Walking On Thin Ice

Amen. You guys can be seated.

We're going to work our way progressively in the body of the sermon today through Luke 16, verses 19 through 31. We'll be looking at some of the contrasting elements there, and the challenge that goes on there.

I got the thinking back of an incident that happened in Lorenzo when I was, I think I was seven years old. My oldest brother, Michael, there were six of us boys, and my oldest brother, Michael, one of the traditions in our family was on Christmas day of your senior year in high school, you got a new car. My dad had to buy six cars. How he did that financially, I'll never figure that out. I don't know how he did that. Because I had a twin brother, and so 1968 Christmas day, there were two cars sitting out on the driveway that morning. How he financially did that back then, I have no clue.

But my brother, Michael, ten years older than me, he got, and I think it was kind of an orange pink is the color of that day, big old Plymouth. They looked like army tanks back then. It even had the wheel in the trunk. You remember, you've seen those things when you look back at old cars. They even had the wheels and had the big old fins on the back. It was a big old chunk of a car. Just west of Lorenzo, right after Christmas, we had a hard, hard freeze.

There's a little lake called Shirley Lake. Really, it's a pond. When you're leaving Lorenzo, going toward Lubbock on 82, off to the left was a big little pond out there.

Supposedly, it completely froze over. All the high school kids were out there. He was a senior in high school. He was out there with the group. Somebody had a little Volkswagen. They got in their Volkswagen, and they just twirled around out there on that ice. He thought, I'll just put my car out there.

He drove out there with that tank. Right in the middle, all of a sudden, there was water underneath, and that ice began to crack. That car sunk. I mean, a brand new car. I can remember them coming up to the house and getting my dad. Of course, everybody in town, a little town, everybody's out there watching this. They go get tractors.

Finally, a caterpillar from the city had to come hook the tractors. Everything had pulled his car out. I remember my brother Michael. We were out there. It was freezing cold, but we went, too. My mother took us out there, and we're standing there. My brother Michael said to my dad, how are you going to get that chain hooked to that car?

You're going swimming, son. That's how we're going to hook that chain to that car. You're taking a dive. Sure enough, he had to dive down there and hook that chain up to the front end of that car. They drug that car out of that water.

I've entitled my sermon today Walking on Thin Ice. Maybe we ought to call it Driving on Thin Ice. I looked up some of the synonyms for this phrase, and you'll recognize these. Walking a tight line. On shaky ground. You ever been on shaky ground? In hot water.

This one I really like. Tempting fate. Tempting fate. Courting disaster. Playing a dangerous ground. You know, my dad, after that car sank, if we were ever on the brink of disobeying, you been there growing up? Just on the brink of disobeying, he would warn us by saying this.

Remember your older brother? You're walking on thin ice. You know, that registered on me, even when I was a teenager. That registered on me when my dad would say that to me. One of his favorites was this, and I bet some of you guys have heard this. You're fixing to cross that line, and you're not going to like what's on the other side. You ever said that to your kid?

You're fixing to cross that line, and you're not going to like what's on the other side of this. When I was parenting, I would think about that statement often in my disciplinary style. I'd think about my dad. And you know, his motive for warning me was unquestionable. It was pure and simple. It was love in its best form. His reasoning was proactive.

He wanted to spare us from severe consequences. You been there as a parent, hadn't you? His warning was truthful. He wanted to save us from actions of harsh judgment. I've been reading a book this last week by J.D.

Walt. He's one of the guys that I follow in a devotional study every morning. J.D. has written a book for Lent, and in preparation for Lent, I'm reading his book. In one of the devotionals, he entitled it On Pulling the Alarm in Church. He tells this story about how he is a prankster, and he always wanted to pull the fire alarm in church. That's a fireman show up at the church to bring on the idea of warning to his congregation. He said, I never did that, but he said, when I was a chaplain at Seminary at Asbury, I got the guts to do it.

One day in Seminary Chapel, all the fire department from Wilmore shows up ready to put out a fire because the warning had gone off. In the parable that we're gonna study this morning, the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus is pulling the fire alarm in the very temple of fraudulent Judaism. He is fulfilling the prophecy in Joel, chapter 2, verse 1. Listen to it. Blow a trumpet in Zion and sound an alarm on my holy mountain. Let all the inhabitants of the Lord, of the land tremble for the day of the Lord is coming. Indeed is near.

