Alright, I invite you again to turn to our text for this morning. Now please turn with me to the gospel of Luke. This morning we’re going to look at verse 19 through the end of the chapter. Luke chapter 16, beginning in verse 19 through the end of the chapter. Okay, so I shall first read our text. Luke 16, beginning in verse 19. So I’m reading from the New King James Version. So if you are using other translations, you can just follow in your translation.

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’

But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ “Now then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’” Alright, so this morning we’re going to look at the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. There is a debate as to whether this is a parable or whether this is actually a true story. I believe that this is just a parable alright rather than a true story. Jesus tells us a story and using imageries.

But again as in all His parables, He is here teaching or try to help us see an immensely important truth. And so what we are going to do this morning is, first of all, to look at the story of these two men. And then, we shall see what happened to them, and then the point. Remember that is how we should always try to understand the parable of the Lord Jesus Christ- the story, and then the point or the message or the lesson. Alright, we shall begin alright- we shall begin by looking at the story of the rich man and Lazarus or the rich man and the poor man. And here we see the great contrast alright- the great contrast between these two men.

When someone tells you a story of the rich man and a poor man, in a sense, he is telling the story of us all alright because basically, this is how the world is divided between the rich and the poor. Now sometimes we think that the world is divided between the educated and the not educated. No, that’s not true. You will realise that immediately when you board the plane, you know that there is the business class and there is the economy class. We know that those who sit in the business class are not necessarily people who are educated, but they are obviously people who are rich. And those who sit at the economy class, they may be very educated. But if they are not rich, this is where they go.

That tells us that that’s how the world is being divided, and so Jesus said now let Me tell you a story about the rich man and the poor man. And so He begins in verse 19 alright. So in a sense in a summary way, He tells us the story of a rich man and how he lived on earth. So in verse 19, He says: “And there was a certain rich man”. There was a certain rich man and “was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared (or feast) sumptuously every day.”. Now it is a kind of succinct and very complete summary; a picture of the lifestyle of a rich person. We see that in verse 19. When I was young alright, I was actually very poor alright. Although I am still poor alright, but at that time I was very poor.

Now let me tell you how poor alright. I lived in a house made of wood. These days people don’t know what a wooden house looks like, now just built on stilts. And the roof of my house was not even zinc; it was attap. In those days when you have zinc houses or zinc roof houses, you’re actually considered the richer one alright. When you have attap roof, you are the poorer ones. So I lived in the kampung alright or village where there were only two cars. Now what I mean is not every house two cars but just one kampung two cars alright. And the house I lived in has got no electricity. And you might be surprised you know that I lived for the most part of my youth, young days alright without electricity until Form 4, Form 5 alright.

Now so for the most part of my life alright in my younger days was without electricity. Therefore, no television. Not to say computer. And we ate a lot of rice. I mean just rice alright and what we call the sweet potato leaves and ikan bilis. Of course these days you cannot understand. You think oh sweet potato, ikan bilis. I want rich man’s food. But in those days, now those were poor man’s food. And I was therefore always very curious to know how you know the rich people lived- now what they eat and where they lived. And so I have a classmate who was kind of quite rich. He lived in a sort of a bungalow house.

And so one day, I was invited to his house and to stay overnight. That was luxury alright. It’s like staying in a five-star hotel alright. From an attap roof house and stay in a house in the town alright, build a brick house and with electricity. And so he has a refrigerator. And I was so curious that I actually opened the refrigerator to see what was inside alright in the refrigerator, and I found butter. We’ve never eaten butter because we could not. No electricity, you can’t eat butter. And so butter. And all my life my dream was to eat butter. And that’s the reason why I love butter alright. So, you know there’s this ice cream man that comes to my school alright and he sells ice cream outside the school.

But interestingly this ice cream man, he also sells butter, now during those Magnolia butter, those cube. And he would cut the bread alright and he put a piece of butter. Now people buy bread and put the you know, ice cream inside, but I asked for butter. I said give me butter alright. So he cut and put butter. Now that’s what I bought from the ice cream man, not the ice cream alright because I thought eating butter, you had the feeling that you are a rich person alright. So I was curious. Now perhaps these days, now some of you might also kind of curious about how the rich and the famous lived. And that’s why every now and then you have television programs showing the lifestyle of the rich and famous.

