Luke 16:19-31 / While there is still time...

There is a story Jesus told of a rich man who had all the finest clothes and all the food he could eat. While he “feasted sumptuously every day,” there was another man, Lazarus, who laid at his gate hoping to “be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table.”

Lazarus was poor, he had sores all over his body, and to add insult to injury, dogs would come and lick his sores. Socially and economically, he was the lowest of the low.

Two contrasting characters, two life experiences, and yet both died and left the earth. 

Lazarus, it says, was “carried by angels to Abraham’s side” – He went to Heaven to spend eternity with Christ.

The rich man though, went to Hades, in constant pain and torment. 

As a cruel twist in Hell, the rich man could look up and see Lazarus. The poor man, once a figure of ridicule, now sat in honor at Abraham’s side. 

In desperation, the rich man calls out, “‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ 

Abraham responds, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’

The roles have reversed, and a chasm separates the rich man from any relief. 

In desperation he cries again: ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

Unable to ease his own pain, the rich man begs for someone to warn his family in order that they might not experience the same fate.

Again, the answer is no. There are many on earth who can tell them how to receive salvation. Abraham says, “let them hear them.”

Audaciously, the rich man again cries – “‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 

To which Abraham replied, “’If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

If the rich man’s family ignores the opportunities to receive the Gospel from great prophets, rising from the dead won’t even save them. 

Here is what we can take away from this short little story from Jesus:

1. Earthly status is temporary, what really matters is our standing with Christ eternally. What we have waiting for us is glorious, making earthly struggles pale in comparison!

2. Hell seems like no place we would ever want to be. Once there, a “chasm” separates us from God for all eternity.  

3. If those who have died had a chance to speak to those alive, they would beg them to repent and turn to Christ. They missed their chance, they cannot warn them, their opportunity is lost.

4. While we have breath, there is still time to bring as many as we can into the Kingdom. If those below could speak to us, they would beg us to share the Gospel with their family, friends, co-workers. To spare them the pain they now know is real and devastating. 

Friends, we have a short window to share a message that could change someone’s eternity – why would we not use it to the fullest?

Let’s be bold, but not brash with the Gospel. Who do you need to share with this week?

Blessings,

Pastor Dave

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