Now, is that not a prophetic word? Blow the trumpets. Sound the alarm. Just like my dad, his motive is pure. His reasoning is proactive. His warning is prophetic. Jesus is warning these Pharisees that they're walking on thin ice, that they're fixing to cross that line to the point of no return.

Kubi asked me this morning, said, we've been walking through this thing and we spent two weeks on divorce. What the Bible says about divorce. And he asked me, you gonna preach on divorce again today? I said, no, I get to preach on hell today. You know, Jesus talked about hell and heaven and money more than anything else in the New Testament. And he talked a lot about hell. You know, breaking that ice, crossing that line.

He warned these Pharisees that their crooked ways like the unrighteous manager, we saw that at the beginning of chapter 16, didn't we? And their love of money. And their most incriminating fault, the rewriting of scripture. Boy, that's contemporary today, isn't it? Let's just reconstruct the Bible so that it kind of goes along with how we think and not what it says. Their self-justification, their self-indulgence and lack of compassion would set in place, Jesus was telling them, everlasting consequences. It's the law of reaping.

What you sow. Do you hear that? That's a biblical principle. You're going to reap what you sow. And the warning is, it does not have to be that way. You are still, listen to me, you are still a living, breathing person. It doesn't have to be that way.

You can get eternity right in the here and now. Hear what I'm saying? In this parable of the rich man and Lazarus, Jesus is blowing that trumpet.

Wake up, sinners, wake up. Wake up, you Pharisees. Look and see what you're doing. You know, you've heard it said that hell is full of religious people. People that were basing their faith on themselves. They were religious, religious legalistic people. But they had it all wrong.

In the unfolding scenes of this drama, this parable, Jesus shows the disparity of life, the disparity of death, and here's the best thing, the prophetic challenge. A graceful word of prevention to get it right. Guys, I'm gonna tell you right now, God never intended for somebody to spend eternity separated from him. That is not God's divine intentions. God's divine intentions is all, for all of us, is that we live under the grace of God in the presence of the Holy One. So in these unfolding scenes of this drama, Jesus shows these three things, the disparity of life, the disparity of death, and the prophetic challenge to get it right. So let's go to the movies for just a second.

Let's go look at this story. Let's sit ourselves down in the movie house and watch these. Scene one, the revealing contrast. The revealing contrast are all about this life. Look at your Bibles, verses 19 through 21. Now there was a certain rich man and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in the splendor of everyday. Now that guy's living it up, isn't he?

And a certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate. This rich man lived... He lived in a huge compound, a huge mansion and it had an entrance gate. You know, you can go over here to Orchard Park, lives right behind the area where we live, and a lot of those houses will have gates that have to open in order for you to get in to their drives. A certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sewers and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table. And besides, besides all of this, even the dogs were coming and licking his sewers. Well now, is that not a graphic illustration and picture?

Jesus is such a master of telling stories. He's painting for us a portrait that depicts the tragedy, the tragic disparity of life by the law of contrast. His contrast is between the no-named rich man. Did you notice that? The rich man had no name. We'll talk about that in a minute. And the named poor man, Lazarus, this poor, crippled, sick, sore-infested man is named Lazarus.

So let's identify some of these contrasts real quick. A certain rich man, a certain poor man. I think the word certain is put there because it's identifying a specific group of people, a group that live this way, a group of poor people that live this way. A certain rich man, a certain poor man, a rich man with no name, no name. Let me give you an indication of that. We'll see in scene two where this rich man is spending eternity and it's in hell. There's no need for names in hell because there's no relationships in hell.

You don't need a name. There's no identity. There's torment and agony. Poor man with a name, Lazarus. You know where the word, the root word for Lazarus comes from?

Eleazar. And you know what that means? God helps me.

You see that contrast? The no name man and the man being helped by God. The rich man is royalty.

