Thank you for selecting this message by Dr. James Hoffman. Dr. Hoffman preaches verse by verse through the entire book of the Bible. From all of us at Living Water of Lapine here in Central Oregon, we hope that it will encourage you and feed you spiritually. And if you would like to leave a message after the sermon, our contact information is found on the sermon page where you found this sermon. Now may God richly bless you as you listen. You probably recall because it hasn't been that long ago. Back in 2019, a very high profile college Southern California admissions scandal involved some very affluent people, including celebrities like Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman. The public was made aware that they were involved in bribery and fraud to secure their children's admission to prestigious universities. The scandal was a striking example of entitlement among the wealthy. believing they could circumvent the system that everyone else has to submit to. The passage that we come to today raises this whole question of stewardship versus entitlement. We're in a time right now where we all think we are entitled We believe that what we have is really ours. Television advertising certainly has not helped us at all. We are living in an era where we say, you deserve a break today. Have it your way. Too many of us believe that. Those who are poor have come to believe that they deserve welfare. Those who are rich have come to believe they deserve tax breaks and special treatment over the rest of us commoners. Workers without even batting an eyelash feel they deserve better fringe benefits. Big banks and corporations that would destroy the economy if they failed believe they deserve bailouts that are unheard of for smaller companies. If we're a special interest, we deserve automatic government assistance. Young college graduates, right after they graduate, they believe they are entitled to high paying jobs without having any relevant experience or qualifications. And some of you have put up with my recent rants about the increasing number of college students that I teach every term who really believe they are entitled to a good grade without even coming to class or turning in assignments or following the often repeated instructions on how the assignment is to be done. Entitlement is a real problem. Isn't it? I think ungodly pride seems to be behind a lot of it. The Pharisees thought that they were entitled. Pride certainly was fueling their sense of entitlement. They had the strange idea that money was deserved Money was a sign that they were blessed by God, and poverty was the result of God's curse. Well, today we will see that Jesus rejects that entire line of thinking. Last week, in the passage just before the one we come to today, we saw that all of us are stewards of what we have, and we are to use it to bless others, to bring life, to bring health, hope, and joy. We studied a very powerful parable that Jesus told about an unrighteous steward who diligently applied his creative thinking and using money that he had available to him to secure a better future for himself. Jesus used that man's diligence and that man's preoccupation with looking out for his future, to say that believers ought to be exercising the same attitude of future-looking diligence, even as we look into eternity. We lack fervency. We're too casual. Maybe we have our own sense of entitlement about the future. And so we don't bother to invest what God has given to us so that we might make future eternal friends in heaven who come to the Lord and welcome us, thanking us, for investing in them. Jesus was so forthright in last week's lesson, and he's gonna be just as forthright in today's. Make eternal friends in heaven through your use of money. Use your money to gain friendships with God and people so that both heaven and the redeemed humanity will welcome you home in eternity. Be faithful with your money because if you do, God will entrust you with true spiritual riches. And remember, you cannot serve both God and money, period. Now the verses last week and the verses today will suggest that if you have the resources to help and you choose not to, you are judged. And this message is not unique to Luke chapter 16. The apostle John issued this warning in his first letter. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? 1 John 3, 17. James, the practical-minded brother of our Lord, makes the same point. James 2, verses 15 and 16, he wrote, if a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled without giving them the things needed for the body, What good is that? James's question was on the authenticity of the faith of one who does nothing to help another that he sees has physical needs. John doesn't see how it's possible for the love of God to be in a person who doesn't help. Last week's parable of the dishonest manager, the first part of this chapter we're in, Luke chapter 16, verses one through 15, addressed the proper use of money. Now today, we're gonna read another powerful parable that Jesus told. This parable confronts the abuse of money. It is a solemn warning. But even more, it warns about their dramatic reversals that can come after death, and also the terrors of hell. It exposes the subtle causes of the calloused indifference that people within the worshiping community sometimes show the poor. Now, before we read this next parable, Luke provides us with a conversation Jesus had with some Pharisees. From this, we're going to understand why Jesus told this second parable here in Luke 16. So first, take a look with me here at Luke chapter 16, verse 14. It says this. The Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and they ridiculed him. Now, last week, as