Luke 16:14-31 "The Pharisees: loving money, ignoring God" (Carlton 10:30am)

Good morning everyone. It would be very helpful to keep Luke 16 open as we explore somewhat confronting part of God's Word today. As we preach and read through God's word book by book, chapter by chapter, we come across what we come across. And today this is what we have. Can I ask you.

No, sorry, can I say, can I thank you for those who've been praying for me. Just been super unwell for a few weeks, but now back to 90 something percent. So glad, very glad to be here and to be looking at Jesus words together. Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we thank you that as your Word comes to us, there are ways that it confronts and challenges us.

So please do that work in us as we read these words of your Son now, but help us also to receive the comfort that you want us to have from his words. And we pray for this in Jesus name. Amen. Have you ever read something and just wondered how does that fit together? You know, maybe you read a book or you read an article or definitely an instruction manual and you just kind of go, what on earth is going on here?

Like how do those bits and pieces all fit? It's all over the place. Show of hands here. Has that ever happened to you when you read the Bible? I would hope there'd be many hands up.

You're in good company if that's happened to you. And our passage today can feel a bit like that. But I think there's two parts in our passage. You can have a look at your outline to see how I've cut it up. And it can be kind of hard to see how those two parts fit together.

There's quite a lot of ideas here, but I promise you that they do fit together. And it's got to do with first who Jesus is speaking to. But also there's two ideas that glue the passage together. First, let's take a quick look. First, we can see that both the parts of our passage have those who love money in them.

So verse 14, the Pharisees who were lovers of money. And then verse 19, Jesus tells a story. There was a rich man. The first glue in our passage, loving money, loving wealth. But the second glue, it's about God's word.

So look at verse 16, Jesus talks about the law and the prophets. Now whenever you see that phrase in the Bible, it's speaking about the Old Testament from Genesis the to Malachi, it's all the law and all the prophets that equals. God's Old Testament word comes up again. Look down verse 29, verse 31. We hear about Moses, who wrote the law and the prophets.

Again, the same thing, God's Old Testament word. So that's the glue that sticks it all together for us. Loving, money and listening. Or as we'll see, not listening to God's revealed word. But first, let's just get our bearings again.

Let's remember where we've been in Luke's gospel recently. It's always important to remember Jesus goals as we read His Word. So remember Jesus. He's on his final journey to Jerusalem. We see his face is set to go to the cross, to die for our sin, to save us from God's coming wrath that we deserve.

He longs to set us free from sin and death and the devil and to bring us into his kingdom. And so on this journey to that place, to Jerusalem, he's teaching what it really means to be his follower, his disciple. And in recent weeks, we've seen him say, well, my disciples, they're the lost who are found sinners who repent and turn back to the God who loves them, the Father. And last week we saw Jesus followers. They're those who see God's world and our wealth is in the right perspective.

They see that whatever physical blessing God gives us, we're to use it not for this life, but for the life to come, to win friends, for God's kingdom, to use money and all that we have to bring people to hear about Jesus and God's kingdom and to repent and be part of it for all eternity. And in our passage today, Jesus continues that theme. But instead of focusing on those who are his disciples, he turns to those who aren't. So come with me. First we see Jesus expose the heart of the Pharisees.

We see Luke. He sets the scene for us. What's going on? Have a look at verse 14. Says, the Pharisees who were lovers of money, remember that glue.

Were listening to all these things and scoffing at him. Jesus, he's been speaking to his disciples, but kind of semi publicly. The Pharisees, they're listening into these things. What things? The things we saw last week.

The parable of the dishonest manager. They heard this story. They heard Jesus story. They heard him say, use your worldly wealth to make friends for eternity. What matters is not what you have, what you get in this life.

What matters is people being in eternity with you. They've heard him say, you can't have two masters. You can't serve God and money. You will serve one or the other. There's no sitting on the fence.

And so the Pharisees, the seeming religious ones, how do they respond? Well, because they love money. Because in their hearts they love whatever they can have and gain for themselves. They scoff at Jesus, who is this guy who can tell us what to think, what to feel, what to do with our money. If God has blessed me with money, doesn't he want me to have it?

Maybe they even thought that their money was a sign that God approved of their righteousness. Those who love money scoff at Jesus and his Word. And so Jesus, he takes direct aim at the Pharisees. Look at verse. Sorry, turned over the page.

15, verse 15. He told them, you are the ones who justify yourselves in the sight of others. But God knows your hearts. He says, you Pharisees look righteous. You look good before others.

But what you're doing is puffing yourself up. You want to be admired by others. You're driven by pride. But Jesus says God sees through your facade. He sees and knows exactly what your heart is truly like.

He knows what you're actually doing is chasing what humans admire. And Jesus says, what is highly admired by people is revolting in God's sight. Strong words, aren't they? What we naturally as humans, what we naturally value and esteem and pursue is revolting. Disgusting to God.

The way. Think about it. The way we delight in sin. The way we love to live for ourselves instead of God. The way we love money and gaining things for ourselves instead of truly loving our neighbor for God's glory.

The way that humans chase success and personal fulfillment at the expense of others. Well, they just sit back and kind of wait for people to do stuff for them in laziness. The way we desire and covet and lust after what doesn't belong to us. Or the way that we use power words to push others down, to lift ourselves up. Tribalism, judgmentalism.

Things, when you scratch the surface, things that are highly admired by people. They're revolting, though repulsive to God. That's the heart of the Pharisees, Jesus says, looking good on the outside, but in their hearts, they love money. They really love themselves over God. Well, then Jesus hones in on the heart of their issue.

Look at verse 16. He appears to change topic all of a sudden, doesn't he? And he does, but he's actually continuing his rebuke. He's exposing what their hearts are like. Look at it with me.

Verse 16, he says to them, the law and the prophets. Remember that glue. The Old Testament, he says, the law and the prophets. The Old Testament. Period was until John, John the Baptist, he was like the last Old Testament prophet, calling Israel to come back to their God.

Since then, Jesus says, since I've come, the good news of the kingdom has been proclaimed. Jesus is saying, you Pharisees, you're witnessing a change in history right before your eyes. The kingdom of God is arriving and I'm its king, the Messiah. And people are urgently invited to enter that kingdom. Jesus and his disciples, they're getting the message out.

People are flocking to hear Jesus and listen to him. They believe in him. Many are joining God's kingdom. They're finding the forgiveness and salvation Jesus is bringing. But what are the Pharisees doing?

Are they listening, believing, repenting, joining God's kingdom? No, they're scoffing at Jesus the King. They scoff at the message he proclaims. They refuse. They're unwilling to listen to God's word when it comes to them.

And actually this is what they do with God's Old Testament word as well. Now, we don't have time to go into everything Jesus says about the Old Testament, how we understand it, how we apply it. But the big picture Jesus gives us in verse 17, it's that the Old Testament word, it's still God's word. It doesn't cease to be God's word when Jesus comes. It doesn't cease to be God's moral standard and show us his will and his standard, his character.

He's saying to the Pharisees, I'm not the one undercutting and undermining God's old word here. In fact, it's you Pharisees who are doing that. He says he's saying, you claim to be on about the law and the prophets, but you don't listen to it, you don't obey it. In fact, what you do is find easy ways to not obey it, to twist it, to be slippery about it. Remember the heart of the Pharisee, that they love the approval of others, not God.

And so what do they do? They minimize God's commands. Let's just keep it to the bare minimum. They look like they're obeying, but in their hearts, in reality, they're not. And then he gives them an example of this.

And the example that he gives is of divorce and adultery. Is there any harder topic to talk about than divorce or adultery? I don't think there are many, hard as many topics, as painful, as hard as these to deal with. And I'm very aware that there are many here impacted by divorce, either directly or even indirectly. By in your friends or your family.

And again, because Jesus deals with so many topics here and because it's actually not the main point of what he's teaching here, we're not going to go into all that Jesus says about divorce and adultery in marriage. I'm not going to go into all the situations and all the possible scenarios. Does God's Word have things to say to us about the reality of divorce and navigating the sad and messy realities of life? Yes. Does Jesus go to any of those things here?

No. And of course there are debates where godly Christians come to different conclusions on this. But what Jesus is really doing here, he's giving us an example of how the Pharisees don't listen to God's word. They wiggle around it, they dismiss it, they try to work out just how to read and interpret it so they don't actually have to do it. And so Jesus exposes them.

He gives them the clear and original intention of God's Old Testament word on marriage and divorce. Look at verse 18 closely. He says everyone who divorces his wife and marries another woman commits adultery. And everyone who marries a woman divorced from her husband commits adultery. Jesus says God's word on marriage is actually clear.

One man, one woman joined exclusively for life. And so wonderful and so profound is that union, that oneness of marriage. The two become one flesh. So much so that divorce without grounds and to divorce without grounds and to remarry equals adultery. Or to marry someone who's divorced equals adultery.

And that's the plane core teaching of God's Word on this. But the Pharisees, they had taken the caveats, the concessions, the regulations on exceptional circumstances that are in the Old Testament. And they have turned them into the main thing. They say Moses said divorce is possible. God's word says it's allowed in some sense.

So it's all good. And so in their day, there was this large part of Jewish society who believed and were fine with a form of kind of like no fault divorce. Divorce on little to no grounds at all. But Jesus says God says no, if you divorce illegitimately, if you marry someone else, well, that's going against your original marriage. That's adultery.

That's Jesus. Summary of the Old Testament on this. And so we'll think about that just for a second. You know, what does that mean for us today? It means that whatever state or status we find ourselves in right now, Jesus here calls us to take that core principle, marriages for life, to take that core principle seriously and to work out what it might look like to honor that wherever you are now.

What does it look like in all those exceptional circumstances? Well, that needs to be worked out case by case in God's church, pastorally, sensitively, wisely, humbly, lovingly seeking to uphold God's original intention for marriage, and seeking to care for everyone involved, especially when there's serious harm or hurt. That's all I'm going to say on that today, because to say more would deserve a whole nother sermon on this. But there, I'm very aware there are many and varied circumstances and experiences in this room. And so if it's something you want to explore further, how do I honor God's word, Then reach out.

There are resources to help us think through these things, but I want to encourage a deeply gracious spirit in every one of us when we talk about such difficult things. And most of all, we need to know the sufficient grace, the forgiveness full and freely given by the Father as he welcomes the sinner home. As we think about the grace won for us by Jesus on the cross, for every single one of us, and for those for whom divorce or adultery has been a reality, such is God's love for those who repent and trust in Jesus. He loves us despite our failings, whatever they are. But remember Jesus point.

What's he saying to the Pharisees?

Because they've ignored and quietly sidelined God's word on this topic and many other topics. Jesus says, you don't truly listen to God's word. That's your heart, Pharisees.

And just after Jesus drops that bombshell, he moves on. It's almost like he doesn't take another breath. There's no transition, no introduction. He just launches into a whole nother story. The very famous the Confronting Parable of the Rich Man.

And Lazarus. Let's take some time now, take a breath. The second part of our passage. Let's keep focusing for the second half. So Jesus, he tells the story of two men, a rich man and a poor man.

It's a simple story. It has three parts. Jesus tells us the circumstances of each man's life. He tells us their fates after death. And.

And then there's this strange conversation at the end. So first, what are their situations in life, these two men? Look at verse 19. Let's go through it quickly. It says, there was a rich man.

And if you look at the description, this guy has incredible wealth. This man has the absolute highest standard of living that you can imagine. He has the finest clothes that could ever be made. He eats A feast of the finest food every day. It says he's a multi, multi billionaire in our terms.

We can't grasp how rich, how lavish this guy's life is. It's beyond imagination. He's so rich, so prosperous. But what about the poor man? What are his circumstances?

The picture is of the absolute, total opposite, Jesus. He's intentionally giving us extreme extremes. Look at verse 20. The poor man lies at the rich gate, covered with sores, riddled with disease, homeless on the street. Verse 21.

He longed to eat the scraps, the rubbish from the rich man's table. But there he is with the stray dogs, lower than the dogs. It's actually meant to be off putting. So awful, so destitute, so helpless is this man's life. He has nothing.

His life is only suffering and agony. There could not be a bigger difference between these two men. Polar opposites. Riches, wealth, gladness, poverty, desperation, pain. But then we see what each of their fates are.

What happens to each man when he dies. Verse 22. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's side after his awful, awful life on earth, what happens to him? He gets the total opposite. He's lifted.

God's own angels personally escort him to heaven, to Abraham's side. There he is with the great patriarch Abraham, his home, with his father of the faith. For a faithful Jew, this is a beautiful picture of heaven, of comfort, of joy, of peace. But what about the rich man? He gets the total opposite of Lazarus and the total opposite of what he had in life.

Look at verse 23. He dies. He goes to Hades. That word, Hades, in the Bible it means the place of the dead. The place where the souls of dead people go.

And here we see that it's not a good place at all or in any way. This rich man's no longer rich. No, he's in. He's in torment. And he's far, far away from Abraham, from any joy or comfort or peace.

The truth is, he's facing what we call hell. God's righteous judgment and punishment for our sin after this life. Yet again, Jesus brings up a hard topic to talk about.

But so far we haven't been given a clear picture. Why? Why does Lazarus get to be in heaven and the rich man in Hades? What is it that each man did or didn't do? Is it because they were poor or rich?

We get the answer in the strange conversation that follows. It's a strange interaction, but it actually makes sense of the story. So look at verse 24. The rich man looks and sees Abraham, Lazarus far off. Father Abraham, he called, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I'm in agony in this flame.

He adds to the picture of just how awful God's judgment really is. It's so awful that he's desperate for just a single drop of water.

Abraham applies two things. Second verse 26, he says, well, no, we can't help you see, there's a great chasm between us. There's no way for us to get to each other. God doesn't allow anyone to pass from heaven to hell or hell to heaven. That's permanent.

This life is the time God's given for us to respond to him. After you die, you face judgment and the decision's final, permanent, non reversible. But second look at verse 25, Abraham saying, actually what's happening is right. See both your experiences of life on earth to the next, they've been totally reversed. Lazarus is bad has turned to comfort.

Your good has turned to agony. And there's actually good reason for that. What's the reason? It comes out in the next part of the conversation we have to keep following verse 26. Sorry.

27, 28. The rich man says, well if you can't help me, then send Lazarus back to earth to warn my brothers so they don't have to come here too. Verse 29 gives the reason. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets, remember the glue. They should listen to them.

Verse 30 makes it clear. And no Father Abraham, the rich man said, but if someone goes from the dead to them, they will repent.

What's the reason things have turned out this way for the rich man? What did the rich man do or not do in his life to end up in Hades and torment? He didn't listen to Moses and the prophets. He didn't listen to God's word in the Old Testament. He's good and powerful.

He's life giving judgment, warning word. He didn't hear it and repent. It didn't cut him to the heart. He didn't feel convicted of his sin. He didn't turn to God for grace and mercy.

He didn't live a life of repentance and faith and living out God's word. What did he do instead?

He loved his money. He loved being rich and feasting lavishly every day. He didn't love God and he didn't love his neighbor either. Because did you notice earlier in the story, he knows Lazarus name.

He knew who he was he knew that he was the poor destitute man who lived outside his gate on the street. He knew he was poor and didn't help him, knew that he was hungry and didn't even give him the scraps of rubbish from his table. He didn't listen to God's word on this very topic. That was clear. This is God's word in Deuteronomy 15.

If there is a poor person among you, one of your own brothers within any of your city gates, in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard hearted or tight fisted towards your brother. Instead you are to open your hand to him and freely loan him enough for whatever he needs.

But the rich man walked past Lazarus every day and did nothing. God's word was clear, but he would not listen. He refused. He was unwilling to listen to God's word. He never repented of his sin.

Look at how the conversation finishes. Jesus strives to point home. He says, no father Abraham, the rich man. But if someone from the dead goes to them like Lazarus, will they repent? Verse 31.

But Abraham told him, if they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded. If someone rises from the dead, he says they already have all that they need. They have God's clear written word, his word about judgment and salvation, about repentance and faith and the response that he calls for. If they have a hard heart to God's good written clear word, then if someone rises from the dead, it's not going to change them.

So what's the message of Jesus? Parable? It's something like this. Your circumstances in life, whether rich or poor, don't determine your eternal destiny. Now what determines your eternal destiny is whether you listen to God's word and repent or not.

And remember, he's still speaking to the Pharisees. Why is he telling them this? I think he's saying to them, you are that rich man, Pharisee. You are that rich man. You love money, you love the praise of others.

You don't listen to the law and the prophets. You don't listen to my message about God's kingdom. When God's word comes to you, you don't repent. You look moral and righteous. You say the right things, you affirm the right things.

But the reality of your heart is you don't love God, you don't love your neighbour. And his message to them is that if you don't repent or Hades, agony, God's judgment is what awaits you. Pharisee. That's Jesus. Hard and heavy word to the Pharisees standing before for him and to bring it together to us.