He's dressed in purple. They talk about the color purple in that day. Actually Lydia sold purple. It was seashells that were ground up and were made into purple. And it was a very expensive color to buy, a color, a dye. It was very expensive. He was dressed in purple.

And it says fine linen. Most biblical commentators say when it's referring to fine linen here, it's talking about the best cotton in the world that was produced in Egypt at that time. Egyptian cotton made fine linen. The poor man is a crippled beggar. And I'm going to guarantee you he wasn't dressed in purple or fine linen. At best he had rags draped around him. Laid at the gate and covered in sores.

You see the contrast? One of royalty and one of dishonor. That had nothing. There was nothing royal about this poor man. The rich man is living life to the maximum.

Gaily living the Bible says. He does not have a care in the world. Nor could he care about others. You need to hear that. Nor could he care about others. He went in and out of that gate. And he saw Lazarus over and over and over.

And ignored him. In fact he never saw him probably. Because he just. You ever seen that? You ever done that? You saw somebody in need and you just. You just turned a blind eye to it?

This rich man could care less. About anybody but himself. He's filthy rich and he could buy it all. He's totally self indulgent. Living life to the fullness and partying to the max. The poor man is barely alive. He is starving to death.

Hoping to just be given the crumbs. That fall to the floor under the rich man's feasting table. Which at that time because of the openness of those mansions. The dogs that ran wild were free to come and go. And lick the crumbs under the table. Maybe the poor man was simply hoping. He could pull a crumb off the dogs that were licking his wounds.

You see that picture? Maybe I can. You know we have a schnauzer. And when he eats he gets dirty right here. And we have to clean his little beard underneath here.

Kim cleans him all the time. And maybe the poor man was just hoping. He could gather crumbs from the dogs that were licking his wounds. Before we move to the next scene. The great reversal. The contrast there. Let me remind you of two things about these two men.

And what they had in common. Number one. They were both children of Abraham.

They were both children of Abraham. They were connected. They were community. They were brothers.

With Abraham. The lineage was there. Do you see what I'm saying there? Both of them come from that background.

One is poor. One is rich. And yet there's no connection between them.

I've seen a lot of churches like that.

You know, the church of God is to be a community of faith. Where no one is isolated from grace. Where we intertwine and mix and mingle. And pray and hurt and correct and rub elbows together.

Rich and poor. I remember when I got out of seminary. One of the things they were teaching was how to grow churches. And they talked about homogeneous groups. Remember that? And what that meant was. Where churches grow when they attract people who are just like them.

And I struggled with that because I didn't see that in the Bible. I didn't see that. If you were a millionaire church. Then all you could attract was millionaires. If you're a middle class church. Then all you attracted was middle class. The community of faith that I saw in scripture.

Was one that connected all people together. The poor and the rich. The needy and those that were without need. That they all became a community of faith together.

Making sure that needs were being met across the body of Christ. You know the issue of taking care of widows.

That became an issue in the early church. And what did they do? They formed a group to take care of those needs. I love it today when I walk into churches today. Where I see integration that's taking place.

Red, yellow, black and white. It doesn't matter. They're all together.

You know I grew up prominently in a white church.

I can remember when we were living in Sudan.

When kids from other racial groups were intertwining with our youth group. And I had one parent ask me, do you think that's healthy?

I went, not only do I think it's healthy. I think it's biblical. I think it's right.

God just sees people. He sees people. Johnny Ray Watson and I used to go to a lot of revivals together. Johnny Ray was a big 6'8 black all state basketball player.

And I was a scrawny 5'4 white guy. And he'd always talk about his vanilla friend, Carrie. Now he and I were great sinners together in high school. And got converted and became great brothers in Christ together. Do you hear what I'm saying there? I'm not preaching a social gospel. I'm preaching the gospel that says that God loves all people.

And that the church should embrace all people. Poor, rich, sick, healthy. That we should build community with all people. That we are obligated to help those that need help. That's our calling. That is part of the gospel. I want you to see that there.

Also, they would both face death.

Do you see that? They both would die. The poor man would die. And the rich man would die. Guys, you're not going to get out of this world alive unless the Lord just comes back and picks you up. It's 100% most of us are going to die. Whether you're rich or poor.

