The sermon continues a series on the parables of Jesus, turning to Luke 16:19-31, the account of the rich man and Lazarus. Though not explicitly labeled a parable in the text, the sermon treats it as one that nonetheless carries the weight of a real and plausible scenario. It follows directly from the parable of the dishonest manager taught two weeks earlier, where Jesus instructed his hearers to use money wisely for eternal purposes. The Pharisees, described in Luke as lovers of money, ridiculed that teaching; they loved money and used people, even turning their religious observance and almsgiving into a means of gaining public praise. Jesus, by contrast, calls his followers to love people and use money: money is meant to be a good servant but becomes a cruel master when it is loved rather than used, since the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.

The sermon then turns to the two figures in the story. The rich man, unnamed, is clothed in purple and fine linen and feasts sumptuously every day: a portrait of pure hedonism, a life oriented entirely around comfort and indulgence. Lazarus, by contrast, is a diseased beggar laid at the rich man's gate, longing even for the scraps used to wipe grease from the rich man's hands, while dogs lick his sores. Both men die. Lazarus is carried by the angels to Abraham's side, while the rich man is buried and finds himself in torment in Hades. The sermon insists on two clarifications before examining the dialogue that follows. First, the rich man is not in torment because he was rich: Abraham himself, whom the rich man addresses twice as "Father Abraham," was among the wealthiest men in the Old Testament and is in glory. Rather, the rich man is condemned because of his attitude toward his wealth: Lazarus's presence at his gate was a test of whether the love of God truly abided in him, and he failed it, closing his heart to a brother in need. Genuine faith, the sermon stresses, quoting Martin Luther's dictum that we are saved by faith alone but that faith is never alone, must manifest in works of love; James's warning that faith without works is dead describes exactly the rich man's condition. Wealth, John Piper is cited as saying, is dangerous chiefly for "the power it gives and the pride it feeds." Second, Lazarus is not in Abraham's bosom because he was poor (Scripture never treats poverty itself as a virtue) but because, as his name (a Greek form of Eliezer, meaning "God helps") signifies, he depended wholly on God's mercy through faith alone.

The heart of the sermon walks through three exchanges between the rich man and Abraham. First, the rich man begs for mercy, asking that Lazarus dip his finger in water to cool his tongue: a request the sermon exposes as entirely self-serving, void of any repentance, and still treating Lazarus as a servant to be commanded rather than an equal. Abraham's reply is not a teaching of simple role-reversal between rich and poor but a declaration that everything the rich man once treasured is now gone, and that a great, uncrossable chasm now separates them, echoing Matthew Henry's image of a stone rolled to the door of the pit that cannot be rolled back. This underscores the sermon's central warning of finality: repentance and answered prayer belong only to this present life, not to eternity; once death comes, there is no more appeal. Second, the rich man asks that Lazarus be sent to warn his five brothers. The sermon, citing the nineteenth-century preacher Brownlow North, argues this is not love but horror at the prospect of his brothers joining him in torment because they followed his example and values. Abraham answers that the brothers already have Moses and the Prophets: Scripture is sufficient, and the real problem was never a lack of opportunity to hear the word but a refusal to truly believe what was heard. Third, the rich man protests that a messenger from the dead would surely persuade them, but Abraham insists that those who will not hear Moses and the Prophets would not be convinced even by a resurrection. The sermon connects this to the sign of Jonah, to Christ's own death and resurrection, and to the account of the other Lazarus raised from the dead in John's Gospel, whose witnesses still refused to believe and instead plotted to kill both him and Jesus: proof that miracles have limited power to produce faith compared to the preached word of Christ crucified.

The sermon closes with a pastoral illustration of a recently deceased believer, faithfully known for sharing daily early-morning devotions with others despite his own weaknesses, and testified by his children to have said he was never afraid to die because he was always ready to meet his Savior. The congregation is urged toward urgent repentance and daily feeding on Scripture, not a once-a-week habit, since no one knows the hour appointed for them, and the finality proclaimed in the parable should press every hearer to examine whether their trust rests in wealth and comfort or in Christ alone.

Bible Verses Used

• Luke 16:19-31: The primary text, the account of the rich man and Lazarus, their deaths, and the three-part dialogue between the rich man and Abraham that structures the whole sermon.

• 1 John 3:17: Used to show that closing one's heart against a brother in need, as the rich man did to Lazarus, reveals the absence of God's love within.

• James 2:15-17: Cited alongside 1 John 3:17 to argue that faith without corresponding works of love is dead, exactly the rich man's failure.

• 1 Corinthians 1:22-23: Quoted ("Jews demand signs... we preach Christ crucified") to contrast the rich man's demand for a miraculous sign with the sufficiency of the preached word.

• Matthew 12:39: Referenced for the "sign of Jonah," which the sermon links to Christ's death and resurrection as the ultimate and sufficient sign already given.

• John 11: Referenced via the account of the other Lazarus raised from the dead, whose witnesses still refused to believe, illustrating that miracles alone cannot produce faith apart from the word.