And a beggar named Lazarus lay at his gate, covered with soresA certain beggar, named Lazarus, was taken to his gate, full of sores,And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,and a certain beggar named Lazarus was laid at his gate, full of sores,
4 sermons cite this verse
… I am honored and truly overjoyed to worship God with you today. Our second reading is from the Gospel of Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31. Hear God's word to us today. there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day and at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table even the dogs would come and lick his sores the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue, for I am in agony in these flames. But Abraham said, Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things. But now he is comforted here and you are in agony. …
The first point I want to make is the poor man did not go to heaven because he was poor. The rich man did not go to hell because he was rich. That is not what the scripture teaches. If anybody goes to heaven, they do not go because of anything they bring to the picture. The reason the poor man went to heaven is because the poor man loved God, served God the best he could with what he had. He was a man who lived for God. And I think there's a hidden message in this. just because you live for God does not mean that your life will all go good. I think that if this man went to heaven, he obeyed God and lived for God the best that he could, which means he was not a bum that's living in the street like somebody who doesn't try. He knew to work. He knew the teachings of the Scripture. He knew to go provide for himself. …
The drama of this is obvious. This is a man, this rich man, who obviously was religious. He believed in heaven and hell, we can assume. He believed in sin and righteousness. He believed in judgment. But he also believed he was headed to heaven. That is the delusion of self-righteous religious people. He deserved heaven, and so did everybody in His family. And God had validated that belief by making them rich, which they saw as God's stamp of approval on their righteousness. It's a shocking story. In fact, it's so shocking that you wonder why Jesus would even tell such an agonizingly sad story. The answer to that is as a warning, and any warning is both merciful and compassionate. To teach people who expect heaven but end up in hell what went wrong. How vital is that? Now the whole story is just loaded with contrasts and reversals. Go down to verse 25. That's the heart of the contrast and reversals. During your life, the rich man, you received your good things. …
1. How strange a paradox is this! How contrary to the common apprehension of men! Who is so confirmed in unbelief as not to think, “If one came to me from the dead, I should be effectually persuaded to repent?” But this passage affords us a more strange saying: (Luke 16:13:) “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” “No! Why not? Why cannot we serve both?” will a true servant of mammon say. Accordingly, the Pharisees, who supposed they served God, and did cordially serve mammon, derided him: exemykterizon. A word expressive of the deepest contempt. But he said, (Luke 16:15, ) “Ye are they who justify yourselves before men; but God knoweth your hearts: And that which is highly esteemed among men, is (very commonly) an abomination before God:” A terrible proof of which our Lord subjoins in the remaining part of the chapter. 2. But is the subsequent account merely a parable, or a real history? It has been believed by many, and roundly asserted, to be a mere parable, because of one or two circumstances therein, which are not easy to be accounted for. In particular, it is hard to conceive, how a person in hell could hold conversation with one in paradise. But, admitting we cannot account for this, will it overbalance an express assertion of our Lord: “There was,” says our Lord, “a certain rich man.” — Was there not? Did such a man never exist? “And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus.”- -Was there, or was there not? Is it not bold enough, positively to deny what our blessed Lord positively affirms? Therefore, we cannot reasonably doubt, but the whole narration, with all its circumstances, is exactly true. And Theophylact (one of the ancient commentators on the Scriptures) observes upon the text, that, “according to the tradition of the Jews, Lazarus lived at Jerusalem.” …