I think there’s such program, then people will just tune in and just watch alright- where do they live, how do they spend their holiday, and things like that. And so Jesus tells us here that there was a certain rich man. And so He kind of tells us the lifestyle of this rich person. Now listen. He says that this rich man, he clothed in purple. Now again you see that is to give us the impression that he dressed well. Now purple was the royal colour. Now these days ours is yellow alright, but I think it is internationally recognised that purple is a royal colour. Now the reason being that it was an expensive dye.

See in those days it was made from some seashell alright. It’s difficult to extract, and so it becomes, was a kind of expensive dye. And so when people wear purple means you can say this one different class alright. Now today it’s the same alright, not necessary colour. We can’t tell by the colour of the shirt or the dress the person wears whether he’s rich or poor, but we can tell by the brand alright. We look at the brand and we say oh, that one rich people. Look at the brand alright, poor person or no brand alright. So we can tell. And so what Jesus is saying is that you can tell that this is a rich person by the colour of his clothing. So he dressed in purple. And then He says, and fine linen.

Now fine linen refers to the undergarment alright. So even he’s saying that you know the outside, now you know we can see, tell that this man is rich. He’s rich, real rich or filthy rich as it were. But even the inside, the undergarment like one person says that even the underwear is branded alright. So that’s kind of to say how rich this person was. And then He tells us “and he feasted sumptuously every day”. Now you see, feasted sumptuously every day means every day his food is like our, you know new year you know feast alright or some birthday party. So every day is a party in this man’s house. Every day he will be eating abalone and food like these.

Now all those are normal food for this man. And so that is the picture that Jesus has painted. Not just occasionally, but every day he is feasting. Now William Hendriksen in his comment on this said concerning this rich man that he was not just rich. He belonged to that class of people to whom the epithet filthy rich is often applied. He’s living by day in dazzling splendour, maxim as a show off, a strutting peacock. He wanted everyone to know that he was rich. I mean that’s kind of nothing new alright. Even in the days of our Lord Jesus Christ we have people like that. They are rich. They are filthy rich. Their whole preoccupation is about wealth, and their whole pursuit is a certain lifestyle. And they want everybody to know alright- they want everybody to know.

And so that is the rich man. We have them in those days; we have them today. But we also have another kind of people in those days and that is the poor man. And so in verse 20, He says and there was another man alright. “There was a certain beggar” alright in my translation. In your translation is “a poor man”. A beggar obviously is a poor man, although perhaps not necessarily today. Sometimes we meet a beggar and you don’t know. Maybe he’s a millionaire beggar, pretending to be a beggar alright. But of course, beggar historically means poor alright. So here is a poor man, and his name is Lazarus. It’s quite interesting that the rich man’s name is not mentioned and the poor man’s name is mentioned.

In fact, Jesus never mentioned the name of anyone in His parable except this. For once alright, He tells us that this man has a name as if to imply that this is the only important man in this story. And so the poor man named Lazarus. Now, what about this poor man? What kind of life did he live? Well, He tells us, “full of sores, and was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed (verse 21) with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.”. So that is the picture of the other man, and this is while the other one is filthy rich, this man is dirt poor. He’s really poor, and he was sore, filled with sores.

Maybe the reason why he was filled with sores is because he is poor. He cannot even. People suffer malnutrition is probably because he’s poor alright, nothing much to eat. So he’s sick. And so we have this man, so poor that he is sick. And so He says that he was laid at the rich man’s gate. Now perhaps the word ‘gate’ should be in capital letter ‘G’ alright because the gate (the word ‘gate’) here actually is not the kind of gate that you find in my house alright. You come to my house, there is a gate. But the word ‘gate’ here refers more to the gate of the palace. So he has a huge, grand gate alright, and this poor man was laid. And the word ‘laid’ actually means dumped alright.

