people who have adequate shelter and a nice soft bed to sleep in tonight, unlike about 3 billion people in the world right now.

That’s us. We as citizens in this great country. We are the rich in this present world. And the Holy Spirit says we need to understand something. That we are not to be conceited or to fix our hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy. Paul says, instruct those folks, folks like us, to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed. Well, Paul is teaching there is the same thing Jesus taught in Luke 16. It’s the same thing.

Go in your Bible to Matthew chapter 25. These are some familiar verses, but let’s try to read them with fresh eyes. And let’s listen to what Jesus says as we put these verses with what he teaches in Luke 16. Because in Matthew 25 and verse number 31, Jesus says in verse 31, But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when do we see you a stranger or invite you in or naked and clothe you? And when do we see you sick or imprisoned and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me.

Then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, you did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when do we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you? Then he will answer them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

These will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous into eternal life.

This is a judgment day scene. These are people standing before the Lord on the judgment day, and notice, listen carefully, notice what’s under consideration in this judgment day scene. Notice how in this judgment day scene, as the Lord talks to these people, he’s not talking to them about their church attendance. He’s not saying that you go to every single service every Sunday. He’s not talking to them about how many times you pray all day, how many verses that you memorize, how often that you read your Bible, do not misunderstand. I’m not saying those things are not important. Please don’t accuse me of that. I’m not saying those things are not important or not necessary in the life of a Christian. We need to assemble faithfully to worship God with the saints.

We need to read our Bibles. We need to know the scriptures. We need to pray all throughout the day, every single day. There are countless verses that teach those things. My only point is in this context, in this judgment day scene, that’s not what the Lord is talking with these people about. And this judgment day scene, as the Lord talks with these people, what he wants to know is very simple. He wants to know whether or not they live lives different than the rich man in Luke 16. That’s what he wants to know. According to Jesus, when we stand before him on judgment day, one of the things he’s going to talk with us about is what do we do with our blessings? He wants to know were we stingy or generous.

2. There Is an Existence Beyond This Life

He wants to know were we greedy or full of liberality. He wants to know did we live our lives solely focused on ourselves, or if we used our time and our blessings to help other people. That’s what the Lord is teaching there. And if he’s not teaching that, I don’t have a clue what he is teaching. Jesus wants us to know that we better be careful. We better be careful with our stuff. One of the key lessons of Luke 16 has to do with greed and how greed will cost you your soul. That’s the main message of that story. But there is a second way in which this story still speaks to us. And it also still announces loud and clear that there is an existence beyond this life.

It has some things to say about the afterlife, and let’s just be honest about it. That’s what you’ve been waiting for, right? That’s what you would have been waiting for. That’s what that’s what’s the first thing that popped in your mind whenever I started reading that story. You thought, oh, Sean’s going to talk about the afterlife. That’s what you want. That’s typically the only time we go to this story and read it. We don’t want to talk about Jesus’ main point. We don’t care about what Jesus is saying in the context. We don’t care what he has to say about greed and how we shouldn’t be stingy. No, we want to talk about the afterlife. We want to talk about what’s going to happen to us when we pass out of this life.

We want to talk about this great chasm or this great gulf he’s mentioning. And how people in the afterlife seem to have tongues and fingers and they can dip their finger in water. What’s that all about? That’s what we want to know. We want to know about that. And my question is why is that? Why is that? Why is the subject of the afterlife the main thing we want to focus on whenever we study this story? Well, let me tell you what I think is going on there with us. I believe the reason why we focus on that more than anything else is because we’re curious. We’re curious. We’re curious about death. We’re curious about the afterlife. Since none of us have ever experienced that before, we want to know what’s that gonna be like?

What can I anticipate? What’s it gonna look like? What’s it gonna feel like? What’s it gonna smell like? That’s why we focus on that. And so what I want to do is give you a few things that are crystal clear. I want to give you a few things that are crystal clear concerning this subject and are in complete harmony with the rest of the Bible. These are things that we can all agree on based on what the Lord is saying here. And the first thing is this. The first thing that is obvious concerning the afterlife, and what Jesus is teaching here is there is there is going to be an afterlife. There is life after death. Death is not the end. Contrary to what the atheist says.

