Thursday, September 4, 2008, Part 2

Luke 16:19-31

IDEA: Attention to the Bible can change our lives and our eternal destinies.

PURPOSE: To make listeners aware of the importance of the Scriptures in their lives.

Have you ever seen those pictures in which there are other pictures hidden in the details?

Once you find the “hidden pictures,” they seem completely obvious.

That is often true of the stories Jesus told. We have to find ourselves in the text.

Listen to this parable that Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. As you listen, think about where you are in the story.

(Text read by Max McLean.)

I. When you hear this story, with whom do you identify?

When you hear the story, do you identify with Lazarus, the beggar?     

Whom are we to identify with? The five brothers of the rich man. We might not notice them, but they are crucial to the story.

II. Why are the brothers brought into the story?

They are still alive and have choices to make.

They are like the rich man before his death. There were six brothers in the family. What do you know about them?

III. What turns someone’s heart from selfishness, greed, complacency, and indifference to the love of God and of others?

Spiritualism would tell us that it is hearing from the dead.

Signs and wonders—the resurrection of Lazarus would be startling, but not convincing. We read in John 11:53 that when Jesus raised another Lazarus, the religious leaders plotted to assassinate Jesus.

Abraham says change comes only from the Scriptures: if they won’t listen to Moses and the Prophets, nothing else will work—not even someone rising from the dead.

Signs and wonders may confirm the faith of the faithful and seal the fate of the unbelieving, but it is the Word of God that brings life.

Hearing the Scriptures is not like listening to a novel. We stand before heaven and hell.

Rich and poor stand before the same Word, and they must respond.