Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm19981007.htm

LUKE: GOSPEL OF CERTIFYING THE CHRISTIAN FAITH
Part LV: The Credibility Of Christ Viewed From His Idea That ANY Covetousness Is SIN
(Luke 16:14-31)
  1. Introduction
    1. We discovered last time we looked at Luke 16:1-13 that Jesus was very unlike a false cult leader in that He was not controlled by money, but felt money should be harnessed as a servant to God's interests.
    2. