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21 - A Great Gulf Fixed - Christ's Object Lessons · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: Chapter twenty one, A great gulf fixed in the parable
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  Speaker 1: of the rich Man and Lazarus. Christ shows that in
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  Speaker 1: this life men decide their eternal destiny. During probationary time,
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  Speaker 1: the grace of God is offered to every soul. But
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  Speaker 1: if men waste their opportunities in self pleasing, they cut
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  Speaker 1: themselves off from everlasting life. No after probation will be
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  Speaker 1: granted them. By their own choice. They have fixed an
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  Speaker 1: impassable gulf between them and their God. This parable draws
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  Speaker 1: a contrast between the rich, who have not made God
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  Speaker 1: their dependence, and the poor, who have made God their dependence.
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  Speaker 1: Christ shows that the time is coming when the position
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  Speaker 1: of these two classes will be reversed. Those who are
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  Speaker 1: poor in this world's goods, yet who trust in God
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  Speaker 1: and are patient in suffering, will one day be exalted
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  Speaker 1: above those who now hold the highest positions the world
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  Speaker 1: can give, but who have not surrendered their life to God.
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  Speaker 1: There was a certain rich man, Christ said, which was
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  Speaker 1: clothed in purple and fine lines, and fared sumptuously every day.
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  Speaker 1: And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was
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  Speaker 1: laid at his gate, full of sores and desiring to
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  Speaker 1: be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
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  Speaker 1: man's table. The rich man did not belong to the
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  Speaker 1: class represented by the unjust judge, who openly declared his
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  Speaker 1: disregard for God and man. He claimed to be a
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  Speaker 1: son of Abraham. He did not treat the beggar with
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  Speaker 1: violence or require him to go away, because the sight
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  Speaker 1: of him was disagreeable. If the poor loathsome specimen of
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  Speaker 1: humanity could be comforted by beholding him as he entered
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  Speaker 1: his gates, the rich man was willing that he should remain,
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  Speaker 1: but he was selfishly indifferent to the needs of his
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  Speaker 1: suffering brother. There were then no hospitals in which the
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  Speaker 1: sick might be cared for. The suffering and needy were
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  Speaker 1: brought to the notice of those to whom the Lord
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  Speaker 1: had entrusted wealth, that they might receive help and sympathy.
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  Speaker 1: Thus it was with the beggar and the rich man.
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  Speaker 1: Lazarus was in great need of help, for he was
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  Speaker 1: without friends, home, money, or food. Yet he was allowed
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  Speaker 1: to remain in this condition day after day, while the
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  Speaker 1: wealthy nobleman had every once applied. The one who was
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  Speaker 1: abundantly able to relieve the sufferings of his fellow creature
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  Speaker 1: lived to himself as many live to day. There are
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  Speaker 1: to day close beside us many who are hungry, naked,
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  Speaker 1: and homeless, and neglect to impart of our means to
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  Speaker 1: these needy, suffering ones. Places upon us a burden of
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  Speaker 1: guilt which we shall one day fear to meet. All
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  Speaker 1: covetousness is condemned as idolatry. All selfish indulgence is an
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  Speaker 1: offense in God's sight. God had made the rich man
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  Speaker 1: a steward of his means, and it was his duty
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  Speaker 1: to attend to just such cases as that of the beggar.
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  Speaker 1: The command had been given, thou shalt love the Lord
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  Speaker 1: thy God, with all thine heart, and with all thy soul,
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  Speaker 1: and with all thy might, And thou shalt love thy
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  Speaker 1: neighbor as thyself. The rich man was a Jew, and
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  Speaker 1: he was acquainted with the command of God, but he
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  Speaker 1: forgot that he was accountable for the use of his
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  Speaker 1: intrusted means and capabilities. The Lord's blessings rested upon him abundantly,
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  Speaker 1: but he employed them selfishly to honor himself, not his maker.
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  Speaker 1: In proportion to his abundance was his obligation to use
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  Speaker 1: his gifts for the uplifting of humanity. This was the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's command, but the rich man had no thought of
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  Speaker 1: his obligation to God. He lent money and took interest
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  Speaker 1: for what he loaned, but he returned no interest for
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  Speaker 1: what God had lent him. He had knowledge and talents,
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  Speaker 1: but did not improve them. Forgetful of his accountability to God,
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  Speaker 1: he devoted all his powers to pleasure everything with which
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  Speaker 1: he was surrounded. His round of amusements, the praise and
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  Speaker 1: flattery of his friends, ministered to his selfish enjoyment. So
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  Speaker 1: engrossed was he in the society of his friends that
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  Speaker 1: he lost all sense of his responsibility to co operate
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  Speaker 1: with God. In his ministry of mercy, he had opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to understand the Word of God and to practice its teachings.