we were studying the passage, I was making the point that Jesus told this parable to his disciples, because that's what verse one says, that he was talking to his disciples. But even though the Lord had directed his message, the parable that we studied last week, primarily to his disciples, others, too, were listening. And among them were the Pharisees. They had heard whatever Jesus said about a person's attitude toward and the use of material possessions. and about the impossibility of being devoted to both God and material possessions. They didn't appreciate this teaching at all because they were lovers of money. Their pride had been injured. Jesus had touched a sore spot. And just to compound these metaphors, he had hit a nerve. He had pressed a hot button of these Pharisees. They were not set apart for God. Another way of saying that, they were not consecrated to God. They were consecrated to money. They used their religious position to fill their own pockets. And Christ's words about money were contrary to their evil practices. You see, the Lord poked at their pride balloon and popped it. The Pharisees responded, verse 14 shows us, by deriding Jesus. What does that actually mean? Now the word deride is from the Greek word ekmukteridzo. And this word is just latent with meaning in it. It's used only here in the New Testament. In Luke 23, 35, it is repeated. These are the only two places. And in Luke 23, 35, when we get there, we're going to see the scene there is Jesus hanging on a cross and there were people that were deriding him while he was hanging on the cross. And so we kind of get an idea of what this derision was. They were mocking him, scoffing him. The word literally means to turn up the nose. The Pharisees simply turned up their noses at Christ's teaching. Now the intensified form of this word here tells us that they were scoffing him openly. It wasn't just a silent thing. It wasn't only a gesture. No, they were making it known. Luke gives us the reason they loved money. They laughed mockingly. And the way the word is written there is it was persistent. This was ongoing and growing and growing and getting louder. And the tense of this word is that they kept it up. It was quite a scene. What a way to respond to such powerful teaching of truth. They derided Jesus to discredit him. and to intimidate every listener to try to make them reject it like they had. But Jesus didn't shriek one bit from this. He called the Pharisees detestable in the sight of God. Yeah, give it to him, Jesus. Go get him. Look how he does that. Verse 15. 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. So Jesus here unmasks these hypocrites. Basically, what he told them amounts to this. You are the people who pass yourselves off before men as though you are living in harmony with God's holy law. But your righteousness is only a facade. On the inside, you're the very opposite of what people believe you are. However, God has your number. He knows that your religion is a sham. For what men see of you and admire is an abomination in God's sight. The religion of the Pharisees was an outward show. Their dedication to God was false. It was fake. It was phony. Their concern was for the approval of men, not the approval of God. Their self-righteousness produced no changes in their heart. These men were, unfortunately, like many today. They were consumed with self-justification, justifying themselves before men. The only problem is that they're not going to stand before men one day and give an account of their soul. And neither will you or I. We will all stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible declares the fallacy of self-justification. God is omniscient, which means He knows all hearts. Psalm 139 verse one. Oh Lord, you have searched me and know me. We may fool our friends and family and fellow man, but we will never fool God. God knows our hearts. He knows our deepest thinking. He knows all of our secret hopes and desires. He knows our true motivations. How ludicrous to think that we could ever fool him. He's omniscient. If that truth would grip mankind, it would radically change their behavior. The Pharisees valued greatly their tradition, their rules, their practices, some of which prohibited healing on the Sabbath day. But Christ put them in their place by saying what they thought was important was an abomination to the Lord. The same is true today. Many things mankind thinks are great and important God turns up his nose at them. God's values are not the same as human values. Down here, people admire those who are rich. The Lord Jesus, however, was reading the hearts of those who were scoffing at him. And he told them, the things that rule your hearts are objects of disgust to God. And then, look what else, Jesus added this, verse 16. The law and the prophets were until John. Since then, the good news of the kingdom of God is preached, and everyone forces his way into it. Now this is gonna take some unpacking. Not every scholar agrees as to the meaning of what Jesus is saying here in verse 16. I've read so many interpretations this past week from men that I have a great deal of respect for, and they all seem to differ on what Jesus is saying in this verse. I'm going to preach it the way that I believe has the best support from the context and also from the Greek grammar that was used by Luke when he wrote this. Now, first, I'm going to start, though, with something that does have a large consensus about the meaning. There is little to no dispute about the meaning of this first part. The Law and the Prophets were until John. Okay, the coming of John the Baptist signaled a total change. Everybody agrees to that, that's what's being said here. Until the ministry of John the Baptist, the Law and the Prophets were proclaimed. John the Baptist's ministry was the dividing line between the Old and the New Testaments. These Old Testament scriptures that are referred to here as the Law and the Prophets were a guide to the people to prepare them for the coming Messiah. The prophecies that foretold of Christ were now being fulfilled. Those had begun with John. The arrival of John the Baptist and Jesus signaled a total change in God's message to the world. The kingdom was at hand. Not, the kingdom will be at hand someday. That was the prophets and the law. That's what that was saying. The kingdom. was now at hand. The king himself had come. That changes everything. And now the good news of the kingdom, which the law and the prophets pointed to, is being preached, which you Pharisees have decided to sneer at. See, let's put it in the context of what we're seeing here. There's a certain amount of confidence that this much is what Jesus meant. Everybody seems to be in agreement so far. Now to the part of the verse where everyone does not agree. We turn now to the meaning of a Greek word here, biadso. The basic sense of biadso is to apply force. Now stay with me just for a moment here. We just read the, English Standard Version, the ESV translation, and it put it this way, everyone forces his way into it, the kingdom of God. Everyone is doing the forcing, is how the ESV reads. But I need to tell you the grammar of this word is what's called the passive voice in Greek grammar. Now that means a couple of different things here. This verb has a softened force because it is here in the passive voice. And furthermore, it's not the people who are doing the forcing. It's a passive voice, meaning that action is being done on them. Everyone has this forcing that's being done on them. Everyone is experiencing some sort of soft forcing of the kingdom of God on them through this new preaching. Do you get it? Are you with me so far? Specifically, I believe what Jesus is saying is this. Everyone is being urged incessantly to come into the kingdom. Snare all you want, Pharisees, but I will incessantly and firmly urge everyone to accept what came with John and is now here and is now being preached. See, that fits the context. This view doesn't ignore the grammar. And it fits the context remarkably well. The religious leaders, rather than respecting what the law and the prophets communicated, placed greater emphasis on their own interpretation of it, as they made it say whatever they wanted it to say. They made it say whatever they wanted it to say so they would see what they wanted to see. They made it say whatever they wanted it to say so they could ignore whatever they wanted to ignore. In this case, they didn't want to give up their control of the people. They did not want to acknowledge the evidence, all of the evidence that spoke clearly, that spoke vividly, that spoke forcefully, urgently, that their rule of the people was over. The Messiah's kingdom was now here. They didn't want to see it. Jesus is about to point to another example of their manipulation of scripture. You see, those who were sneering were circumventing the scriptures. They were bending, they were twisting their message in order to make it suit their own purposes. You have alluded, danced around, sidestepped, and dodged scripture so that you don't have to recognize that the kingdom is here. And let me show you another matter. where you have manipulated it to make it say what you wanted it to say. Jesus is going to do that, but first Jesus makes a statement about the godlike nature of the thing they were abusing. You cannot change scripture around, he wants to make very clear. So before he shows them another example of how they were doing that, he says, you can't do this. It is unchangeable. Like God, it is eternal. It stands as it is. It is not something you have the authority to mess with. Here's how Jesus tells them that. We'll see him tell them that, and then we're going to see Jesus point out an example of where they ignore it and they mess with it. But here is where he tells them that part of the message, verse 17. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one dot of the law to become void. You can't mess with God's scripture. Now he tells them that, and then he shows them, and yet you try to do this. Let me show you an example of how you were trying to do this. So verse 18 follows. Everyone who divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery. And he who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. Now, if this was the only verse of Scripture that said something about divorce, I would have to conclude that there is never to be any divorce for whatever reason. But this isn't the only verse. We learn compositively from verses in Matthew chapter 5, Matthew chapter 19, and 1 Corinthians 7, that there are exceptions. I'm not going to get into the specifics about these right now. Other than to say, I believe the exceptions are when a partner commits adultery or one partner is an unbeliever and leaves the marriage. Why didn't Jesus mention these exceptions here? Because he didn't need to. In order to communicate his point that he was making, he didn't have to. Remember, his main point is not teaching about divorce here. It is about how the religious leaders of Israel were abusing scripture. Jesus only said what he needed to say to make that point. Let me explain. In doing so, I'm going to read directly from the most respected rabbinical writings of Jesus' day, the Mishnah. I want to show you what Jesus is pointing to. It was their widely accepted teaching that tortured the scriptures on this matter of divorce. The Mishnah preserves the oral tradition of the rabbis, two of whom, Shammai and Hillel, lived shortly before the time of Jesus. And their teaching was widely accepted and very well respected. And here is an example of some of their deliberations on this topic from the Mishnah. The house of Shammai say, a man should divorce his wife only because he have found grounds for it in unchastity, since it is said, because he has found in her indecency in anything, Deuteronomy 24 one. And the house of Hillel say, even if she spoiled his dish, since it is said, because he has found in her indecency in anything. Our Equibah says, even if he found someone else prettier than she, since it is said, and it shall be if she find no favor in his eyes." Deuteronomy 24, one. Isn't that something? This was the most common thought among Jewish society when Jesus made that statement. Now we can understand what he was addressing when we understand what the common thinking was here. Now, according to the Pharisees who favored the teaching of Hillel, marriage could be created on a whim and dissolved just as flippantly. Make no mistake, they knew full well what they were doing in twisting these scriptures. They knew what Deuteronomy 24 taught about marriage. Jesus did not need a long, drawn-out discourse to prove the point that he is making here when he merely alluded to the marriage-divorce issue and their absurd dismantling of God's design. Well, the Pharisees wisely shut their mouths, at least for the time being. He had just proved beyond any reasonable doubt that the Pharisees subordinated the word of God to preserve their own desires. They were tampering with God's eternal word. Please hear me on this. As citizens of God's kingdom, you and I must always side with integrity. of what the Word of God says, even when it hurts. Can I get an amen? But the Lord was not through with these mockers. He pulled back the veil and he showed us what awaits people on the other side of the grave. He had just given a glimpse of those conditions in verse nine, and his listeners had answered him with derision. So next, Jesus tells what I believe is another parable. Now I need to reveal to you that not every Bible scholar in our evangelical camp thinks that this is a parable. Many scholars whom I admire say this is a description of something that actually happened. They believe Jesus relates a true event involving people who the Lord knew and about things of great importance which he alone could speak. The evidence they cite for their believing this way, that this is a literal event that actually happened, is that the main character of this parable we're about to read is given a name. They claim a parable would never mention a specific name. They're all elusive. Think about the parables that you're familiar with. They begin with a certain man, a rich young ruler, a certain landowner. You see, no names are given. This parable is given a name. We're told about a poor man by the name of Lazarus. I don't believe that's conclusive enough evidence, actually. So I'm going to preach this as though it is a parable. And there's a couple of things that we need to know about parables. With a parable, we do not want to focus so much on the details. We want to read the parable and figure out what is the main point here. If we start focusing on details of it, we can get ourselves into all kinds of trouble. The details of a parable are pointing us to the main meaning of what it is, and that's what our focus should be. In this parable we're about to read, we're going to see that there was this poor man named Lazarus who was often laid at the gate of this rich man's estate. Now they both died and they're in heaven. The rich man is in torment and he looks over into paradise and he sees Lazarus, the poor man. And if we're going to focus on details, and there have been many who have done this, they look at the details here and they say, see, I knew it. When we die, we're going to be able to see those on the other side. You can't do that with a parable. So let me, even though the temptation is going to be there to look at these details and say, oh, that's what it's going to be like on the other side after I die. Let's try to refrain from that. We're going to focus on the main part of the message. Now, how do we know what the main part of the message is? How are we going to recognize that from these details that we shouldn't make such a big deal out of? Context. Look at the context. What is this message saying? And when we look at it in its flow, when we look at it in its context, we can look at what the main part of the message is here. So it's time now for us to take a look at it. We find it in Luke 16 verses 19 through 23, and this is the way it reads. 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. Poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abram's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abram far off and Lazarus at his side. Now, let me explain just a couple of these details that I told you not to focus on, but they are important because they point us to the message. So we do have to have some understanding of these details. I want to relate to you again what some of the popular Jewish thinking was, this original audience that Jesus was talking to. And then I'm also going to relate some things that do come from scripture to kind of get a background of what we have just now read here. Sheol, Hades, what's that? Well, it's translated hell in some places in the New Testament. And this place was a place that was divided into two compartments. We have paradise, which is called Abraham's bosom in this parable, and the place of torment. Paradise was emptied, though we know that when Christ took with him at his ascension into heaven