Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hello everyone.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is Pastor Benjamin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're listening to Sermon Audio from New City, Orlando.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At New City, we long to see our Father answer the Lord's prayer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For more resources, visit our website at Newcity Orlando.com.
Sarah Bruner: Please stand with me as we ask the Holy Spirit to illuminate our hearts to his word.
Sarah Bruner: Gracious Redeemer, as we hear your word, open our eyes to your glorious kingdom and bring us life through your Holy Spirit by the power that raised Christ from the dead.
Sarah Bruner: Amen.
Sarah Bruner: Today's scripture reading comes from Luke 16.
Sarah Bruner: The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things and they ridiculed him.
Sarah Bruner: And he said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts, for what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Sarah Bruner: There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.
Sarah Bruner: 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.
Sarah Bruner: Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Sarah Bruner: The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
Sarah Bruner: The rich man also died and was buried.
Sarah Bruner: And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off with Lazarus at his side.
Sarah Bruner: 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.
Sarah Bruner: But Abraham said, Child, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things.
Sarah Bruner: But now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
Sarah Bruner: 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.
Sarah Bruner: 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.
Sarah Bruner: But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
Sarah Bruner: And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.
Sarah Bruner: 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.
Sarah Bruner: This is God's word.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Yesterday I ran a half marathon with a certified financial planner.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So I'm like ready to go for the sermon.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I'm just gonna warn you right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, researchers estimate that public speakers have five to ten seconds to win your trust enough to where you'll listen to the rest of what I have to say today, which is right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And this reality psychologists call thin slicing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's the human being's ability to make quick snap judgments based on very little information of the person that they're making the judgments about.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's actually really useful.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We take in little tiny amounts of information, maybe it's appearance, maybe it's tone of voice, maybe it's body language, mannerisms, and we make decisions right away about what kind of person this is that we're with.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Super useful, but also can have some dangers with it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The danger is when we assign human value based on visible metrics.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When we look at people and we take a few seconds and we assess them based on maybe their status, maybe their appearance, maybe their education, maybe their significance, and we make these judgments that are so quick, and then they inform the way we relate to those people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, a question is how do you know if someone matters?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or maybe a better question is, is how does God evaluate a human life?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In our text this morning, in verse 15, Jesus says, What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's a warning to us because what it means is that an entire culture can applaud what heaven despises.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Also, it's possible for someone ignored on earth to be celebrated in the kingdom of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Both are true.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so in Luke 16, Jesus tells a parable designed to overturn how we evaluate a human life.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so if you have a Bible or a device, get Luke 16, verse 14 in front of you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And I've got some main points here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They look like this: two loves, two lives, two deaths, two ears.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two loves, lives, deaths, and ears.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's go ahead and look at verse 14 together.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two loves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It says this the Pharisees who were lovers of money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They heard all these things and they ridiculed Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, just a warning: if you make fun of Jesus, you might get a parable told about you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what we find out on our text here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Last week, Pastor Jason preached a really great sermon on the first half of this text in Luke 16.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in there, Jesus says in verse 9, make friends for yourselves by means of unrighteous wealth.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So Jesus says, use money to make friends, but the Pharisees use people to make money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One commentator, Joel Green, says it like this Those who love money oppose Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Pretty simple, straightforward.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's saying that because Jesus would say things like this no one can serve two masters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You will either hate the one and love the other, or you'll be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Here it is, really straightforward.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No one can serve God and money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Full stop.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's how Jesus talks about the love of money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So here's the two loves God or money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But here's the thing: money is never merely money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Instead, money actually functions both as a thermometer and a thermostat.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What I mean by that is a thermometer tells you the temperature, it reveals, but a thermostat changes the temperature, it directs.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Money does both in your own heart.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: To make that plain, your money flows most naturally to your God, whatever it is.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So let me just go on record.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Um, I live in a simple home.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I wear hand-me-down clothes, but don't look at my personal library.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why is that?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, because listen, it's not my looks, but my books that are gonna give me status with people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And I know this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like it's intellectual mastery that's gonna give me to make me right in the sight of other people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And I know it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so my money so naturally flows to Amazon.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so my question for you is where does your money most naturally flow?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Where does it most naturally flow?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because where your treasure goes, there your heart will follow.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's a principle Jesus wants to teach us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus cares not only about what we do with our money, but also what our money does to us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But with all that said, listen, this parable is not mainly about money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So what is it about?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 15.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And Jesus said to them, You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your heart.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This is the interpretive key to the whole parable.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, to justify means to be right in someone's sight.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what it means to be justified.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so, how do you justify yourself?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In other words, when others see you, how do you prove your worth?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or said differently, what do you rely on when others are sin-slicing you, to use a psychological term?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So here, the love of money is not the disease, it's just a diagnostic.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Because in our cultural moment, money is a means to justify ourselves before others.