Luke 16:19-31 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:… I. AT FIRST SIGHT WE MIGHT THINK IT ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE FOR US NOT TO OBEY ONE RISING UP FROM THE GRAVE, AND STANDING BEFORE US WITH ALL THE SIGNS AND MYSTERIES OF A SPIRIT COME FROM THE UNSEEN WORLD. In most of us there is a shrinking fear of the supernatural as well as of wonderment, and we can well understand the terror the night-spectre was adapted to produce in the mind of Eliphaz, the friend of Job. The message may or may not be remembered, but, in either case, evil does its work. The memory of the vision becomes fainter and fainter, and the ring of the message dies away in the distance, until at last it is heard no more, thought of and felt no more. Besides, what is simply heard by the ear is apt to be twisted into some meaning of our own construction, and, like tradition generally, be overloaded with strange fables and unnatural descriptions. Hence we learn from the declaration of Abraham — II. The great value and importance of the sacred scriptures. They are ever before us, ever so plain and simple that "a wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein." To us we have not only the testimony of Moses and the prophets, but of our Lord Himself. With the whole of God's moral revelation before us, bearing with it the evidence of the most ancient life, combined with the evidence of a life wherein ancient and modern meet in harmony and truth, what need we more? It may be said to us, "If we believe not Christ, neither will we believe if one rose from the dead." II. WHY IS THIS? WHY DID ABRAHAM FORESEE THE INUTILITY OF GIVING ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION BEYOND WHAT IS ALREADY GIVEN? Why, if the Bible fails, will a spirit from the dead fail also? The answer is to be found in the intensity and deep-rootedness of man's selfishness. Herein is the problem of man's rejection of the truth of God solved — herein is the mystery of our unbelief and hardness of heart explained. It was selfishness that made a wreck of Dives. He lived for himself, and in that life overlooked the claims of God and man; he lived for "the good things" of the world, and closed out from his conceptions and practical living the "good things" of God. (W. D. Horwood.) Parallel Verses KJV: There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: |
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