Posted on Sunday, June 14, 2009
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FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

14 June Anno + Domini 2009

"Heaven Requires Saving Faith”

Luke 16:19-31 (Gen. 15:1-6; 1 John 4:16-21)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

First things first:  Hell exists.  It really, really does.  It's not an imaginary place made up by the Church to keep people in line.  It is a very real place.  Our Lord does not lie.  He speaks the truth.  He is Truth.  Hell exists.  It is the place where the spirits of those who lacked faith in Jesus Christ go when they die.  And, they don't go there to party with their friends.  I mentioned this in a sermon during Lent this year, but it bears repeating:  There will be no partying in Hell!  Those people who reason that if Hell does exist, that's where they want to go, 'cause they'll get to party down with all their unbelieving friends, are in for a rude awakening.  Hell is a place of torment and punishment; a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.  And, the torment and punishment, the weeping and gnashing of teeth are not momentary or temporary in Hell, but eternal.

Consider the Rich Man in the parable.  Does it sound like he's having a good time to you?  That he's partying down with his friends?  Absolutely not.  He's all alone, and he's in utter agony in the flames of Hell.  His anguish is so severe and his torment so painful that he begs for just a drop of water to cool his tongue.  Even if that request was granted to him, it would do him no good, for his tongue would be cooled for only a moment and then he would be back to suffering and begging.  But, it matters not, for that request cannot and will not be granted.  Father Abraham cannot send Lazarus to the Rich Man with a drop of water to cool his tongue, for there is a chasm which exists between Heaven and Hell, and no one can pass from one to the other.  It's too late for the Rich Man and for all who share his eternal suffering in Hell.  The day of grace has passed them by.  They rejected Christ during their earthly lives and now they have to endure an eternity of suffering and pain, and woeful regret, in the flames of Hell. 

Make no mistake, my friends, that's exactly why the Rich Man is in Hell - he rejected Christ.  He lived as though Christ did not matter.  He didn't believe he needed a Savior.  He was doing just fine on his own.  He was loving life.  He was the king of his own castle, the master of his own domain.  He put his faith in himself and concerned himself with making sure that his own material needs were met.  He was so busy focusing on making his life in this world live up to his sinful wants and desires that he paid no heed to where he would be spending eternity.  And, besides, he kept the Law of God, or so he thought.  He lived a good life.  He didn't murder anyone.  He didn't commit adultery.  He wasn't a thief.  He may not have been perfect, but he was at least better than most.  He went to Synagogue and the Temple.  He participated in the worship.  He was an upstanding member of society.  He thought he was just fine in God's eyes. 

You see, dear friends, that's a part of this Parable that often gets overlooked.  People read this Parable and think that the Rich Man must've been some Ebenezer Scrooge-like fella, a mean old cuss that deserved what he got.  They fail to realize to whom Jesus is telling this Parable.  He is speaking to the Pharisees.  He is looking them square in the eyes and saying, "You are the Rich Man!”  He is calling them out and warning them to flee from their sinful ways.  For the Pharisees thought they were just fine with God.  They loved their lives.  They were leaders in society.  People respected them and looked up to them.  They had all that they could want and more.  They lived in the nicest homes, had the most respected occupations, and probably had a very nice retirement plan.  Life was good.  And, as far as their religion went, they were doing better than fine.  They were the religious leaders, the ones who had all the answers.  They believed that they were living according to God's Law and that they were good enough to merit God's blessings, both temporal and eternal.  They thought they were getting it done. 

And therein was their problem.  They thought they could earn salvation on their own, that they could fulfill God's Law by themselves.  They didn't believe they needed a Savior, for they didn't believe they needed saving.  They were just fine as they were.  They had Moses and the Prophets, after all, and they had Abraham as their father.  They were God's chosen people and believed that their nationality and ethnicity were enough to earn them favor with God.  They worshipped in the Synagogue and Temple, for Pete's sake.  Surely they were just fine with God. 

No, they weren't, for their religion was a sham.  They lacked saving faith, for while they did indeed have Moses and the Prophets and read their Holy Spirit-inspired Scriptures regularly in worship, they failed to put their trust in the One to whom Moses and the Prophets pointed.  And while they did have Abraham as their physical father, they were unrelated to him spiritually, for Abraham believed in the One God promised to send - the Messiah, the Seed of the woman, the One who would save His people from their sins.  That the Pharisees did not have the same faith as Abraham is evidenced by the fact that the One in whom Abraham had believed had come in the Flesh and was standing before them and they wanted nothing to do with Him.  In fact, worse than that, they wanted to get rid of Him.  They didn't like what He had to say about their cushy way of life and their Law-based religion.  Who did this young, upstart prophet named Jesus think He was, anyway?  How dare He come along and interrupt their way of life!  How dare He tell them they were wrong and exhort them to repent!  How dare He tell them that they were misinterpreting Moses and the Prophets!  And so, they rejected Christ and His Word.  And, as long as they remained in that rejection, Hell was their destination. 

But, do not make the mistake of thinking that this Parable of Our Lord applies only to the Pharisees of His day, for it continues to serve as a warning to all who believe that they're good enough to earn a place in Heaven on their own; to all who refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness and desperate need of a Savior; to all who treat the Lord's call to repentance with contempt or nonchalance.  As our Lord says on another occasion, "On that Day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord' . . . And I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness'” (cf. Matt. 7:21-23).    

The sad truth of the matter is that there are many who, like the Pharisees, think they're just fine with God.  They go through the motions.  They show up for Church on a regular - or, at least, semi-regular - basis.  They claim to have faith in Jesus.  But, they refuse to heed His Word.  They hear it.  They listen to it.  But, they refuse to heed it.  They refuse to allow the Word of the Law to bring them to their knees for repentance and they treat the Word of the Gospel as if it were a license to live as they please.  Their faith is a sham, for like the Pharisees who believed that reading Moses and the Prophets in the Synagogue and Temple, having Abraham as their physical descendant, and doing their best to keep God's Law and be good people was enough to earn them favor with God, these people believe that having their names on a congregation's membership roster, showing up for Church on a regular - or semi-regular - basis, and saying the words, "I believe in Jesus,” is enough to earn them a place in Heaven. 

Dear friends in Christ, let it not be so with you.  Do not think that merely going through the motions is enough.  It is not.  Do not think that the words, "I believe in Jesus,” are some kind of magical incantation that secures a place in Heaven for you.  They do not.  Heck, as St. James makes clear, even the devils believe in Jesus, and shudder for it.  Saving faith consists of more than the claim to believe in Jesus.  Do not think that you are good enough on your own, that while you may not be perfect, you are surely better than most, and that is enough.  You are not good enough and being more decent than most is never enough.  Do not think that your name on a congregation's membership roster seals the deal for you.  It does not.  Do not think that you possess saving faith in Jesus Christ if you harbor hatred in your heart toward your brothers and sisters in Christ and have no desire to reconcile and make peace with them, for as St. John says, "If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar.”    

Instead, heed the Word of the Lord:  Repent!  Acknowledge and confess your sinfulness.  Recognize your desperate need of a Savior.  Let the Law have its way with you and bring you to your knees, so that you beg the Lord for mercy.  For, as the Lord says through the prophet Isaiah, "This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at My Word” (Is. 66:2).  You have not been humble enough.  Your spirit has lacked true contrition.  You have not trembled at the Lord's Word as you ought.  Repent!  And, believe.  For God has seen your pitiful condition and sent His Son into the world to rescue you.  Jesus assumed human flesh and lived the perfect life you fail to live.  He fulfilled the Law in your place.  And, more than that, He took all of your sins upon Himself and climbed up the hill of Mount Calvary to die for them on the cross.  He has won forgiveness, life, and salvation for you with His precious Blood.  He has saved you and you need the salvation He has earned for you, for it is impossible for you to earn it on your own.  Trust in Him.  Cling to Him.  Remain steadfast in His Word. 

It is too late for the Rich Man and for all the Pharisees and unbelievers throughout history who died without saving faith.  They're doomed to an eternity of torment in Hell.  But, it is not too late for you.  The Lord stands ever ready to forgive you, to restore you, to fill you with His love, that you may be and remain His.  He promises not only to forgive you all your sins upon your repentance, but to remember them no more.  He comes in your midst this day with His Holy Word and Sacrament to wipe your slate clean, to wash you in His Blood, to change you, that you might depart in peace, living for Him and for your neighbor as you go back out into the world. 

"Abraham believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6).  So did poor Lazarus.  That's why they're both in Heaven.  They believed the Lord.  They had saving faith, the faith that not only acknowledges the truth that Jesus Christ is Lord, but trusts in Him above all else, knowing that without His perfect life and sacrificial death, you are lost; but with His perfect life and sacrificial death, you are saved.  Believe it, dear friends.  Continue in that faith and be clothed in the perfect righteousness and holiness of Christ. 

In order that you may do just that, the Lord prepares a Table in your midst, that you might feast on His very Body and Blood for the forgiveness of your sins and strengthening and preservation of your faith.  Come, then, as poor beggars in the spirit of Lazarus, in true repentance and sincere faith, and be fed the Bread of Life.  And, having received this Heavenly Meal, may you truly depart in peace, praying that this salutary gift of Christ's own body and blood would strengthen us you faith toward God and in fervent love toward one another.  In such faith you can indeed be confident of dying a blessed death and being welcomed to the Feast that never ends with Lazarus, Abraham, and all the saints in the Kingdom of the Father to whom with the Son and the Holy Spirit be all glory and honor unto the ages of ages.  Amen.

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.