So it’s not like being carried by people. He couldn’t even walk. He’s not like carried by some people and then gently put in front of this rich man’s gate. No, he was probably carried by some people you know and just thrown alright in front of this rich man’s gate. So that is the description here. So he was thrown there. And the reason he was thrown there is because this man had so much food and you know his food would just fall over the places and maybe the servant would just throw whatever he doesn’t want outside. And so this poor man tries to get something to eat. But then he has competitors. There were the dogs. These are probably stray dogs, now not those pet dogs alright. And the dogs were there and the dogs were competing with him for the food.

It appears that he couldn’t even compete with the dogs. Nobody cares about him. And the dogs came and licked his sores. Well, we are not sure whether that is an act of compassion. If that is an act of compassion, it appears to tell us that even at least dogs have compassion on this man, but not the other humans. But if the dogs licked, it’s because you know seeing this man as a competitor, then it is making his misery even worse. So whatever it is, here is a pitiful picture. But we have a picture of lives in this world. That is what this whole world is like. As I say, this world is divided between the rich and the poor. And we see that so starkly when we move to the city and we see condominiums alright, expensive high-rise condominiums.

And just outside the condominium, you see squatters. We see the great contrast alright just before our eyes now everywhere. And so we see therefore this poor man laying as it were in proximity to the rich man, and their lives were just worlds apart. And so that is the story of two men in this world. Like I said, it’s a summary way of saying that this is a story of all of us in the world. You are either the rich man alright belong there or you belong here. You’re either one of these categories. But that leads us to the second part of this parable. So what happened to them? Now this is an immensely important question because this is not going to kind of continue for eternity. It will not be forever.

That has been emphasised again and again in the Bible, but it never gets to the head of people. Now they think that they pursue wealth and a certain lifestyle and they’re going to enjoy that forever. Jesus says, no. So He continues in this parable and says so what happened to these two men? In verse 22. So now we look to the second part, what happens to them. “So it was that the beggar died.” Well he’s, you know, when you’re listening to Jesus, I suppose the Pharisees, actually they were the people to whom Jesus was speaking. They were listening to the story, and okay, they say it’s good alright. And they don’t even probably mind to think that they were the rich man that Jesus was talking about. And then they heard that the beggar died.

There’s no surprise. We expect Lazarus to die. You look at his condition. He’s poor, he’s starving, he’s sick, and he’s dying. And then he died. I say it comes as no surprise. You know the same thing when we look at people. If I told you that you know, this man died. And you say, oh who is this man? My neighbour you know, ninety-eight years old. We’re kind of, okay he’s ninety-eight, how long more alright. And now he died. Or if someone told you and say: Oh, my relative died. Now, what happened to him? Oh, he was very sick. Final stage cancer and he was in hospital you know, and then he died. No surprise. He’s a sick person. He’s laying in the hospital for so many months.

And so often when they hear you know information like these, now we are not surprised. So what is the surprising element here? So what is the surprising element here? So we are told, so what happened when Lazarus died? That’s the question. That is the question Jesus wants us to think about. What happens after that? What happened when Lazarus died? Well, it’s not like Jesus says well after he died, his body disintegrated and he became fertilizer for the plant. Well, those are people who believe in that now that’s what happens when you die. Or some people you know now Jesus did not say well he just annihilated, just vanished into nothing, so nothing alright. He ceased to exist ever again.

Or perhaps the Pharisees as they were listening to Jesus, they were expecting Jesus to say something like this: Well, Lazarus died. The beggar died and you know and the garbage man came, picked him up and dumped him alright, just like people dumped him every morning at the rich man’s gate. Now this time he’s dead, so some garbage collector came and just picked him up and dumped him in the rubbish dump (in those days called the Gehenna alright), which is the place of fire that is forever burning alright and where they threw all their rubbish and unwanted things. And so perhaps the Pharisees were expecting that to come up of Jesus in this story.

But no because the next line says “and was carried (not by the garbage collector but was carried) by the angels”. Not to be thrown in the rubbish dump but to Abraham’s bosom or to Abraham’s side. He was, the angels carried this man, and now he’s laid beside Abraham. Now that came as a huge surprise to the Pharisees. They think that these people, low-class people, these unwanted people, these people of no value, they don’t deserve especially to be laid beside Abraham. They said these people deserved to be dumped in the rubbish dump. And so that came as a huge surprise to them. But there was a greater surprise as Jesus continued in this story here. And so there was like oh, surprise, surprise! Now this guy gets to go to heaven.