all of the Old Testament believers. No one in that compartment of Hades is there. It's been emptied. You can read about this in Ephesians chapter four, verses eight through 10, where it discusses that. Now, the other side, this place of torment, it will be emptied at the great white throne judgment. And you could read about that in Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. Those are going to then be cast into the eternal lake of fire, which is also known as the second death. We have scripture references and we have tradition to develop an idea here of this parable that Jesus is communicating. Hades is this place, it has two compartments, a place of paradise, Abraham's bosom, and it also has this place of torment. Now, when the rich man died, his spirit went to the place of torment, the compartment where the lost go. The beggar went to the compartment called the place of Abraham's bosom. All of this was due to the hearts of these men. It has nothing to do with one having riches and the other not. It's what was in their heart. Next, we see that the rich man is not condemned because he's rich. but because he slipped into the coma of callousness that wealth sometimes produces. He became consumed with his own joy, leisure, and celebration, and failed to respond to the suffering in the need of others around him. His callousness made his earthly riches all that he would receive in this life. So let's continue with this parable now, picking up where we left off, verse 24-30. 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 had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us. 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. How wrong he was. Why would I say that? Because someone from the dead actually had appeared to the people and his name was not this Lazarus of the parable, but Lazarus brother of Mary and Martha. Jesus raised Lazarus, brother of Mary and Martha. That account we read in John chapter 11. And when Jesus raised the brother of Mary and Martha from the dead, did that result in everyone being converted? Hardly, not at all. The result was that Christ's enemies planned to kill the brother of Mary and Martha. recently raised. It was too much evidence. They wanted him killed. John 12.10 tells us that. And the religious leaders were more determined than ever to destroy Jesus because he had raised him from the dead. They wanted to get rid of that evidence. And so, verse 31, he said to them, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Now, the people whom Jesus was talking to, this sneering group of Pharisees, did not hear Moses and the prophets. Moses and the prophets, by the way, is how they referred to the entire Old Testament during Jesus's day. If they're not going to pay any attention to the Old Testament, they're not going to respond to any miracles. They weren't hearing it. They were too busy adjusting it to suit their own liking. So looking at the context in which this parable was told, I believe Jesus had no fewer than three specific aims in telling this. First, God's written word is the most important evidence a person can examine. Don't delve into all of the world religions looking for wisdom. And don't start asking for miracles. Don't expect supernatural phenomenon to take place. Don't start waiting for visions and dreams and counting on those as being affirming your faith. You see, only a responsive heart will listen to God's message and respond to his great works. No amount of wonder working can change a heart that is unwilling to be challenged by God's demand for righteousness. That's the point of this parable. A lack of signs is not why people reject Jesus. Rather, people willfully reject him. They decide they're not going to have anything to do with him. The heart cannot see what it's not looking for. Jesus's message is a call to recognize our need. and to repent. Those with ripe hearts recognize that need and they come to him for forgiveness, which he makes available to them. They also receive the righteousness and the relationship with him that he gives to them. Compassion for those in need is the result. When we start responding to God's word, we will have the compassion. Those whose hearts are hardened will never accept the call to recognize the needs of others. They will not respond to the evidence that God leaves even in Jesus's empty tomb. Okay, second, God's written word contains the most compelling information to prepare us for death. Consider what scripture says about death. If you're a believer, you'll find your fears calmed. Assurance replaces panic. You'll see confusion lifted. you'll discover there is literally an eternal dwelling place for those who know the Lord Jesus Christ and his arms are wide open. Third, the person who ignores the word of God in life will not be ignored by the God of the word in eternity. Just as there is a heaven to gain, There is a hell to reject. You may not believe it today, but someday you will. I hope that happens before it is too late. You see, you are not entitled. Let's pray. Hi, this is Dr. Hoffman. It is our hope at Living Water that this message has encouraged and deepened your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Our sermons are intended to be a free gift to any listener. But at the same time, I thought that I would let our need be known. Living Water, La Pine, is a church that is located in a rural area of central Oregon, ministering to a poverty-stricken community. If God has blessed you through this message, and you have already given to your own local church, if you sense that God would have you help our ministry with a financial gift, You can find out how to do that at our website. It is www.livingwateroflupine.com. Thank you for listening.