Contrary to what the atheist who doesn’t believe in God has to say, when we die, we’re not gonna be like the dog or the cat or the frog or the cockroach. In the case of the rich man and Lazarus, once they died, they continue to exist. They continue to live on. They even had consciousness in the spiritual realm. They were not annihilated. They were not like Rover dead all over. No, from this story, we see that death is not the end. It wasn’t the end for them. It’s not going to be the end for us. In fact, in addition to continuing to exist, I want you to notice, secondly, how they retained their identities. Did you notice that? They retained their identities, even their memories. In the case of Lazarus, he was still Lazarus.

Abraham was still Abraham. The rich man, I don’t know what his name was, but he still had his personality. He still had his identity. In fact, he even remembered his family. He remembered he had five brothers who were not right with God. We retain our identities and the next life. Just like these men, but also notice in addition to that, they were separated. Did you notice that? They were separated. They were separated in Hades. They were separated in the place where all departed souls go to await the resurrection because of his greed and his selfishness. The rich man ended up in a place that none of us want to be in. And that’s a place of torment. That’s a place of agony. That’s a place where there is no relief from the misery that is being experienced while the poor man Lazarus, he was taken by the angels of God to a place of comfort.

He was taken to the same place where the faithful man of God Abraham was. He was taken to paradise, the same paradise that Jesus spoke of in Luke 23, 43, when he said to the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. The righteous and the wicked are separated at death. And we need to understand that that separation is going to be final. In the case of these two men, their eternal fates were sealed. They couldn’t change it. The rich man, he couldn’t go back to the earth and redo his life. He couldn’t treat this like a PlayStation game where you can hit the reset button and go back and do it all over again. He can go back to the earth and repent and start living for the Lord.

No, once he died lost in his sins, that was sealed, and there was nothing he could do to change it. These are four crystal clear things that we see from this story. And you know what all that means for us? That means it matters how we live.

It matters what we do, it matters how it matters how we conduct ourselves while we live on this earth. That matters. As a preacher, one of the things I’ve done many times is I’ve been to many funerals. And I’ve taken many trips to the cemetery. And every time I go to the cemetery, I notice tombstones. You ever looked at just some tombstones before? What do you see on tombstones? Well, you see dates, don’t you? You see when someone is born and when someone dies, but between the year of birth and the year of death is something called a dash. You ever notice that dash before? It’s easy to miss that. But that dash is the most important part. Because that dash represents how a person lived their life.

That dash represents what a person did from the time they were born to the time they died. That dash is what we’re going to be judged by on the judgment day. Just like in the case of the rich man and Lazarus. In the case of the rich man, he ended up lost. Because he lived a wicked and selfish life during his time. During the dash. During that period of time, he lived a wicked life, a selfish life. But in the case of Lazarus, even though he was a poor beggar, evidently, he must have been storing up some treasures in heaven. He must have been making sure that he didn’t allow his poor circumstances to prevent him from trusting and serving God. He may have been poor by the standards of the world, but he was rich in the eyes of God.

He made the most of his period during the dash. The question is, what about you? What about me? What about us? What are we doing right now during this period of the dash? Are we making the most of that time we have during this period of the dash? Are we serving the Lord? Are we serving others? Are we being good stewards of our blessings during this period of the dash? Do we understand that the same process that occurred with the rich man and Lazarus will also occur with us. Brothers and sisters, whether we like it or not, we will die. We’re going to die. And after we die, we’re going to continue to exist. We will retain our identities, and depending on how we live, during the period between the dash, will determine whether we’re going to be in a situation of comfort or a situation of torment forever.

3. The Bible Is Enough

There’s not going to be any redoes for us. We got to get it right right now. We got to serve the Lord right now. That’s one of the ways in which this story still speaks to us today. It still tells us about the sin of greed. And it still wants us to understand that we will have an existence beyond this life. And our existence, how our existence is going to be, is determined by how we’re living right now during the period between the dash, but then a third message that is found in this story has to do with the Bible. And that message is the Bible is enough. The Bible is sufficient. And someone says, Well, Sean, where do we find that lesson in this story?