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  Speaker 1: But the pleasure loving society he chose so occupied his
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  Speaker 1: time that he forgot the God of eternity. The time
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  Speaker 1: came when a change took place in the condition of
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  Speaker 1: the two men. The poor man had suffered day by day,
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  Speaker 1: but he had patiently and quietly endured. In the course
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  Speaker 1: of time, he died and was buried. There was no
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  Speaker 1: one to mourn for him, but by his patience in suffering.
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  Speaker 1: He had witnessed for Christ. He had endured the test
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  Speaker 1: of his faith, and at his death he is represented
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  Speaker 1: as being carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Lazarus
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  Speaker 1: represents the suffering poor who believe in Christ. When the
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  Speaker 1: trumpet sounds, and all that are in the graves hear
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  Speaker 1: Christ's voice, and come forth, they will receive their reward
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  Speaker 1: for their faith in God was not a mere theory,
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  Speaker 1: but a reality. The rich man also died and was buried,
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  Speaker 1: and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,
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  Speaker 1: and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom,
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  Speaker 1: and he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me,
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  Speaker 1: and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of
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  Speaker 1: his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I
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  Speaker 1: am tormented in this flame. In this parable, Christ was
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  Speaker 1: meeting the people on their own ground. The doctrine of
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  Speaker 1: a conscious state of existence between death and the resurrection
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  Speaker 1: was held by many of those who were listening to
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  Speaker 1: Christ's words. The Savior knew of their ideas, and he
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  Speaker 1: framed his parable so as to inculcate important truths through
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  Speaker 1: these preconceived opinions. He held up before his hearers a mirror,
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  Speaker 1: wherein they might see themselves in their true relation to God.
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  Speaker 1: He used the prevailing opinion to convey the idea he
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  Speaker 1: wished to make prominent to all that no man is
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  Speaker 1: valued for his possessions, for all he has belongs to
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  Speaker 1: him only as lent by the Lord. A misuse of
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  Speaker 1: these gifts will place him below the poorest and most
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  Speaker 1: afflicted man who loves God and trusts in him. Christ
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  Speaker 1: desired his hearers to understand that it is impossible for
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  Speaker 1: men to secure the salvation of the soul after death.
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  Speaker 1: Son Abraham is represent answering. Remember that thou in thy
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  Speaker 1: lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things.
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  Speaker 1: But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And
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  Speaker 1: beside all this, between us and you, there is a
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  Speaker 1: great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from
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  Speaker 1: hence to you cannot neither can they pass to us
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  Speaker 1: that would come from thence. Thus Christ represented the hopelessness
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  Speaker 1: of looking for a second probation. This life is the
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  Speaker 1: only time given to man in which to prepare for eternity.
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  Speaker 1: The rich man had not abandoned the idea that he
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  Speaker 1: was a child of Abraham, and in his distress he
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  Speaker 1: is represented as calling upon him for aid. Father, Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: he prayed, have mercy on me. He did not pray
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  Speaker 1: to God, but to Abraham. Thus he showed that he
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  Speaker 1: placed Abraham above God, and that he relied on his
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  Speaker 1: relationship to Abraham for salvation. The thief on the cross
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  Speaker 1: offered his prayer to Christ. Remember me when thou comest
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  Speaker 1: into thy kingdom, he said, And at once the response
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  Speaker 1: came verily, I say unto THEE to day, as I
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  Speaker 1: hang on the cross in humiliation and suffering, Thou shalt
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  Speaker 1: be with me in paradise. But the rich man prayed
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  Speaker 1: to Abraham, and his petition was not granted. Christ alone
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  Speaker 1: is exalted to be a prince and a savior, for
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  Speaker 1: to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Neither
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  Speaker 1: is there salvation in any other. The rich man had
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  Speaker 1: spent his life in self pleasing, and too late he
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  Speaker 1: saw that he had made no provision for eternity. He
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  Speaker 1: realized his folly and thought of his brothers, who would
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  Speaker 1: go on as he had done, living to please themselves.
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  Speaker 1: Then he made the request, I pray therefore, Father, that
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  Speaker 1: thou wouldst send him Lazarus to my father's house. For
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  Speaker 1: I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them,
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  Speaker 1: lest they also come into this place of torment. But
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  Speaker 1: Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the Prophets.
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  Speaker 1: Let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: but if one went unto them from the dead, they
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  Speaker 1: will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear
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  Speaker 1: not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded.