I think it's worth asking about our response to this, but thinking about the different kinds of people that Jesus might speak to here. See, all along the way we've seen in this passage that Jesus, he's speaking to the Pharisees, to those whose hearts are hard, to Jesus who reject him. He's not speaking to his disciples. And part of me hopes and prays that there's no one here today who would be like the Pharisees, who would have the heart of the Pharisee we've seen here. But another part of me does hope that such a person might be here so that you can hear Jesus word and have a chance to respond.

See, maybe today there are some here who don't want to listen to Jesus and His Word, who don't want to listen to God's Word, don't want to repent of their sin and turn to Him. Maybe even those who might profess to be a Christian and affirm Christian things. But in your heart of hearts, you're putting on a show. In reality, you don't listen to God's Word. You haven't repented and turned to Jesus.

To that person, Jesus says, listen, repent. The righteous judgment of God is coming. The results are final. And to fall under the wrath and, and punishment for your sin, for your rebellion against Him. It's agony, it's fire, it's separation from anything and everything that's good.

The worrying thing, though, is what Jesus says in this passage, that if someone's unwilling to listen and repent to God's Word, then even if someone rises from the dead, you won't change your mind. But maybe, just maybe, hearing Jesus words today, speaking directly to you, if you're here, it might just cause you to stop and think and realize their truth and bring you to bow your knee to Jesus and say, have mercy on me. I'm a sinner. Forgive me. And if you do, he will.

If you repent and trust in Jesus, he will welcome you and forgive you. Because he died for you. He went through agony on your behalf.

And God the Father will welcome you with open arms now and into all eternity. I plead with you to think about that. But what about those who have done that, who are Jesus disciples, followers of Him? We've listened to God's Word, we've repented, we've humbly sought to live for Him. How does Jesus speak to us?

In one sense, he doesn't. Jesus spoke these weighty words to his enemies. And so the Christian here today shouldn't be crushed by what he says. Warned, yes, challenged to think about our hearts and how we might be tempted to be like the Pharisees, sure, but actually, for us who have listened and repented, it's actually Lazarus who we identify with in the story. Do you know that in all of Jesus parables, Lazarus is the one person who gets given a name?

No other parable, the character gets a name. Why is that? It's because of what the name Lazarus means. It means the one God helps.

Jesus wasn't speaking to his disciples here, but there's a message for us.

God is your helper.

He loves you. He will help you if you have listened to His Word and repented. And even if your life, your experience of life is like Lazarus or for that fact, like Jesus, even if you experienced the poorest and most difficult and painful and awful life that was possible in this world, but you listen and repent, then God is your helper and you'll be welcomed into eternity, to Abraham's side, to heaven, to a new creation where every tear is wiped away and sin and death and grief and pain are gone and there's only comfort and joy and peace as you see Jesus face to face. Not because we've done anything good, not because we deserve any praise for just admitting that we're sinners. Not because we're any better than a Pharisee.

Not because we've just opened our hands and received and accepted a gift of God's grace through trusting in Jesus and his death for us. No. Simply because we have done that, trusted in God as our helper. Doesn't that comfort us, those of us like Lazarus?

And to finish off, I just think, doesn't that make us want to proclaim Jesus more and more to our world? See God? How has he chosen to work in the world? Through His Word. Through His Word, written and then shared and proclaimed.

And here Jesus says His Word is enough. We don't need a miracle. We don't need someone to rise from the dead. Though Jesus did His Word, just His Word is powerful to save people from sin and Hades and the agony of God's right judgment. Sadly, there are those who won't listen and repent.

But that shouldn't discourage us because there are those who will, those like us. And so our job is simply to keep sharing God's Word, the gospel, the good news of Jesus, and pray and trust that His Word will do its work in people's hearts. Let's pray that he would.

Our gracious Father, we pray that you would give us great confidence in your word to save the lost, to challenge us to know that we are sinners, but you are a great Savior and that you sent your son for us. Help us to be bold to proclaim that message knowing that it can change the lives of those around us. Father, help us also not to have the spirit of the Pharisee, the heart of the Pharisee that doesn't listen or repent when your word is heard. Help us to have the heart that does. And help us to have the comfort to know that as we listen to your word and repent of our sin, then we have the great promise and hope of being helped by you like Lazarus in that story and have eternity to look forward to of joy and peace and comfort.

Give us joy in these things and strength in Jesus name. Amen.