You Reap What You Sow - Eternity Proves It!

[0:00] Take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 16. If you're visiting with us, go in the chair in front of you, the chair that's kind of next to in front of you, if that makes sense.

[0:15] Pull that black Bible out and go towards the back and find page 61. Page 61. Because we're going to study Luke 16, verses 19 through 31, the rest of the chapter.

[0:35] 16, 19. As always, I like to read the passage, then we'll do our study.

[0:47] I considered even memorizing this story like I did with the prodigal father. But I didn't do that, sorry.

[1:03] Verse 19. Now there was a certain rich man. And he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen.

[1:14] Garingly and evident splendor every day. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores. And longing to be fed with that which fell from the rich man's table.

[1:29] Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom.

[1:42] And the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom.

[1:54] And he 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 off my tongue.

[2:11] 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.

[2:22] But now he's being comforted here and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able.

[2:36] And then they cross over from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, that you send them to my father's house for I have five brothers.

[2:49] That you may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham 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.

[3:03] But he said to him, If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.

[3:19] The Islamic state. Formerly known as ISIS. You probably listened to that on the news, watched on news, video footage.

[3:29] ISIS. ISIS. Islamic state is an active jihadist militant group. It's taken over portions of Iraq and Syria.

[3:41] Their territory extends from Syria to northwestern Iraq. They have set up strict Sharia law to rule. And anyone who defies them will be killed.

[3:54] Or beheaded. Beheaded. Just this last week, Robin Williams committed suicide. There's riots in Ferguson, Missouri, where Michael Brown was killed.

[4:14] And a friend of my in-laws, a week after we got back from vacation, was brutally murdered. And then we have our passage today.

[4:29] Death. It's real. It's a part of life. And from our text, death is not the end.

[4:45] There truly is an afterlife. It's a part of life. Which makes the main theme of Luke's gospel so much more important. This main theme.

[4:57] To all outcasts, come follow Jesus. Who is He? He is the Messiah. He is God's servant. He is the Son of Man. Who is He? He is the Lord.

[5:10] Come follow Him. And you will find forgiveness of your sins. and from our passage this morning we see you must do this because your destiny after death depends upon it.

[5:25] You must take seriously what God is saying from His Word today. You must listen. He who has ears to hear, listen.

[5:38] Because your destiny after death depends upon it. Either a destiny of torment or a destiny of comfort. All of us must.

[5:52] All of us should respond to God's Word from the heart. Take this seriously. Do not slumber. Hear what's being said.

[6:04] Hear what's being said. Because your destiny depends upon it. This is the second major parable to teach on wealth that Jesus brings up.

[6:20] Contrasting the dependent Scripture-believing poor person who is helped by God and the callous Scripture-rejecting rich man. And you find out that the situation has become reversed.

[6:39] It's a warning. Possessing wealth now does not mean, first, one was blessed by God and second, that one will possess that wealth later. There's another call to those who would follow Jesus.

[6:54] Be generous with what you have. Meet the needs of those in need. Don't abuse the money that's been given to you. Be a good steward. Or in short, you will reap what you sow.

[7:09] If you sow toward eternal things, you will reap an eternal reward. If you sow toward earthly, temporary things, you will reap eternal torment.

[7:22] That's the way it is. Your heart will truly come out. Your heart comes out in your wallet. What you give.

[7:34] How generous you are in giving. It comes out. If you truly believe the Scriptures or you do not and you reject them. Now, there's major implications from our text this morning.

[7:48] And I'm just going to give them to you right off the bat. There's one, two, three, four. Four. Four implications from the passage. First, examine how you use your money.

[8:03] The passage will get us to think about examining and recognizing and thinking about how we use our money. Do you give generously? A second one.

[8:16] Realize there are consequences to being callous to those in great need. There's consequences to that. Third, know that judgment is permanent.

[8:27] Don't be fooled. Don't be fooled by the people saying, oh, I died and I saw this this white light. It was coming to me.

[8:38] Don't be fooled. Don't be fooled. Judgment is permanent. Eternal bliss is permanent, too. Examine how you use your money.