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Money is exalted among men because it is public proof that you matter, that you've done things right, that you're winning at life, maybe even that you're being blessed by God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Money is a visible metric of success, war, status, competence, and security in our cultural moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And we subtly absorb this logic into ourselves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So sometimes we feel the fear of man around the ultra-wealthy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Other times we might intrinsically admire people who are rich.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Or, inverse, that we might think the poor are poor because they've made big mistakes or they have low character.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus wants to expose how shallow human judgment can be.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What he's after here is he's telling us this parable to help us to re-evaluate what we exalt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So let's look at the parable together.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two lives, verse 19.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You'll notice here Jesus highlights three contrasts.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: First, their clothing, then their food, then their dwelling.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's look at the first one.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: First, the rich man is wearing fine linen under purple.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: My dude has a fit kit right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like he is fresh to death walking on the scene.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Meanwhile, the poor man was clothed with sores.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you know your Bible, you might know the story of Job.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Job's friends saw Job covered in sores, and they thought it was because he was being cursed by God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Said differently, if we thin slice it, to be covered in purple is to be God blessed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: To be covered in sores is to be God forsaken.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a dangerous temptation because we exalt certain things that God does not exalt.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, second, the rich man feasted sumptuously every day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He had a full buffet every day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Meanwhile, the poor man desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's their food.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The third thing is their dwelling.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 21.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And at his gate was laid a poor man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man lives in a gated community.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The poor man is laid outside the gate, which means he's likely crippled or maybe even just homeless.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And according to Jesus, that means that these men are not strangers.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the rich man would have passed the poor man daily.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In Luke 10, Jesus defines your neighbor as those who are near with need.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This man is not hidden, he's not far away, he's at his gate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And there's no indication that the rich man ever gave him anything.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But as we read on, something surprising happens.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look again with me at verse 20.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, in all of the parables that we've studied this spring, in every other parable you have the two sons, or the shepherd, or a woman, or you know, a sower goes out to sow a seed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No one is given a proper name in any of Jesus' parables except right here, right now.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Only here is a character given a personal name, Lazarus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And notice the rich man has no name, but the poor man has a name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What's going on here?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus is being rehumanized.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what's going on.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In God's kingdom, the forgotten are remembered.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Far from being God forsaken or God forgotten, he's named, he's known, he's loved, he's someone's child.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In the kingdom of God, a nobody can become a somebody because of God's economy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, there was an interviewer who once interviewed Edith Schaefer, who is one of the most well-respected Christian leaders of her time.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And the question was this: who is the greatest Christian woman alive today?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Edith replied, We don't know her name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: She's dying of cancer somewhere in a hospital in India.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: God knows her name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Her name is great in the kingdom of heaven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We need to remember this, because in a world of Christian celebrity, this is a live temptation for us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But notice this the rich man is identified entirely by his wealth.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Three times in the text, he's simply called a rich man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He lost his name because he became defined by his money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, his money became his identity.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Remember, this parable is not first about money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's actually first about how we justify ourselves before others.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He became known by people as simply a rich man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So listen, you might be a beautiful woman, you might be the funny guy, you might be a good mother, you might be a strong athlete.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It doesn't matter if you over-identify with it, you are profoundly vulnerable.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you're only, quote, a rich man, take away your riches, and who are you?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, that's what we see.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What happens next?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The third point is two deaths.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 22.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man also died and was buried.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice this death comes for both men.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man lived in luxury, Lazarus lived in misery, but they both die.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's been said that death is the great equalizer, but actually in this parable, death is the great reversal.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man had everything in this life, and as we'll see, he has nothing in the next.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus had nothing in this life, but everything in the next.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 23.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in Hades, being in torment, the rich man lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice Jesus says that the rich man is in torment, not being tortured.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of us have a view of the afterlife, for some people, it's like this underground torture chamber.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's not what the text says.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And the distinction matters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a guy named Joshua Ryan Butler who wrote a book called Skeletons in God's Closet.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's a great book on hell and judgment and some of these things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in there he says this torment arises internally, torture is inflicted from the outside.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So just zooming in on this parable, the rich man's heart is being exposed as he loses what he loves.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, it causes him torment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It causes an inward anguish.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: His riches, his means of justifying himself are being melted away.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so torment begins when our idols that we trust in collapse beneath us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's torment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That happens.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Hopefully, it happens to you here and now, so you can turn from them, so it doesn't happen to you there and then.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what I hope happens.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the Greek word here for torment, it's used actually for a stone that you can use to test jewelry on.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In other words, you you would take the stone, you'd take either gold or silver, and you would rub it on the touchstone, and it would reveal if that jewelry was authentic or if it was fake.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the touchstones were needed because some jewels look fancy on the outside, but they're fake on the inside.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Come on, somebody.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man looked impressive on the outside.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He was, he had riches and reputation and religion, but death revealed what was underneath.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: His God was not God, his God was his wealth.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Remember what Jesus said, you justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He sees through the facade, and now the facade is gone, and the rich man's riches have been burned up in the fire and his whole life with it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that was his torment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 24.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, even though the rich man lifts up his eyes, verse 23, he still sees Lazarus as beneath him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, he still thinks the poor exists to serve him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The central terror for this rich man is that he remains the same person for eternity.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: C.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: S.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lewis said it like this: every time you make a choice, you are turning the central part of you into something a little different than it was before.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And taking your life as a whole with all your innumerable choices, you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Each of us at each moment is progressing to one state or the other.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In Hades, the rich man has no regret.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He has no repentance.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look what he does.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It says the rich man says, Send Lazarus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Which means not only is he looking down and thinks Lazarus exists to serve him still, he knew his name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That means that what we see in the text is that he recognizes this man.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, his disregard was never ignorance, it was indifference.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And notice he calls out Father Abraham, which means he was a religious guy.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He was Jewish.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And in our text, Luke 16, 15 says, You are those who justify yourselves before men.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you know some of the interactions with the Pharisees and Jesus in the gospels, you'll know that the Pharisees justify themselves, and this is one of their favorite ways to do it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In John 8, 39, they say this to Jesus Abraham is our father.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: They assume that belonging to Abraham's family would save them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That it's about ethnicity or religion, is enough to be on the good side.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But their false confidence had to be confronted.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so in Luke 3:8, earlier in the book that we're in now, John the Baptist says this do not begin to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our father.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let me make this plain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now in the afterlife, he gets what he most wants.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Social distance becomes eternal separation.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The gate in life becomes a great chasm in the afterlife.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In one sense, the afterlife is simply God giving us eternally what we insist upon repeatedly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: God gave him what he chose.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And after death, it's pretty clear in the text there is no second chance, there is no purgatory, there is no crossing over.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The trajectory of your life becomes permanent after death.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 26.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It says, A great chasm has been fixed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Why, Father Abraham?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I want you to see here the beauty of God's justice.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: One commentator put it like this: no longer will God let the rich man treat Lazarus like a dog.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: No longer will the bully rule the playground, the husband beat his family, or the superpower exploit the developing world.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: When God establishes his new creation, he will protect it from hell's invasion.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Happy Mother's Day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Welcome to church.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So glad you're here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Listen, Jesus is turning up the heat, but I promise you there's hope in the text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at the fourth and final point.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Two ears.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I know that's strange.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse 27.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Again, Lazarus is here to do his bidding, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: 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.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, something that you'll notice is that people who justify themselves are often the most defensive, because you have to defend yourself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You have to defend your own self-justification.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So here's the first of at least two excuses we're going to see.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Excuse number one, I just didn't have enough information.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like I wasn't in the loop.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus, go inform my brothers, because if I had known, I would have avoided this place of torment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But as we've seen, he does know, and his heart has not changed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: His sphere of concern, even in Hades, is limited to his own kind, his brothers, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: His own interests.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 29, but Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Here's the issue: Do you have ears to hear what the scriptures are saying?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is always concerned with the right reading of Scripture.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Now, this is astonishing.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I want to slow down here, take a little sidebar, talk very briefly about our doctrine of Scripture.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's important.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's important to Jesus, it's important to us.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a great book by Kevin.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Young called Taking God at His Word.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We use it in our elder training, and you'll see a slide behind me.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He has this acronym, which is SCAN.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Some of you in here are like not yet disciples of Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You're like more like SCAM.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: I don't believe the Bible.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Okay, just bear with us for a moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: SCAN stands for the Bible, has these attributes about it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's sufficient, it's clear, it's authoritative, and it is necessary.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let me make that plain for a moment.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The sufficiency of Scripture gives us everything we need for life and godliness in Christ.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The clarity of Scripture means that Scripture's saving message is understandable to all who humbly seek it.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The authority of Scripture means that it is God's final and decisive word.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It stands over every other authority, tradition, reason, experience.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And finally, the necessity of Scripture means that we need Scripture in order to know God to be saved and to live rightly.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so, back to the text, according to Jesus, God's word is needed, clear, final, and enough to lead people to repentance and thus eternal life.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's sufficient.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Not miracles, not angelic visitations, not supernatural phenomena.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This book.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's enough.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus' doctrine of scripture is so high.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Is yours?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He wants to correct us here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He wants to bring us in line to read this book, how he reads this book.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So if that's the case, what does Moses actually say?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, in Deuteronomy chapter 6, Moses gives the command to love God above everything, including especially your money.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In a little bit later, a little bit earlier rather in Leviticus 19, Moses says to love your neighbor as yourself, especially the poor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If you think I'm reading that into it, go back, read Leviticus 19 over lunch today.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It'll be a fun Mother's Day.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And as you're reading it, you'll see this concern for the poor that the Lord has when we love our neighbor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Did the rich man miss this?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Well, let's see.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The prophets actually make it even more plain.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In Amos 5, 12, it says this, I kid you not, how great are your sins, you turn aside the needy in the gate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Where was Lazarus laid?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: At the rich man's gate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so listen, the rich man's indifference to Lazarus is an abomination in the sight of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the rich man is not used to taking no for an answer.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so he argues with Abraham himself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 30.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And he said, No, Father Abraham.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That word matters.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man thinks, no, the Bible's not enough because he was pleasantly modern, apparently.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And listen, if you justify yourself, you have to defend yourself.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So excuse number one was, I didn't have enough information.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Excuse number two is if I would have just seen a miracle, then I would have believed.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But listen, the issue is never a lack of evidence, it's actually a condition of the heart.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man is right about something.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There is a need for repentance.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But the question is, what can produce that repentance?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Does repentance come from seeing miracles?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Like if your name was written in the sky by an airplane, it was like God loves Joe or whatever.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Sorry, Joe, if you're here, read the Bible, it's sufficient.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But like if you saw that, would that be enough for you to repent?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: According to Jesus, no.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: What has the power to change the human heart?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 31, Abraham said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is doing something here.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Notice, he's actually intensifying things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Verse 31, the rich man says, If someone goes to them from the dead, this is like the ghost of Jacob, Jacob Marley, right?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Visiting Scrooge in a Christmas carol like this.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: If somebody just would go back to the dead, that's something very different from what Jesus says at the end.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In verse 31, Abraham replies, If someone should rise from the dead, this is resurrection language.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And that line hits like thunder because someone is about to rise from the dead.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, Jesus is speaking about himself, and still many will not believe.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The issue is not whether there's enough light, the issue is whether we love darkness more.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so we need to be careful not to misunderstand this parable.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is not saying rich people to go to hell and poor people go to heaven.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's not some kind of theistic Marxist.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's nonsense.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: In fact, Genesis 13, 2 says this Father Abraham was, quote, very rich.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus is not saved because he's poor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man's not condemned because he's rich.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The issue is not whether you're rich or poor, but what are you trusting to justify yourself?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There's a hint here in the text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The Greek name Lazarus comes from the Hebrew name Eliezer, which means God has helped.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, a friend pointed out to me that Lazarus is always passive in this text.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's always receiving.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus was laid, verse 20.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus desired to be fed, verse 21.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Lazarus was carried by angels, verse 22.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: This helpless man knew that his help was in God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: He's entirely dependent upon grace.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so listen, take money as your help now and you will have torment later.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Take God as your help now and you will have comfort later.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: That's what it means to repent, like verse 30 says.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so if you will use your two ears to be, quote, convinced, as verse 31 says, then listen to what the scriptures have to say about Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You see, the rich man ignored the poor, but Jesus became poor.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man feasted daily, but Jesus fasted so that we could be sharing with him at his feast.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man lived in a gated community, but Jesus was crucified outside the gate.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man wears purple, but if you remember, Jesus is clothed in purple when he's being mocked before his crucifixion.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man asks for a drop of water and Jesus cries on the cross, I thirst.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man cannot cross the chasm, but Jesus crosses the ultimate chasm between a holy God and sinful people.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: The rich man has no name, but Jesus has been given the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee would bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So listen, would you be justified, made right in God's sight?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's not your riches, it's not your ethnicity, it's not your religion, it's Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: It's Jesus that's your justification.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: And so listen, if you are made right in God's sight, you are free to care about the poor's plight.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But if you justify yourself before people, then you will never be free to actually love people because you must use them.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: So someone really did rise from the dead, and the question of this parable for each and every one of us this morning is will you hear him?
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Let's pray.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: King Jesus, exalted above all things.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We exalt you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: There are things that are exalted among people that are an abomination before God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: But we know that God our Father has exalted you above all things, and so we love you, Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: You are the unsearchable riches of God.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We want you, Lord Jesus.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would draw men and women and children, those who belong to you and those who are yet to belong to you.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Bring them home to you as the great source of all their riches.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: We pray in your name.
Rev. Benjamin Kandt: Amen.