And then Jesus continued in the second part of verse 22: “The rich man also died and was buried.”. Now you see to add the word ‘also’ is to kind of impress upon the Pharisees and perhaps upon us that don’t you realise that everybody dies? Now sometimes we hear of other people dying, and we think that oh, he dies sick; oh, she dies old, and that person died poor. And all these people die, and then we don’t think much about death. Now Jesus says didn’t you realise that you will also die? How often do you think about what happens after life? How often do you think about death, despite the fact that every day we are given information of how many people died of Covid? Oh, he dies. Oh, she died. Jesus says you will also die.

And so the rich man also died and he was buried. Now you see, the contrast, you see, is shown here: “and he was buried”. The poor man has no burial. He’s probably just dumped physically alright. Maybe that was true, but this rich man, he was given a grand send-off alright- a grand send-off. Now in what happens after that alright (now the section that we are seeing), now the earlier section when we looked at the story of the rich man and the poor man, we see a great contrast. But what happens after that (which is what we are seeing now), we see the great reversal, and that is what Jesus is showing here. There is a great reversal of fortune as it were of these two men.

And so verse 23, so what happened to the rich man? Now we knew what happened to Lazarus. We, you know from the story, now he is being laid beside Abraham. He’s beside you know at the side of Abraham. He is in paradise. What about the rich man? Surprise, surprise because the Pharisees, I think if Lazarus gets to be beside Abraham, standing beside Abraham, I’m sure the rich man more so. And Jesus said being in torment in hell, being in torment in Hades as it were, he says the rich man lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham not beside him but he saw Abraham afar off. Hey, we are children of Abraham, so thought the Pharisees. We belong to Abraham. But now he sees Lazarus beside Abraham and he is afar off.

And then we are told alright he saw Abraham afar off, and he saw Lazarus beside Abraham. I said all these are just surprising elements for the Pharisees. “Then (verse 24) the rich man cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’”. I am in torment. I’m tormented in this flame, the rich man cried out. Now that is the sad thing about this man. He is now in the place of fire. How often Jesus speaks of hell to the people when He was on earth? Don’t you even realise that Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven in the Bible?

And yet, we have people today who feel and who believe that we ought not speak so much about hell. Oh, it is, don’t be a this hellfire preacher. What a doom story. Then Jesus must be a doomed preacher. He speaks of hell, and here He tells a story about hell. And He wants to impress upon the people that hell is a terrible place to be in. Avoid it at all costs. How much effort or how intense are you in wanting to avoid hell to make sure that you don’t go to that place? How much do you even think about this and make sure that you don’t end up there? The sad thing is not a lot for a lot of people. And the sad thing is that a lot of parents don’t even talk to their children about hell.

It’s amazing. It’s such an important subject, and yet we don’t talk about it and we don’t teach about it, even to our loved ones. We rather withhold the information. And Jesus says no, we must not withhold that information. Go and warn people. Go and tell people to avoid this place. In one of the gospels, Jesus described this place this way in Mark chapter 9. The gospel of Mark and chapter 9, and listen to what Jesus says here. He says, Mark 9:43. He says there: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, and go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’

And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, and be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched where— ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ If your eye causes you to sin, (He says) pluck it out. For it is better that you enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, and be cast into hell fire— where ‘Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’”. Why is Jesus repeating Himself? Why? For emphasis. It’s to impress upon us how terrible is this place. This fire is not quenched, where you will be in torment, in pain not just for a while but for eternity.

Once you’re there, it’s finished. You will forever be there. And that’s what Jesus is saying here. And these men, what happened to these two guys, these two persons? He said one, he died. Yes, no ceremony, no big send-off, but he is carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. And the other person, he died. Grand send-off, nice burial, but he ended up in the place of torment. And so this man cried out I, in verse 24: “for I am tormented in this flame”. And then Abraham reminded him. Verse 25: “And Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things’”. You know what that means? And then this phrase is loaded. It’s full of significance when Abraham said remember when you were on earth, when you’re still living, you have received your good things.

Isn’t that what you wanted? Ask yourself: What do you want when you’re alive? Good things, good life. And Jesus said well, you had your good life because that is what you live for. You want money, you have money. You want big houses, you have big houses. You want good food, you have good food. Everybody is pursuing after these things, and God says you want them, you have them, but only for a season. If you live up to eighty years, then it’s only for eighty years. If you live to a hundred years, it’s only for a hundred years and no more. You have your good things. So he was reminded. You pursue those things. And Abraham said likewise Lazarus evil thing, but now he is comforted and you are tormented.

You see, I said there was a great contrast between the rich man and Lazarus. And now we see the great reversal. The great reversal. Someone puts it this way. The rich man was inside; the poor man was outside the gate. But now the poor man is inside, and the rich man is outside. The rich man fared sumptuously; the poor man had nothing to eat. But now the poor man is feasting, and the rich man had not even one drop of water to quench his thirst. The rich man was enjoying and the poor man suffering. And now the poor man is enjoying and the rich man suffering. The rich man was surrounded by dignitaries; the poor man by dogs. But now the poor man is standing by Abraham’s side, and the rich man is alone in hell. And that is what Jesus wants to tell us.

Can’t you see the story of people in this world? You live, you pursue the things that you want, what after? And so we see the great reversal in the life after. It will not be the same. You can send all your riches into heaven and burn them. You can send your Mercedes Benz or your BMW. You can send all kinds of things, it will never arrive there. Your good life is only for now. It’s only for now. And so we have the great reversal. Now that leads us to the last part, the point. So what is Jesus trying to say here? What is this parable all about? Now, it is this. So we come to the point of the parable, we see the great regret. We have the great contrast, the great reversal, and now we see the great regret.

Verse 27, then the rich man after hearing all these, now yeah, I had my good things and finished. Now I’m in hell. I’m in a place of fire and torment. I’m suffering. I see Lazarus over there. Then he said in verse 27: “Then he said (to Abraham), ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’”. Now this man understands. Now he finally realises. Now he knows what hell is all about. All the years while he was living on earth, he has heard just like us, just like many people in the world today. We have been told. We have been warned. That is what the church should do.

Let us not keep our mouths shut. Let us proclaim this truth. Let us warn the world what Jesus is doing here. There is a hell to be avoided. And this man now realises it because he is there. He’s suffering. He’s thirsty. He is in torment and he cries out in great regret- in great regret. He said: Oh, Abraham! Father Abraham, please send Lazarus back to earth, for I have still brothers on earth (five of them) and I do not want them to come to this place. Here is a message from a man from hell. You see that? In fact in this parable, remember this parable is not about Lazarus. This parable is not about the beggar because Lazarus never speaks in this parable. He’s just silent. He doesn’t even move alright, he was being carried to the gate.

This parable is about the rich man. This parable is about the testimony of a man in hell. The testimony of a man in hell, and his message is please tell my brothers. Please tell the world. Please tell the people who are still alive on earth. Please tell them and warn them of this place because I do not want them to come. That is the point of this parable. That is what Jesus is saying here. And so this rich man pleaded with Abraham and asked Abraham. Now you see all through as you read through the gospel of Acts, now Jesus has been making this point again and again, again and again (Mistakenly mentioned “Acts”, supposedly “Luke”).

He’s saying to the people the thing that you should fear most is this place. I’m not sure whether you even get that you know when you read the gospel of Luke. Look for example in chapter 12 and verse 4. Now Jesus has been on this for a long time alright. Chapter 12 and verse 4 when Jesus said to the multitude of people gathered before Him. He said: “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.”. Don’t worry so much about the physical thing, your physical body.

It’s amazing how much attention we pay to our physical bodies. From morning we look at the mirror, till night alright we still look at the mirror and see everything is okay with the body. Jesus says don’t care so much about the body. Verse 5: “But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say, fear Him!” because He can cast you into hell. You see, Jesus has actually warned. There’s a place called hell. It’s a terrible place. Then in chapter 13 verse 24. Verse 24, Jesus said: “Strive to enter the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.

(Verse 25) When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from’”. And then these people will be there outside, now they will be in verse 28 the “weeping and gnashing of teeth, when they see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob” and all the prophets inside. This is exactly what this rich man is saying. Abraham is inside, but he is outside. What Jesus was saying there in chapter 13 is when you have the opportunity, you didn’t get in.

You didn’t strive to enter through the narrow gate. You’d rather stay outside and enjoy life and pursue the things of this world and the things of this life. You have your good things and you’re outside. And chapter 14. Chapter 14 and verse 24. You see, Jesus has been on this alright all along before He comes to this parable. Chapter 14 and verse 24: “For I say to you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my supper.”. They shall be outside. They won’t get to feast here in heaven. Why? Because when they were invited; when they were asked to come, when they were challenged to repent of their sins and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they reject again and again.

I cannot come. I cannot come, for I have bought cows and I married a wife. I give all kinds of excuses. I cannot come. You’ll be outside. It’s not that you have not been invited. And then we come to chapter 16 and verse 9: “I say to you (in the previous parable alright)- I say to you make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting home.”. Use your unrighteous mammon, that is a reference to money. Use your earthly resources to prepare for eternal treasures. Set your minds on things above, not on things on the earth.

Now, how often has our Lord been talking about this? Did they hear? No! How often did the Apostles emphasise this? And how many people, you know they listened, and it goes out from the other ear? They’re not paying attention. And so Jesus told this parable to capture their attention, to say now here is a man from hell and his message is don’t come here and tell the people so that they know that there is a terrible place here- terrible place here. Now and so here he begins to plead with Abraham and ask Abraham to send Lazarus. And Abraham’s answer was in verse 29, and Abraham said to him: Oh no, I am not going to send Lazarus down.

You see, there are people who are still thinking like that, like this rich man. Oh, you know the reason why people do not believe in Jesus Christ? Oh, do you know people why they do not believe your message? Because you didn’t come from heaven. And so they’ll send someone. Oh, here’s a man. He went to heaven and came back, and he saw Jesus in heaven. And so he’s the proof, and his testimony will be very powerful. And so I’ll bring this man to meetings after meetings and parade him. Everybody will listen to him, and they will be in awe. Oh, and they will believe in droves. And everybody will be coming into the kingdom of God.

And so they imagined. And so this man was thinking: Oh, if only someone comes from heaven and tells my brother, they will surely believe. And Abraham said to him alright in verse 29: “And he said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets’”. In other words, they have the Scriptures, the Old Testament Scriptures. They have the Scriptures. Let them hear them. “And he said, ‘Oh no, Father Abraham; if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ Then Abraham said to him (in verse 31), ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded even if one rise from the dead.’”. Abraham is not convinced by that argument. No, even if once rises from the dead to tell you that there is a heaven and there is a hell, people will still not believe.

Proof? Now Exhibit A alright, we have Lazarus, another person called Lazarus. He was raised to life by Jesus in John chapter 11. Did these people believe? Oh, if only someone would come from heaven and tell me, I will surely believe. And more than that, Jesus, He is risen. He rose from the dead. Do people today believe? Abraham said I proved my case alright. Even when the Lord has risen from the dead, we still are living in a world where majority of the people are still unbelievers. They will still not believe. And so that is what the parable is about. There is a place of torment, Jesus says, to flee from. And when you die- and when you die, if you are there, you will never, never, never be able to come over this side.

That’s why Jesus told the rich man. You are there, it’s fixed. No one from there can come over here. The only chance that you still have is like the five brothers. They still have their opportunities. This rich man is gone. His case is over. Brothers, friends, your case is not over yet. You still have not come to strive to enter the kingdom of God. And Jesus says that there is only one way into the kingdom, for He says I’m the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me. The only way back to God is through the Lord Jesus Christ, to trust in Him that He’s able to save you from your sin. Otherwise, you’ll be following this man into hell and suffer for eternity. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank You again for this warning. And we know that we have perhaps heard this time and time again and so often take this so lightly. Lord, we pray that You might again impress upon us the seriousness of this matter, the realisation that is a hell to be avoided and the only way to do so is to flee unto the Lord Jesus Christ. For these, we pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.