[8:52] Realize there's consequences of being callous to those in great need. Third, know that judgment is permanent. Don't be fooled. And fourth, understand that God's word is sufficient.

[9:05] The gospel is sufficient. And a person, this goes along with the fourth one, a person not listening to the word is unable to respond to God through Jesus, even if there's a miraculous event.

[9:21] You need a heart change. That's what you need. It goes back to your heart. Because what's in your heart will soon come out in your actions.

[9:33] What's in your heart will soon come out in your words and actions. If someone rejects God's word, even one who returns from the dead will not convince that one to trust Jesus, changing how they live their life.

[9:52] It won't happen. It won't. That's why that fourth one is a key aspect.

[10:05] Understanding God's word is sufficient. In fact, this goes on with that. The key aspect, God's word is totally and absolutely sufficient. people need a major heart change because they are callous and hard-hearted to God and His word.

[10:24] They are. Unless God moves in the heart of individuals, no one would be saved. God must act. Now let's talk a little bit about this parable and then we'll go into it.

[10:42] Or is this a parable? Is this a real story? Is this a real story? Well, it definitely stands out from the rest of Jesus' parables for different reasons, one of which, the only time, is the only time Jesus named an individual in his stories.

[11:00] Lazarus. So this is a real story. It's better to see this as an example story.

[11:12] non-historical event, but kind of like the story of the Good Samaritan. It's representative. In other words, it gives, excuse me, this example story gives details about the afterlife as graphic portrayals of it.

[11:32] Not necessarily literal info about the conditions of the afterlife. afterlife. Now, I'm not saying there is no afterlife or that there is no place like Hades.

[11:46] One writer put it like this, quote, the conversations are simply part of the stories literally means to depict the great chasm in the afterlife, end quote, between the righteous and the wicked.

[11:58] And this separation, it will be permanent. These are real places. So again, it gives details about the afterlife as graphic portrayals of it.

[12:15] Not necessarily literal information. Is it about Abraham's bosom literally being there? Not necessarily. We'll get into what that means in just a moment.

[12:29] One of the major points that Jesus is trying to make in this context is that a follower of Jesus will live generously. The Pharisees, they loved the money.

[12:43] And they pride themselves in knowing and abiding by God's law. Oh, we know the law. So they should have embraced Jesus because Jesus was taught about by Moses and the prophets.

[12:58] They spoke of Him and how to live because of Him. But they rejected Jesus. So they were rejecting the Old Testament. So they were rejecting everything that goes along with Jesus.

[13:11] So the challenge, use your money generously because you will be held accountable to God in how you use it. This ethic that Jesus taught was present already in Moses and the prophets.

[13:23] It's nothing new. So let's walk. Let's walk through the story now. Notice verse 19.

[13:36] A certain rich man, officially dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. an anonymous, rich Jewish man, ate well, fancily clothed.

[13:51] Purple clothes, they came from dye derived from snails. And they're really, really expensive. He celebrated his life with daily parties and feasts, having a good time.

[14:07] Total comfort and ease like many celebrities today or many politicians today. A life of comfort. This rich man, he had all he wanted and more.

[14:22] A life of enjoyable ease is what he had faced. And what's more, he was only living for himself. He had no one else in mind. He lived like a king.

[14:38] 20 and 21. And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores and longing to be fed with that which fell from the rich man's table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.

[14:52] See, the rich man, everything he has, everything he wants, the major contrast is Lazarus, which means, his name means, he whom God helps.

[15:07] It's, you know, he was dependent upon God. He was known by God and he knew God. He was a pious, faithful servant who believed God's word. That's what is meant by just his very name, Lazarus.

[15:23] Again, the only time that Jesus names someone in his story. And by the way, it also indicates that the rich man knew who Lazarus was too.

[15:35] He knew his name. He was not some stranger to the rich man. Which gives greater weight to the story. There should be generous giving specifically to those that we know.

[15:51] But notice, since he was very poor, lying at the rich man's gate covered with sores, longing just to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the table. So it seems like Lazarus was crippled in some way.

[16:05] Maybe he was too old to move because of his hunger or because there was some physical impairment that he had. Whatever the case was, he was in a desperate situation.

[16:19] He moaned for just the leftovers. Oh, we hate the leftovers, don't we, in the fridge? Let's make something new. And it piles up.

[16:31] He just wanted the leftovers. Meaning, that he wanted it, but most likely he received nothing from the rich man.

[16:44] The rich man did not see Lazarus suffering as something very serious. as he suffered from sores, surface ulcers, or abscesses, which is contrasted from the rich man's fine clothing.

[17:09] Lazarus was as desperate and tragic as the rich man was full and comforted and ease. Let's mention, wild dogs would lick his sores, which would infect him and leave him ceremonially unclean.

[17:31] Now, when we think of dogs, they're not positive animals. Like, oh, look, he's little, little, Fluffy coming. Come here, Fluffy, come lick my sores. You know. What's it like that?

[17:43] You know, wild dogs, wild dogs. It wasn't positive animals. There were negative animals. People looked down on that. He was a complete outcast.

[17:55] Destitute. So people, people would conclude, oh, the rich man, he's blessed by God. And when that Lazarus, he's receiving God's judgment.

[18:08] He suffered alone. He was in silence. Awful circumstances. He was neglected, helpless. He received more compassion from dogs than from people.

[18:23] Verse 22. Time passes. Time passes. Came about. The poor man died and was carried away. Was he buried? Was there a burial for Lazarus?

[18:37] And he was brought to Abraham's bosom by the angels. This is a common Jewish image that Jesus uses here. But why? Why describe it?

[18:49] Carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. Why describe it as Abraham's bosom? Why is that? Why does he use that? What does this denote? What does this mean? Why Abraham's bosom?

[19:01] It was a place of blessing. That's what it stood for. It represented receiving of the faithful, believing, righteous into heaven. It was bliss for him. He went from lonely, suffered, to blessed, saints.

[19:20] Embraced by the most important patriarch of Jewish history. It displayed intimate fellowship. That's why Jesus uses this image to display what's happening here.

[19:32] He's in bliss. There's intimate fellowship. This is awesome. And the rich man also died and was buried.

[19:44] Which changed everything. No more great feasts with expensive clothes. Extravagance counted for nothing now. The wealth meant nothing in Hades where he faced torment.

[19:58] And in Hades he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. Verse 23.

[20:08] Now, I first want to deal with and he saw Abraham and Lazarus. And then we'll talk about Hades. Okay? He saw Abraham and Lazarus in his bosom. And we might say, well, what?

[20:20] Why are they? How could he see them? This is a definite Jewish flavor in the story. Because the righteous and the unrighteous could see each other. Jesus mentioned this earlier in Luke 13.

[20:31] Verse 28. Which, by the way, shows that the rich man knew Lazarus. He knew who he was.

[20:43] He recognized him. It wasn't so, uh, some guy named Lazarus. I don't know. He knew who he was. He was in Hades, though, this rich man.

[20:55] Now, let's talk about Hades. What is this? Obviously, a place of torment. Is this the Old Testament equivalent to Sheol?

[21:08] Maybe. Uh, in the Old Testament, Sheol has two meanings. Sheol can mean just simply death, or it could mean hell, depending on the context. And, even in the New Testament, it's hard to tell if Hades was a separate place from Gehenna.

[21:24] Sometimes those, people take those as the same thing, sometimes they separate them. What you do know in the New Testament, though, is Hades was not a place for the saved.

[21:37] It definitely was a place of punishment. So, whichever it was, is this, is this Sheol? Is this Gehenna? Whatever it was, Lazarus wasn't there.

[21:50] That's what we know. But the rich man was. So, the point now, is that the rich man was suffering terribly from judgment, but Lazarus was enjoying great blessing and comfort.

[22:06] That's the point. Now, though we may be unsure what exactly is meant by these certain statements, some things are for sure. The dead are quickly conscious of their fate.

[22:21] It reflects true reality, but not necessarily something literally. So, we can't press the details too far. We can't push those details too far, but, what we do know is, both knew where they were and could feel pain or enjoyment.

[22:40] They could feel something. The rich man was in constant torment from heat and Lazarus was comforted. So, there's feeling, there's blessing, there's torture.

[22:56] That's happening. That's real. That's real. Notice how the story continues. Verse 24.

[23:06] And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, there's the kingship. You're my father. I'm a Jew.

[23:17] I'm a Jewish man facing eternal torment. Have mercy on me. And so Lazarus and he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my toe for I am in agony in this flame.

[23:29] This tells us a lot, folks. First, the rich man wanted to change his circumstances. So he made a request to cool me off with just a small drop of water because he was in terrible agony from the flame.

[23:50] Notice the flame when he wasn't being burned up. You see that? And isn't it ironic?

[24:01] He didn't notice Lazarus on earth. But he notices him now. Which made his neglect of him on earth even worse.

[24:18] He appealed to the aid of the poor man. And what's worse, he still thought of Lazarus as lower than him. Nothing's changed. There was almost an air of arrogance in his request.

[24:30] He can do this for me. Send them to me to do this. Are you kidding me? A small request.

[24:43] But remember what Lazarus desired from you? There were no crumbs for Lazarus once there.

[24:54] there will be no water for you rich man. And the difference is this. There's no hope of reversal.

[25:08] His fate had been sealed by his actions. There's no escape. It's done. Now Jesus through Abraham would explain the final reversal that had taken place.

[25:27] Verse 25. Abraham said, Child. Notice Abraham was tender. Called him child. But firm. During your life you received good things.

[25:39] Remember that? Remember the good things you received? And likewise Lazarus had bad things but now he's being covered in here and you are in agony.

[25:52] You received your good things and your life self-indulgence. Remember that? Now you're in agony. In continual pain and grief. And now he's comforted.

[26:05] Lazarus went from suffering to bliss. in the afterlife their fate had been reversed from what they had in this earthly life.

[26:16] In short the rich man was reaping what he sowed. His lack of mercy and compassion resulted in poverty and no mercy in the afterlife.

[26:28] This is punishment. This is what Jesus spoke about in Luke 6 verse 20 when Jesus says bless all the poor for yours is the kingdom of God.

[26:42] Verse 24 won't you rich for you receive your comfort in full right now. What Jesus spoke about in chapter 16 verse 9 about being generous and giving blessing.

[26:58] Look a true disciple of Jesus has the mark of generosity. You're generous. You just love to give. But this rich man was consumed with his own joy his own leisure his own comfort failing to respond to the needs of others just like the Pharisees.

[27:24] But I'm a Jew I should be in heaven. Abraham as the Jews said right Abraham he's there oh these people are going to hell you're going to hell oh there's a Jew I pluck him out oh there's another Jew pluck him out notice this rich man Jewish rich man was not being plucked out.

[27:46] if one is generous one will be prepared in the life to come. Now understand what's being said here by Jesus it's not simply a matter of rich people giving away their money and they'll gain eternal life.

[28:01] It stems from a heart changed a changed heart ready to follow God and his word. You can see that Abraham's going to mention that.

[28:12] You trust God and his word you're faithful to God and his word that's what Lazarus was. What about you rich man? Follow Jesus and be different.

[28:27] 26 not to mention between us and you there's a great chasm fixed sovereignly fixed boundaries that can't be crossed no one from either place can pass from one area to the other.

[28:42] The righteous and the unrighteous one ever mixed in the afterlife. Friends this is a very important point that Abraham brings up Jesus brings up through Abraham right here verse 26 how we respond to God today in this life will determine where we will be in the next life.

[29:04] If you do not respond to Jesus then it will have detrimental effects upon you forever. There are no second chances. You cannot be saved after death it will be too late.

[29:19] Death is upon us. It's all around us. And yet we Americans it's bypassed it. It's around us here.

[29:35] If you're not a Christian here this morning I implore you respond to Jesus. you deserve God's judgment because he is your creator and you should worship him and you don't.

[29:49] Turn from your sin and put your trust in Jesus who lived died and rose. You can be saved. Put all your trust and all your hope in Jesus.

[30:02] The only one who can save you because he's the one who lived where you failed miserably. He's the one who died where you should face eternal agony. And he rose that you could be raised a new life too.

[30:14] Why won't you come? Facing the fact that his own situation was hopeless.

[30:26] The rich man appealed. 27. He said that I beg you father that you send him to my father's house where I have five brothers that you may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment.

[30:38] Friends, this is huge as well. He appealed on behalf of his family members. Whoa! First time you think about somebody else other than himself. Hey!

[30:50] Although it's only just family. Okay. What's interesting, the very position that Jesus took was being advocated by the rich man suffering in Hades.

[31:04] He now spoke as one who had made a fatal mistake. I've made a fatal mistake. He wanted to help others avoid the same mistake that he did. Though, notice, he still did not repent.

[31:17] Do you see that? And he knew it was futile now. Do you see that? The state that he was in is irreversible.

[31:27] some realizations they come too late. What a tragedy. Again, if you're not a Christian, don't end up like this rich man who realized it too late.

[31:40] Don't do that. He wanted to warn others, but still saw Lazarus as a servant.

[31:53] Way to go, rich man. go from the dead to communicate to my five brothers and warn them of this place, maybe through a vision, a dream, a resurrection.

[32:05] I don't know. However it happened, he still had a sense of superiority to Lazarus. He said, Lazarus, do that, do that. Lazarus. And apparently his five brothers shared in the same philosophy as the rich man.

[32:22] They were out for themselves. How nice. They don't believe God's word through Moses and the prophets. Warn them of this place. You realize the rich man's belief, or lack thereof, about God's word is being revealed right now?

[32:40] By this very statement, by his very request, his belief, or lack of belief, about God's word is being revealed. Do you see it? You realize what he's implying?

[32:56] If someone had given me all the information, I would have reacted differently. I really would have believed. That's what he's implying.

[33:08] I wasn't treated fairly. I wasn't given all the information. Nobody told me all of this stuff. If someone had given me all the info, I would have reacted differently.

[33:26] Something needs to happen with my five brothers. Verse 29. God's word is sufficient. Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets.

[33:38] Let them hear them. let your brothers hear Moses and the prophets. God's word is sufficient. So warning from someone who died is not necessary.

[33:53] God already spoke about this in his word. And notice, word here, the word, when I say word, I'm talking about the word, I'm talking about Moses and the prophets, which means what?

[34:05] The Old Testament. Testament. We're not talking about New Testament right now. Old Testament, folks. What does the Old Testament tell us?

[34:16] Pay attention to the word. Pay attention to God. Be merciful. Love God and love others. See your sinfulness. Turn to God, cry out to mercy in the coming Messiah.

[34:31] That's Old Testament, man. That's all Old Testament. This is important for two reasons. First, this means that salvation could come to a person solely through the Old Testament.

[34:49] And two, we have the completed canon. We don't just got the Old Testament, we have the old and the new. How much more is God's word sufficient for us?

[35:03] Friends, listen, Christian, be assured that in our evangelism, God's word is sufficient. When you give someone the gospel, God's word is sufficient.

[35:14] When you talk to them about Jesus, God's word is sufficient. When they say to you, oh, those are just words. How did somebody in Jerome tell me that? Oh, those are just words. How do you know those are words or God's word? God's word is sufficient.

[35:27] Let's say it together. God's word is sufficient. Let's say it again. God's word is sufficient. It is. When you proclaim this gospel, that's sufficient.

[35:41] You don't need a resurrection from the dead. You don't need someone to go to hell and back. You need to hear the word.

[35:53] The brothers, they can hear the word and respond to God through the warning of Moses and the prophets. They must be willing to submit their wills to God's call upon the individual from their heart to believe this word.

[36:13] That's what Abraham was telling him. That's what Abraham was telling this rich man. No, man. No. Think of Moses and the prophets. They must submit their wills to God's call upon the individual.

[36:24] From the Old Testament. Over there. To submit to God. And to trust in him. They got those and prophets. They should know that.

[36:39] When one responds to Jesus, when one responds to the good news, that one will be more sensitive to others. That one will love God and love others. That will happen to them.

[36:51] And listen, this ability to respond to Jesus only comes by the power of the mighty power of the Holy Spirit regenerating the heart of the person. It's the only way it's going to happen. But the rich man disagrees.

[37:09] They start to argue with Abraham. I don't know a father of Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. No, Moses and the prophets, they're not enough.

[37:22] Because I didn't listen to them. Oh, and now the truth comes out, eh? There's a little window to his heart.

[37:34] We're looking through the window. There's something greater than God's message to his servants of prophets. A sign from the afterlife is much more convincing and effective than the word of God.

[37:47] That's what he's saying. But oh, how wrong he was. He was. He was. He was. He was. He was. He was. He was. He was. One writer puts it like this, quote, the only sign that people need is the preached call to repent.

[38:02] God's revelation of his will and his call to love others should be enough. End quote. It's enough. Heed this message.

[38:18] Notice, he was subtly excusing himself. I should have had more information. Nobody told me about this.

[38:29] What's going on? He sounds like a guy in the price is right. What's going on? Why do I do it like this? I don't know. So you see, I agree with Abraham.

[38:42] Notice, verse 31. No, no, no, you got it backwards, son. If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, neither would it be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.

[38:55] Abraham disagreed with the witch man and corrected him. Even resurrection will not lead to belief. If one fails to believe Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament, and it shows the heart of that person, their will is enslaved and they need a change.

[39:17] look, friends, empirical evidence doesn't make people believe. I'm going to show people evidence of creation.

[39:30] I'm going to show people evidence of the fall. I'm going to show people that Jesus really lived. I'm going to show people the evidence that Jesus really resurrected from the dead. I'm going to show them all this different evidence, but that's not going to make them believe.

[39:46] It won't make them believe. They must submit to Jesus and the evidence pointing to Jesus.

[39:59] It's not about evidence. It's about this. It's about the heart. It's about the will. They are unwilling. It's not about evidence.

[40:12] They need a heart change. a heart that responds to God is the need, not more evidence that the afterlife really does exist.

[40:25] Their eyes must be open. Friends, the Bible is all we need. The Bible is all we need. You realize what Abraham is implying, right?

[40:41] Abraham here in verse 31, he's implying something to this rich man. He's implying this. Your situation rich man was not due to not enough info, but because you neglected to heed scripture.

[40:56] The reason for your damnation, he rejected the scriptures and the Lord and with worse, he did not think his rejection would land him in the hell. Rejecting the truth will land you into hell.

[41:09] If you reject the truth this morning, you will land yourself into hell. It's just the way it is. Supernatural wonders by themselves are not enough.

[41:20] Notice how this begs the need for a heart change from God. man. If this rich man didn't listen, then neither would a sign from heaven do it. That's what the Jews, give us a sign from heaven, Jesus.

[41:35] Give us a sign out of heaven, then we'll believe. what did they say to Jesus when he was on the cross? Come down from the cross and they will believe. Liars.

[41:47] They wouldn't. Jesus could have said, okay, that's it, I'm done. Comes off the cross, all these angels, all the people, would all do that, right? Would they believe at that point?

[41:59] Nope. Seriously, Jesus could have done that. That's it, I'm done. Everything, all his glory. What? What people believe, they go, no. That's what happened.

[42:13] It would be a great movie, wouldn't it? What if this happened? And notice the conditional sentence that Abraham gets here. He says, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.

[42:32] They don't listen to Moses and the prophets, and they don't. neither will they believe if a resurrection should come, not just a visit. See, the rich man implied a visit from Lazarus.

[42:49] Abraham goes farther and says, a resurrection. Well, why does he do this? Because Abraham's statement in the story alludes to someone's resurrection.

[43:03] Whose resurrection is he alluding to? Jesus' resurrection. That's what he's doing. That's how Jesus is doing this. How one responds to previous revelation determines how one responds to Jesus.

[43:15] Look, if you reject the Old Testament, then you reject Jesus. To reject Jesus, to reject the Old Testament. To reject his teachings, reject the Old Testament. If you reject the Old Testament, reject Jesus.

[43:27] Abraham testified to Christ's resurrection. He's testifying to that. Right here. If one does not respond to Jesus right now, then one will not respond to him after he rises from the dead.

[43:43] Jesus already came from the other side. I want somebody to come from the other side. Then I'll believe. Jesus already did that. Do you believe him? No. See? See? I'm only going to believe if someone comes back from the dead.

[43:57] Well, Jesus already did it. I just, wait, you just asked and I told you. I'm confused. I'm sorry. They won't.

[44:08] They still rejected him. One writer says this, quote, if a man, says Jesus, cannot be humane with the Old Testament in his hand and Lazarus on his doorstep, nothing, neither a visitant from the other world, nor revelation of the horrors of hell will teach him otherwise.

[44:29] End quote. You heard of that book, right? By this guy who went to hell and back? There's some book this guy went to hell and back. Why? I doubt he did that.

[44:40] I seriously doubt he did that. Maybe he had a really bad dream or he had really bad enchiladas the night before or something like that. I don't know. Really bad fish tacos. He didn't go to hell and back.

[44:51] Even if he did, like that's really going to make a difference. Oh, I believe now. Yeah. He didn't believe before. But you know what's interesting?

[45:04] There's huge irony from this verse. Because the listeners of Jesus, that Jesus is speaking to right now, at this part, part in first century, and then us, as the readers, we are actually hearing the testimony of someone from the dead.

[45:26] Do you get that? We're hearing the testimony of someone from the dead, the rich man. Something the brothers in the story were denied.

[45:42] So, here's your choice. Will you respond to Jesus? Will you embrace him and his teaching? Will you, a person who's not a Christian today, come to Jesus Christ and be saved?

[45:55] Your destiny after death depends upon it. Stop messing around. Do it. Give your life to Christ. You have no idea what will happen to you from now to tomorrow.

[46:11] You have no idea. Christian, Christian, will you respond today? Will you be generous with your money, your possessions, your belongings, your stuff, ready to give?

[46:26] Or will you be selfish and stingy? Be warned, that shows your true heart. If we are selfish and stingy, maybe that's really showing where our hearts are really at with Christ.

[46:43] And we don't want nothing to do with him. I gave you in the beginning, the message, the four implications. I'm going to end with those same four implications at this time.

[46:58] It's kind of like a summary. Okay? So we talk about examining how you use your money. If you use material wealth for your own pleasures, no generosity, no mercy, you don't truly believe God's reward, you may be fooling yourself.

[47:13] Faith works. True faith acts. Second, be mindful that your fate in the afterlife can't be changed unless you respond differently to Jesus in this present life.

[47:29] Judgment upon people will be permanent. Choices in life have eternal consequences. They do. Third, how one responds to Jesus is how one responds to the Old Testament.

[47:43] he fulfilled the righteousness in the Old Testament that's demanded upon God's creation. And he gives those who trust in him, he gives him his righteousness and his power to live rightly.

[48:00] That's amazing. Fourth, summary. A responsive heart listens to God's message. Recognize your need to repent so as to find forgiveness of sins, grace, and peace.

[48:17] You receive his righteousness in relation with God through Jesus. Admitting your need of Jesus will bring true compassion from the Father. Don't reject this message today.

[48:31] Respond from the heart today. You respond from the heart today to God's word. Take a few moments. A few moments of silence. I like to do that so you can think and ponder.

[48:44] Take a few moments to think and ponder about God's word. A moment of silence for you to think about what is said in his word. And then we'll do our time of giving.

[48:56] We'll sing our last two songs and have our closing prayer. Think about, pray through what you've heard because your destiny depends upon it. Thank you.

[49:07] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.