Neither Will They Be Convinced

Luke 16:19-23 ESV

“There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.” 

This is a parable spoken by Jesus Christ. The rich man is not just a picture of a wealthy man, but someone evidently of some prominence, and who appeared to be very self-absorbed, caring only for himself. And although it does not say, exactly, I get the impression that the rich man had no regard for the poor man named Lazarus, who desired to be fed even by the crumbs that fell from this man’s table.

Matthew Henry gave this description of the poor man: “Here is a godly man, and one that will hereafter be happy for ever, in the depth of adversity and distress. It is often the lot of some of the dearest of God's saints and servants to be greatly afflicted in this world. We are not told that the rich man did him any harm, but we do not find that he had any care for him.”

So, the picture here is of a man who is self-absorbed, caring only for himself, apparently ignoring the needs of the poor man covered with sores who needed both food and probably medical attention. Both men die. The poor man must have been a believer in God/Christ, for he ended up in a place opposite of what the rich man did, with Abraham. Some people call that paradise. Others call it heaven. It is a parable so it doesn’t have to be literal.

Luke 16:24-26 ESV

“And he called 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.’ But Abraham said, ‘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 rich man, who was in Hades, could see Abraham and Lazarus on the other side. And he was able to call out to Abraham, and Abraham was able to hear him and to respond. The rich man wanted to be comforted by Lazarus in his suffering, although he had given Lazarus no comfort in his suffering. But Abraham let him know that there was no passing through between locations. The rich man was now destined to spend eternity in hades for he had no regard for God nor for caring for the needs of others while he lived on this earth. All he cared about was himself, it appears.

Luke 16:27-31 ESV

“And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house— for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

So, what is the lesson for us here? Well, this is what I am getting out if it today, and so I am sharing what the Lord is impressing on my heart. You may get something else from it. For we have many people in this life who are self-absorbed, caring only for themselves, who do not care about the needs of others. Some of them not only ignore the needs and the sufferings of others, but they are actually the ones causing the pain and suffering, sometimes just by ignoring their pain and suffering.

Some of these self-absorbed people profess faith in Jesus Christ. Some of them are even pastors of churches (or institutional churches) who, in their pride and greed treat the godly with disdain while they honor the wicked who are living in deliberate and habitual sin, and who are hurting other people. For in their desire to “draw in large crowds of people from the world,” they have so diluted the gospel that it ends up placating people in their sin while the injured keep on being injured by the sinful.

So, instead of dealing with these issues of the self-absorbed who are sinning against the godly who are being injured by their mistreatment, they entertain the ungodly professers of faith in Christ, and they honor them, and they treat them with respect. But they ignore the godly who are being mistreated, or they blame them or they treat them as though if they would just do something different then the ungodly would treat them better.

Like the rich man who wanted Lazarus, who he had mistreated, to comfort him in hades, the message that is frequently given in the church today is that we need to comfort those who are willfully and deliberately and habitually sinning against God and others, and even against their spouses, while rarely is any comfort being offered to those who are being sinned against. And sometimes the injured ones are being mistreated even more by those who should be comforting them and not the wicked.

And this goes to what this is saying in this last section of verses. If someone is ignoring God and his commands, and especially if it is someone professing faith in Jesus Christ, and if he knows the Scriptures, and if he is choosing himself above God and above others, and if he is refusing to repent, it doesn’t matter what you do to try to convince him to change course. He is not going to change course unless he decides to die to himself and to forsake his sins and his idols and to submit to God, and to surrender to the will of God, and to follow Jesus in obedience to his commands.

So, we need to stop, as the church, coddling the wicked in their sins and attacking the godly for teaching the truth of the Scriptures. We need to treat the unrepentant habitual and deliberate sinners as the Scriptures teach us to. They don’t teach us to coddle them. They teach us to rebuke them and to cast them out of the fellowships and to have nothing to do with them until they repent. And until they decide to submit to God and to leave their sins behind them, there isn’t anything we can do to convince them to change.

For Our Nation  

An Original Work / September 11, 2012

Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Trust Him with your life today.

Make Him your Lord and your Savior.

Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.

He will forgive you of your sin;

Cleanse your heart, made new within.

Men betraying: Our trust fraying.

On our knees to God we’re praying,

Seeking God to give us answers

That are only found in Him.

God is sovereign over all things.

Nothing from His mind escaping.

He has all things under His command,

And will work all for good.

Jesus Christ is gently calling

You to follow Him in all ways.

Men deceiving: We’re believing

In our Lord, and interceding

For our nation and its people

To obey their God today.

He is our hope for our future.

For our wounds He offers suture.

He is all we need for this life.

Trust Him with your life today.

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