God doesn't look at your bank account. Most of us are going to die, aren't we? Unless we're just jerked up at the rapture.

Scene two. The great reversal. The reversal contrasts are all about the other side of the grave.

The afterlife. Look at verses 23 through 25. Now, it came about that the poor man died. And he was carried away by the angels of Abraham's bosom. He was carried away to heaven. And the rich man died and was buried. And in Hades, hell, he lifted up his eyes being in torment.

And he saw Father Abraham far away. And Lazarus at his bosom. You see who's connected? Abraham and Lazarus. And he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. I'm part of the lineage. Have mercy on me and send Lazarus.

I kind of laugh when I see that. He still sees Lazarus as somebody that's below him. One that ought to be serving him. Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue.

For I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, listen to this. Child, remember. It's interesting he used the word child there, agony. I know who you are. And I know that you're a part of the lineage. Remember that during your life, you received good things.

And likewise, Lazarus bad things. Now we could talk all day long about that. I'm not going there and breaking that down. But now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. You see that reversal? Here's some of the contrasting reversals. The poor man is honored by the angels carrying him to heaven.

Does it say anything about a burial? That they had a funeral for him? When the poor man died, the very angel of God came and got him. His flight is an ascension of healing. Remember when the 10 lepers came to Jesus? And Jesus says to them, go back to the priests and show yourselves to the priests. And it talks about, and as they were going, they were healed.

I'm going to tell you, this poor man, as he's making his flight, as ascending into Abraham's bosom, healing is taking place. He is being healed in the journey. And it says, and his comfort was a clothing of righteousness. Guys, there is no shabby rags in heaven.

Hear what I'm saying? When I die and go to heaven, I will be dressed in the righteousness of Christ. I will be clothed in his clothing. I will be covered by his blood. I'll be royalty, won't I? The rich man might have been buried in royal purple. He had a burial.

And they dressed him up. I'm going to guarantee you, I've gone past lots of open caskets and seen the finest silk suits on people. He was buried, I promise you, in royal purple and fine linen. But his dissension into Hades, Gehenna, hell, the fiery furnace, turned his purple cloaks into the color of charcoal ashes. You may look good here, but what are you going to look like there? That's a contrast, isn't it? Who is the honored man now?

The rich man or the poor man? The poor man is now the receiver of God's mercy. No longer a beggar at the gate. He is on the inside of the mansion. Now, I want you to see that. Where was he previously? On the outside at the gate.

He is now on the inside of heaven's mansion. The rich man is no longer on the inside of that big compound, that mansion. He is on the outside looking up, barred by the gate the Bible calls chasm,

begging for mercy. That poor man was begging for that rich man to be merciful. And now who's begging? The rich man is begging for Abraham to be merciful. The poor man has no needs.

You have needs in your life. The poor man has no needs now. The rich man is now overwhelmed in neediness, begging for Lazarus, the one whom he ignored time and time and time again, to come touch his burning tongue with the tip of his finger and a drop of water. The great reversal. Lazarus was the one begging to be touched by the rich man. But now this certain rich man is begging to be touched by Lazarus.

Is that not mind-boggling? The poor man, Lazarus, the one whom God helped, is eternally saved. I want you to see that. And in the company of faithfulness. He's in the company of the community of faith. The rich man is eternally lost, burning in agony and torment forever. Scene three, the prophetic challenge.

This is probably the most important thing you'll hear me talk about this morning. Look at verses 26 through 31. And besides all of 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.

Our eternity is set. We're not crossing over that chasm. And that none may cross over from there to us. There's not a purgatory, guys. There's not a holding place. Our eternity is set. And he said, then I beg you, Father Abraham, I want you to listen to this.

That you send some to my father's house. For I have five brothers. There were six boys in that family, just like mine. That he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. Well, I want you to listen to Abraham's response. They've been trying to rewrite Moses in the law. Listen to what he says.

They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. Now, that's a big statement. Consider the faithful words, even in the Old Testament, about righteousness and faith. Abraham was righteous by faith. He's on this side of the cross. How much easier it is for us on this side when we look at the cross.