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  Speaker 1: Though one rose from the dead. When the rich man
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  Speaker 1: solicited additional evidence for his brothers, he was plainly told
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  Speaker 1: that should this evidence be given, they would not be persuaded.
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  Speaker 1: His request cast a reflection on God. It was as
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  Speaker 1: if the rich man had said, if you had more
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  Speaker 1: thoroughly warned me, I should not now be here. Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: in his answer to this request, is represented as saying,
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  Speaker 1: your brothers have been sufficiently warned. Light has been given them,
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  Speaker 1: but they would not see. Truth has been presented to them,
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  Speaker 1: but they would not hear. If they hear not Moses
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  Speaker 1: and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded. Though one
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  Speaker 1: rose from the dead. These words were proved true in
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  Speaker 1: the history of the Jewish nation. Christ's last and crowning
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  Speaker 1: miracle was the raising of Lazarus of Bethany after he
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  Speaker 1: had been dead four days. The Jews were given this
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  Speaker 1: wonderful evidence of the Saviour's divinity, but they rejected it.
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  Speaker 1: Lazarus rose from the dead and bore his testimony before them,
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  Speaker 1: but they hardened their hearts against all evidence, and even
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  Speaker 1: sought to take his life. The Law and the prophets
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  Speaker 1: are God's appointed agencies for the salvation of men. Christ said,
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  Speaker 1: let them give heed to these evidences. If they do
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  Speaker 1: not listen to the voice of God and his word,
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  Speaker 1: the testimony of a witness raised from the dead would
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  Speaker 1: not be heeded. Those who heed Moses and the prophets
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  Speaker 1: will require no greater light than God has given. But
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  Speaker 1: if men reject the light and fail to appreciate the
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  Speaker 1: opportunities granted them, they would not hear. If one from
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  Speaker 1: the dead should come to them with a message, they
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  Speaker 1: would not be convinced even by this evidence. For those
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  Speaker 1: who reject the Law and the prophets, so harden their
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  Speaker 1: hearts that they will reject all light. The conversation between
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  Speaker 1: Abraham and the once rich man is figurative. The lesson
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  Speaker 1: to be gathered from it is that every man is
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  Speaker 1: given sufficient light for the discharge much of the duties
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  Speaker 1: required of him. Man's responsibilities are proportionate to his opportunities
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  Speaker 1: and privileges. God gives to every one sufficient light and
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  Speaker 1: grace to do the work he has given him to do.
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  Speaker 1: If man fails to do that which a little light
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  Speaker 1: shows to be his duty, greater light would only reveal
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  Speaker 1: unfaithfulness neglect to improve the blessings given. He that is
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  Speaker 1: faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much,
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  Speaker 1: And he that is unjust in the least is unjust
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  Speaker 1: also in much. Those who refuse to be enlightened by
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  Speaker 1: Moses and the prophets and ask for some wonderful miracle
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  Speaker 1: to be performed, would not be convinced if their wish
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  Speaker 1: were granted. The parable of the rich man and Lazarus
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  Speaker 1: shows how the two classes represented by these men are
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  Speaker 1: estimated in the unseen world. There is no sin in
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  Speaker 1: being rich if riches are not acquired by injustice. A
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  Speaker 1: rich man is not condemned for having riches, but condemnation
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  Speaker 1: rests upon him if the means entrusted to him is
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  Speaker 1: spent in selfishness. Far better might he lay up his
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  Speaker 1: money beside the throne of God by using it to
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  Speaker 1: do good. Death cannot make any man poor who thus
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  Speaker 1: devotes himself to seeking eternal riches. But the man who
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  Speaker 1: hoards his treasure for self cannot take any of it
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  Speaker 1: to heaven. He has proved himself to be an unfaithful steward.
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  Speaker 1: During his lifetime, he had his good things, but he
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  Speaker 1: was forgetful of his obligation to God. He failed of
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  Speaker 1: securing the heavenly treasure. The man who had so many
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  Speaker 1: privileges is represented to us as one who should have
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  Speaker 1: cultivated his gifts so that his works should reach into
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  Speaker 1: the great beyond, carrying with them improved spiritual advantages. It
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  Speaker 1: is the purpose of redemption not only to blot out sin,
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  Speaker 1: but to give back to man these spiritual gifts lost
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  Speaker 1: because of sins. Dwarfing power, money cannot be carried into
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  Speaker 1: the next life. It is not needed there. But the
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  Speaker 1: good deeds done in winning souls to Christ are carried
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  Speaker 1: to the heavenly courts. But those who selfishly spend the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's gifts on themselves leaving their needy fellow creatures without aid,
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  Speaker 1: and doing nothing to advance God's work in the world.
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  Speaker 1: Dishonor their maker. Robbery of God is written opposite their
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  Speaker 1: names in the books of Heaven. The rich man had
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  Speaker 1: all that money could procure, but he did not possess
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  Speaker 1: the riches that would have kept his account right with God.
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  Speaker 1: He had lived as if all that he possessed were
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  Speaker 1: his own. He had neglected the call of God and
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  Speaker 1: the claims of the suffering poor. But at length there
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  Speaker 1: comes a call which he cannot neglect, by a power
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  Speaker 1: which he cannot question or resist. He is commanded to
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  Speaker 1: quit the premises of which he is no longer steward.
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  Speaker 1: The once rich man is reduced to hopeless poverty. The
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  Speaker 1: robe of Christ's righteousness, woven in the loom of Heaven,
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  Speaker 1: can never cover him. He who once wore the richest purple,
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  Speaker 1: the finest linen, is reduced to nakedness. His probation is ended.
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  Speaker 1: He brought nothing into the world, and he can take
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  Speaker 1: nothing out of it. Christ lifted the curtain and presented
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  Speaker 1: this picture before priests and rulers, scribes and fair Look
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  Speaker 1: at it, you who are rich in this world's goods,
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  Speaker 1: and are not rich towards God. Will you not contemplate
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  Speaker 1: this scene? That which is highly esteemed among men is
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  Speaker 1: abhorrent in the sight of God. Christ asks, what shall
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  Speaker 1: it profit a man if he shall gain the whole
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  Speaker 1: world and lose his own soul? Or what shall a
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  Speaker 1: man give in exchange for his soul? Application to the
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  Speaker 1: Jewish nation. When Christ gave the parable of the rich
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  Speaker 1: man and Lazarus, there were many in the Jewish nation
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  Speaker 1: in the pitiable condition of the rich man using the
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  Speaker 1: Lord's goods for selfish gratification, preparing themselves to hear the sentence.
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  Speaker 1: Thou artweighed in the balances, and Art found wanting. The
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  Speaker 1: rich man was favored with every temporal and spiritual blessing,
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  Speaker 1: but he refused to co operate with God in the
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  Speaker 1: use of those blessings. Thus it was with the Jewish nation.
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  Speaker 1: The Lord had made the Jews the depositories of sacred truth.
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  Speaker 1: He had appointed them stewards of his grace. He had
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  Speaker 1: given them every spiritual and every tyrie pril advantage, and
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  Speaker 1: he called upon them to impart these blessings. Special instruction
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  Speaker 1: had been given them in regard to their treatment of
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  Speaker 1: their brethren who had fallen into decay, of the stranger
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  Speaker 1: within their gates, and of the poor among them. They
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  Speaker 1: were not to seek to gain everything for their own advantage,
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  Speaker 1: but were to remember those in need and share with them.
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  Speaker 1: And God promised to bless them in accordance with their
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  Speaker 1: deeds of love and mercy. But like the rich man,
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  Speaker 1: they put forth no helping hand to relieve the temporal
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  Speaker 1: or spiritual necessities of suffering humanity. Filled with pride, they
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  Speaker 1: regarded themselves as the chosen and favored people of God.
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  Speaker 1: Yet they did not serve or worship God. They put
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  Speaker 1: their dependence in the fact that they were children of Abraham.
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  Speaker 1: We be Abraham's seed, they said proudly. When the crisis came,
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  Speaker 1: it was revealed that they had divorced themselves from God
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  Speaker 1: and had placed their trust in Abraham as if he
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  Speaker 1: were God. Christ longed to let light shine into the
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  Speaker 1: darkened minds of the Jewish people. He said to them,
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  Speaker 1: if ye were a Abraham's children, ye would do the
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  Speaker 1: works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me,
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  Speaker 1: a man that hath told you the truth which I
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  Speaker 1: have heard of God. This did not Abraham. Christ recognized
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  Speaker 1: no virtue in lineage. He taught that spiritual connection supersedes
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  Speaker 1: all natural connection. The Jews claimed to have descended from Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: but by failing to do the works of Abraham, they
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  Speaker 1: proved that they were not his true children. Only those
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  Speaker 1: who proved themselves to be spiritually in harmony with Abraham
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  Speaker 1: by obeying the voice of God are reckoned as of
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  Speaker 1: true descent. Although the beggar belonged to a class looked
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  Speaker 1: upon by men as inferior, Christ recognized him as one
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  Speaker 1: whom Abraham would take into the very closest friendship. The
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  Speaker 1: rich man, though surrounded with all the luxuries of life,
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  Speaker 1: was so ignorant that he put Abraham where God should
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  Speaker 1: have been. If he had appreciated his exalted privileges and
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  Speaker 1: had allowed God's spirit to mold his mind and heart,
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  Speaker 1: he would have had an altogether different position, so oh
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  Speaker 1: with the nation he represented. If they had responded to
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  Speaker 1: the divine call, their future would have been wholly different.
