The Truth is Simple

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

The Truth is Simple

But Abraham said, ‘Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.’ The rich man replied, ‘No, Father Abraham! But if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.’ But Abraham said, ‘If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’' Luke 16:29-31

In Luke 16:19–31, Jesus tells the story of the rich man and Lazarus to the Pharisees. A poor beggar named Lazarus dies and is taken away to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet, while a rich man dies and ends up in a place of torment (v 22,23). The rich man pleads with Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool his tongue, for he is "in anguish in these flames" (v 24). The rich man then begs Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn his five brothers so they could repent.

Abraham first assures the rich man that there is a "great chasm fixed" so that neither Lazarus nor the rich man can cross over to the other side. He then assures him that his brothers have already received enough warning since they have Moses and the Prophets, meaning Scripture.

In this story, Jesus gives us a few lessons:

1.

 Our attitude toward money and what we do with it often reflects our attitude and devotion toward Jesus. There's nothing wrong with money itself, as it's a blessing from the Lord. There's nothing wrong with being rich either. But Scripture tells us that the love money is the root of many kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). To love money doesn't mean to have a happy, fuzzy feeling toward it. The love of money is evidenced through our behavior, actions, and how it dictates our lives. To love money means to serve it and allow it to rule our lives. To love money means to follow it, be controlled by it, be devoted to it. Rather, as Christians we are to follow Jesus, be controlled by the Holy Spirit, and be devoted to God and His will, as we trust in Him to rule our lives and provide everything we need.

2.     

Once a person dies, his or her destiny is fixed for all eternity. There's no trading places. That's a hopeless and terrifying place for the one in torment and a secure and joyful place for the one in Heaven.

3.    

If the Pharisees can't recognize Jesus in the Mosaic law and the Prophets, they won't recognize Him as their Promised Messiah through any miraculous signs either. Even if someone were to rise from the dead, they still wouldn't recognize and believe in Jesus!

Unwilling

All the miracles, signs, and proof in the world will not make the slightest difference to someone committed to their unbelief. The Truth is simple. When someone doesn't believe the Truth, it's not because they're intellectually challenged by it or don't understand it. It's because they do, and it's offensive. They don't believe it simply because they won't. And since they won't believe it, they can't believe it! They can't believe because they're unwilling. They don't want to. All the evidence is there, but those who are unwilling to believe cannot ever grasp the Truth. Jesus will not waste His time giving more evidence to those who have no interest in the Truth, nor should we.

If someone is unwilling to believe Scripture, they won't be convinced of the Truth even if someone rises from the dead! Jesus rose Lazarus (a different Lazarus than this story) from the dead. Many still didn't believe Jesus to be God then either! Then Jesus Christ rose Himself from the dead, and still, most people in the history of all mankind won't believe in Jesus. Even with all the insurmountable signs and miracles of Jesus and all the historical evidence and first-hand witnesses of His ressurrection, people still won't believe in Jesus! As a believer, sometimes it's so hard to understand why people don't believe! (I won't go into it here, but John 8.42-47 explains why).

The Pharisees needed to choose to believe what their Scriptures said about their coming Messiah and the fact that He was right under their noses. Today, we need to believe what Scripture tells us about Jesus too, which is also right under our noses. The Truth is simple. God doesn't make it hard to find or understand. What He's revealed in His Word, He wants us to know. All the way from Genesis to Revelation, the only way of salvation through Christ, is plainly written for us to know and understand. On the other side of eternity, we will have no excuse to say we weren't warned or that we didn't understand the message. The Truth is simple, and Scripture is sufficient.

The Pharisees needed to believe what their Scriptures revealed about the Messiah. Today, we all must do the same, but still, most won't believe what the Lord has graciously revealed to us in His Word, namely that God so loved the world that He sent us His one and only Son to die on the cross for our sins and rise again. So now, whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16). And for those who do believe, may we find ourselves one day sitting at the heavenly banquet with Lazarus, Abraham, and Jesus.

If someone doesn't believe in God's written Word, it's highly unlikely they'll believe if they were given even more miracles or signs (Matthew 12:38–39). Unless we choose to believe the truth about Jesus that's clearly and repetitively written to us throughout Scripture, we'll find ourselves like the rich man in torment, our consciences fully informed of how we ended up there. And we'd only have ourselves to blame.

Willing

As believers we know the Truth is so simple that a child can understand it, and Scripture is all we need. Therefore, we believe the saving message of the Gospel. We believe what we read in the Scriptures, which all point to Jesus Christ alone for our salvation. We understand that eternal life is a free gift. We didn't do any good works to earn it or keep it, and we can't pride ourselves that we were wise enough to choose salvation on our own. As believers, we give all the glory to God for our salvation because we know that salvation belongs to the Lord (Psalm 3:8). All glory to God for choosing us before the foundation of world and gifting us with our repentance and faith in Jesus. It's only by the grace of God that we are willing to believe in Jesus, therefore we do! Amen!