‘No, father Abraham,’ he said, ‘but if someone is sent to them from the dead, they will repent.’“He said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent.
3 sermons cite this verse
so a number of years ago i uh read this book i've talked about it before but uh in it it talks about this uh this shinto japanese concept of misogi so the idea came out of the shinto religion that is you would do this if you wanted to like be purified you would go into like a frozen river or freezing river or like frozen like ocean that kind of situation and you'd go in one way and the idea is you'd be so enter into this discomfort to such a degree that you would emerged change, like the idea, right? The idea is that you do this difficult thing and it purifies you somehow. So that's the Shinto idea. In the West, we got a hold of that. And in the West, people kind of changed it. And they made it into like any kind of like physical or emotional or even like mental challenge. So the author of this book, he said that he and four of his friends, one of their masogis was, they went to the Pacific coast and they would dive down and pick up a rock that was really heavy, and they would walk on the ocean floor for five miles. …
But this seems to be put into the parable chiefly to introduce what follows, the reply which Abraham made to him, Luke xvi. 29 They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. As much as to say, They have already abundant warning and instruction, which God himself hath provided for them, let them make use of that. The rich man replies, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent . Then come in the words of the text, And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead . By Moses and the prophets is meant the whole Old Testament, which was the whole canon of Scripture which they had in those times. The hearing of them implies, attending to what they say, believing them, and obeying them—they would not be. persuaded—that is, they would not be persuaded to take thorough care of their souls, to forsake their sins and turn to God, so as to avoid this place of torments—though, one rose from the dead; though one should so from the invisible world, either from heaven, where they see the torments of the damned, or from hell, where they feel them. …
10. Then he said, “I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house; for I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.” (Luke 16:27, 28.) Two entirely different motives have been assigned for this extraordinary request. Some ascribe it wholly to self-love, to a fear of the bitter reproaches which, he might easily suppose, his brethren would pour upon him, if, in consequence of his example, and perhaps advice, they came to the same place of torment. Others have imputed it to a nobler motive. They suppose, as the misery of the wicked will not be complete till the day of judgment, so neither will their wickedness. Consequently, they believe that, till that time, they may retain some sparks of natural affection; and they, not improbably, imagine that this may have occasioned his desire to prevent their sharing his own torment. 11. “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the Prophets: let them hear them.” (Luke 16:29.) “And he said, Nay, father Abraham; but if one went to them from the dead, they will repent.” Who would not be of the same opinion? Might not any one reasonably suppose that a message solemnly delivered by one that came from the dead must have an irresistible force? Who would not think, “I myself could not possibly withstand such a preacher of repentance?” II. This I conceive to be the meaning of the words. I will now endeavour, with the help of God, to apply them. And I beseech you, brethren. while I am doing this, “to suffer the word of exhortation.” The more closely these things are applied to your souls, the more ye may profit thereby. …