Well, go back to Luke 16 one more time, please, and look at verse. Look at verse 27. Look at verse 27. I want you to notice how beginning with verse 27. Once the rich man realized that his eternal fate was sealed, and there was nothing he could do to change it, he then asked permission for Lazarus to be sent back to the earth. Do you see that? He wanted Lazarus to be raised from the dead and allowed to go back to his father’s household because he wanted Lazarus to warn his brothers about the consequences of not obeying God. He wanted Lazarus to warn his brothers and brothers about the afterlife and about this place of torment that he was in. And notice how Abraham responded to that in verse 29.

Look at verse number 29 of Luke 16. Abraham, the man of God Abraham. He said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead. I want you to notice Abraham’s response to the rich man’s request. His response is the point on our slide. The Bible is enough. The Bible is enough. The Bible is all your brothers need. That is exactly what he means when he mentions Moses and the prophets. That language Moses and the prophets that Abraham uses there is a reference to the writings of Moses and the prophets.

It is a reference to the writings of the Old Testament, the law of God that was enforced at that time. Here, Abraham is emphasizing to the rich man the Bible’s all people need. The Bible is perfect. The Bible is sufficient. It is all we need to lead us to God and help us avoid being lost. That’s what Abraham has to say to the rich man. And the question is do we understand that this morning? Do we understand that? Do we understand that that book you have in front of you, whether paper form or digital form, it is enough. It’s enough. It’s enough to know about God and how to please God. It’s enough to know about sin and the consequence of sin. It’s enough to know about Jesus and the power of Jesus and the grace of Jesus and how Jesus loved us so much that he gave his life on the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead.

It is enough to know about how wonderful heaven’s going to be and how horrible hell is going to be and how we should want to avoid hell at all costs. The Bible is enough. It’s enough. And the Apostle Paul taught us that same thing, did he not? And 2 Timothy chapter 3. Many of us are familiar with these verses. Let’s read them. At 2 Timothy chapter 3 and in verse number 16. 2 Timothy 3 and verse 16, the Apostle Paul says, all scripture. All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, perfect, fully mature, equipped for every good work. Notice how here Paul says that if you want to become everything God wants you to be, if you want to be equipped for every good work, if you want to be a man of God or a woman of God, if you want to be trained in righteousness and led to repentance and go to heaven to be with God, Paul says the same thing to you that Abraham said to the rich man.

The Bible’s enough.

If we’re not convinced by the words of the Bible to serve the Lord, then we’re not going to be convinced to serve God if we saw a miracle or if we heard God directly speak to us from heaven, or if we even saw someone raised from the dead.

Conclusion

Even though Jesus died on the cross, was buried in a tomb, raised from the dead, and seen all over the place. The question is, what about you? What about you? Do you believe in Jesus? Do you believe He’s the Son of God because He’s because He was raised from the dead? Do you believe the Bible is His Word? And that is all you need to get you from this earth to God’s heaven. My friends, if you believe that, but you have yet to respond to the gospel, you’re going to have an opportunity to do so in just a minute as we get ready to sing this invitation song. If there’s anyone here who knows that right now in your life, because you’re not serving God, you’re taking the same path that the rich man took.

You’re on that path to eternal damnation. If that’s you, you can change that because you’re alive right now. You can change it right here and right now. But you got to be willing to believe in Jesus. And you have to be willing to confess that before these witnesses that you believe he’s the Lord. And you must repent of your sins, turn away from sins, and then put him on in baptism for remission of sins. That’s how you get your life right with God and prepare for death right here and right now today. Or if you have done those things, but you’re not living right. You’re not living as a faithful Christian. Maybe you as a Christian are not prepared for death or for the return of Jesus.

If you need to repent and have us pray with you and pray for you, we’ll be more than happy to do that. If there’s anyone here who needs to respond to the gospel, this song is for you. Let’s stand. Let’s sing together.