But he said, no, Father Abraham. He's arguing. He's burning in hell and he's arguing with Father Abraham. But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But Abraham said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they've got enough truth there already to know the way to eternity. Neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. You remember the other Lazarus in the New Testament?

In John chapter 11? Jesus shows up and Mary and Martha are madder than hops at him because he didn't come quicker and keep Lazarus from dying. And Lazarus dies and his body has been in the grave for three days. In fact, it says, his body stinketh. He was dead. Deader than a door. He was dead.

And Jesus raises him from the dead. He comes out ripping those rags, those death rags off. He's alive. You know, I've always thought to myself, well, he's going to die again sometime, isn't he? I don't know if I've been too happy about coming back or not, but Jesus raised him from the dead as a sign to unbelievers in his power.

But let me ask you this. Have you read the full story about how the Pharisees responded? Here's what the Pharisees did. They convened themselves and they got in that back room full of all that cigar smoke. And they got back there and they got to talking about this whole situation.

And in verse 53 of John 11, it says, from that day on, they planned to kill Jesus.

Lazarus rising from the dead made no difference to them because they were so ensnared in their own sin, self-deception, and self-indulgence.

Made no difference.

In Luke 9, 18 through 20, I'll conclude with this. It says, And it came about that while he was praying alone, this is Jesus, the disciples were with him. And he questioned them, saying, Who do the multitudes say that I am? And they answered and said, John the Baptist.

Others say Elijah. But others say one of the prophets has risen again. And he said to them, But who do you say that I am? You see where he's going with that? These are the disciples, not the Pharisees. These are his chosen twelve. And it was so important that they get it right.

If the kingdom was to advance. But who do you say that I am?

And Peter answered. I can see Peter, the impulsive Peter, the first one acting as if he's the chief disciple, answering for all of them. You are the Christ of God.

You are the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God. You're the one we've been looking for. You're the one the prophets prophesied. You're the one that the Old Testament spoke loudly was coming. You are the Son of God right here in the flesh on this earth. Now, Peter didn't really understand everything he was saying at that moment. But he had made the distinction that he wasn't John the Baptist and he wasn't Elijah and he wasn't one of the prophets.

That he was a Savior. You know, after you preach a sermon about Rishoman and Lazarus, you have to ask people, Who do you say that I am?

Because you're eternal destiny. Hangs on answering that question. The most important question ever asked. It is the question of all questions.

It stands above any question you'll ever answer. Have you answered questions in your life before? You've been in that place where you had to answer, didn't you? This question is the most important question you'll ever be asked and you'll need to answer.

Jesus is the Christ. The Son of the living God. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no man, none of us can come to the Father but through Him.

You see that?

The Pharisees were still on this side. I want you to see that. Jesus didn't hate the Pharisees, they hated Him. Jesus was still offering them a chance to repent.

A chance. He was blowing the trumpet. There's still time. There's still time. I'm not a hellfire preacher.

But I'll tell you right now, I believe the Bible's true. And I believe there is a hell and I believe there is a heaven.

And the only way I'm not going to hell is I put faith that Christ has died for my sin. It's a atonement for my sinfulness. I don't earn it. I don't work for it. I simply respond in faith just like Abraham did. And Abraham was in heaven. And I can tell you right now with surety in my heart, when the Lord says it's time, Carrie,

y'all can bury me, Kim, if you want to, but I'm already going to be gone. I'm going to transfer out of this place in the name of Jesus. Chapter 16.

Spend time reading Luke 16. There's so much there. I've just chipped the iceberg on it. There's so much there. Read it over and over and over. You'll be amazed at what's there.

Amen. Let's bow together in prayer. Lord, I pray today that if we're sitting in this place and we've never professed faith in Christ,

that we'll do that. If not here, with a friend today, that we'll tell our spouse, we'll tell our friend, we'll tell our brothers, we'll tell our sisters. I just want you to know I put my faith in Christ for my salvation. There's nothing I can do for it. There's nothing that I can do to earn it. I can't work my way there. I put my faith in what Jesus has done for me on the cross.

Solidify that today with someone that if you were to die today, you know for certain you would go be with the Savior. Lord, I ask this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen.