This poor rich man lived in luxury, in a beautiful house, but with an unopened Bible.
We are reading and studying in Luke Chapter 16, where Jesus Christ is speaking about MONEY, and His theme is how we use or misuse our money, and Jesus takes this vitally important issue into an eternal dimension. This is such an important issue we must not rush through it.
Jesus tells us a devastating story. Is it a fact? Is it fiction? That does not really matter. It is true! Again, this week's study is slightly longer than I normally write, simply because this is a very difficult passage to divide and it ought not to be divided.
There was a certain rich man, dressed in purple, and fine linen, which means he wore expensive soft underwear, and everyday he enjoyed plenty of lavish food.
However, let's never be deceived by outward appearance. We can be so quickly and easily deceived by the flamboyant showy lifestyle of someone.
As we have seen in these earlier verses, Jesus was teaching about preparing for the future - investing in heaven - and using your money in spiritually responsible ways - so that when you die, you will possess true riches and have many friends.
This poor pathetic rich man was misusing and abusing his wealth. Here is a lesson from Jesus Christ on how not to use money. The world would probably applaud this man, and think he was good and successful in life, and probably would have liked to have received an invitation to attend one of his dinners or parties.
But, he was making no preparation for the future, just as many today are making absolutely no preparation whatsoever for the future.
Not far from his front door lay a poor beggar named Lazarus. Jesus names this beggar, and Lazarus is living in such misery. Every day Lazarus was carried to the rich man's gates. He was full of open running festering sores and ulcers, and the dogs came and licked these festering sores.
Remember, this is being told by Jesus and written by a doctor.
Lazarus would sit and wait for something from this rich man's table. They would eat with their fingers - wipe or dry their gravied hands on bread - and throw the bread onto the floor - and dear Lazarus waited for these gravied crumbs.
What a picture Jesus paints.
They both knew about each other, yet this rich man ignored this needy human being who suffered such humiliation and pain. O, Western World, in all your riches - in all your so-called prosperity - listen to Jesus - before it is too late.
The beggar died. He was carried by the angels to be with Abraham and all the Old Testament saints. Lazarus had been a man of faith. His name means, "God has been my help" - or - "Whom God aids". The man who had festered in this life is now feasting.
The rich man also died, but there were no angels around. He was buried, signifying a funeral procession with pomp and show - but where was he? In hell. He was not at peace - he was in pain. He was in torment, and he saw Abraham. He saw heaven. He saw Lazarus, and recognised Lazarus.
I'm sure nobody at the funeral would have thought that all this was going on.
Have you ever wondered at a funeral where the deceased is? Have you ever wondered at a funeral where you will be when people gather when you have died?
We survive death. After death we will still have feelings. Our senses continue to function. Jesus Christ is the only Person qualified to explain all this. Again, we see this teaching about hell comes from the lips of Jesus.
Who is pleading and begging now? The man who had had so much money, and who had been so well dressed, and who had been so well fed! He is begging Abraham to send Lazarus with a drop of water. There is no water in hell, but we read that there is a river in heaven with pure cool clear refreshing water.
When Pastor Richard Wurmbrand was in prison in Romania for 14 years for his faith in Christ, he would put his finger into his glass of water when he awoke each morning to reassure himself that he was NOT in hell.
Everybody in hell will know that there is a God, and will know that Jesus is the Son of God - but it will be too late. Someone has said that 'hell is truth known too late'.
This is the day to come to Jesus in repentance and faith.
Just who does this man think he is? It is as if he regards Lazarus some kind of servant - some message boy? Lazarus is now an inhabitant of heaven, and he is there for good - being comforted and blessed. He is a son of the Father in the Father's house.
O, poor rich man - it is now too late. You had your opportunities. You could have invested in heaven, and prepared for the future, and made many friends there, but because of what you did not do, you are where you are.
Abraham goes on to say, "There is a great gulf. There is a wide chasm, between us and you. No-one can come to you from us, and no-one can come to heaven from hell.
In this world we settle which side of the chasm we will be on in the next. Our future destination is settled by our relationship with Jesus Christ in this life. There will be a time when for some it will be too late.
Here is God's Love in such a beautiful way. No saved rescued forgiven persons safely led to heaven by the risen and living Lord Jesus Christ, can ever be lost or snatched away once they get there. It is a picture of total safety and security, and given by Jesus. And, no unconverted unrepenting sinners will be allowed to pollute and contaminate the pure clear clean brilliant atmosphere of heaven. That is how much God loves those who have accepted and received and obeyed Jesus Christ our Saviour and Lord.
A strange thing happens. In hell, the rich man suddenly becomes very religious, and he even begins to pray, and he even begins to get a missionary interest!
It is all too late. I wonder, Oh I wonder, how often this happens? Someone dies without Jesus and comes to see that his whole life has been just one big blunder, and it is too late to do anything about it. We will never know how often.
Sandy Shaw
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
Sandy Shaw
sandyshaw63@yahoo.com
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