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  Speaker 1: They would have shown true spiritual discernment. They had means
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  Speaker 1: which God would have increased, making it sufficient to bless
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  Speaker 1: and enlighten the whole world. But they had so far
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  Speaker 1: separated from the Lord's arrangement, that their whole life was perverted.
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  Speaker 1: They failed to use their gifts as God's stewards in
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  Speaker 1: accordance with truth and righteousness. Eternity was not brought into
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  Speaker 1: their reckoning, and the result of their unfaithfulness was a
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  Speaker 1: ruin to the whole nation. Christ knew that at the
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  Speaker 1: destruction of Jerusalem, the Jews would remember his warning, and
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  Speaker 1: it was so when calamity came upon Jerusalem, when starvation
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  Speaker 1: and suffering of every kind came upon the people, they
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  Speaker 1: remembered these words of Christ and understood the parable They
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  Speaker 1: had brought their suffering upon themselves by their neglect to
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  Speaker 1: let their God given light shine forth to the world
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  Speaker 1: in the last days. The closing scenes of this Earth's
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  Speaker 1: history are portray in the closing of the rich Man's history.
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  Speaker 1: The rich Man claimed to be a son of Abraham,
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  Speaker 1: but he was separated from Abraham by an impassable gulf,
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  Speaker 1: A character wrongly developed. Abraham served God following his word
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  Speaker 1: in faith and obedience, but the rich Man was unmindful
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  Speaker 1: of God and the needs of suffering humanity. The great
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  Speaker 1: gulf fixed between him and Abraham was the gulf of disobedience.
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  Speaker 1: There are many to day who are following the same course.
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  Speaker 1: Though church members, they are unconverted. They may take part
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  Speaker 1: in the church service. They may chant the psalm. As
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  Speaker 1: the heart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my
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  Speaker 1: soul after thee O God. But they testify to a falsehood.
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  Speaker 1: They are no more righteous in God's sight than is
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  Speaker 1: the veriest sinner. The soul that longs after the excitement
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  Speaker 1: of worldly pleasure, the mind that is full of love
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  Speaker 1: for display, cannot serve God like the rich man in
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  Speaker 1: the parable. Such a one has no inclination to war
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  Speaker 1: against the lust of the flesh. He longs to indulge appetite.
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  Speaker 1: He chooses the atmosphere of sin. He is suddenly snatched
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  Speaker 1: away by death, and he goes down to the grave
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  Speaker 1: with the character formed during his lifetime in co partnership
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  Speaker 1: with Satanic agencies. In the grave, he has no power
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: to choose anything, be it good or evil. For in
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: the day, when a man dies, his thoughts perish. When
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: the voice of God awakes the dead, he will come
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: from the grave with the same appetites and passions, the
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: same likes and dislikes that he cherished when living. God
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: works no miracle to recreate a man who would not
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: be recreated when he was granted every opportunity and provided
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: with every facility during his lifetime, he took no delight
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: in God nor found pleasure in his service. His character
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: is not in harmony with God, and he could not
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: be happy in the heavenly family. To day. There is
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: a class in our world who are self righteous. They
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: are not gluttons, they are not drunkards, they are not infidels.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: But they desire to live for themselves, not for God.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: He is not in their thoughts. Therefore they are classed
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: with unbelievers. Were it possible for them to enter the
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: gates of the City of God, they could have no
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: right to the Tree of Life, for when God's commandments
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: were laid before them, with all their binding claims, they said, no,
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: they have not served God here. Therefore they would not
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: serve him hereafter they could not live in His presence,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and they would feel that any place was preferable to heaven.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: To learn of Christ means to receive his grace, which
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: is his character. But those who do not appreciate and
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: utilize the precious opportunities and sacred influences granted them on
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: earth are not fitted to take part in the pure
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: devotion of heaven. Their characters are not molded according to
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: the divine similitude. By their own neglect, they have formed
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: a chasm which nothing can bridge between them and the righteous.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: There is a great gulf fixed end of chapter twenty one.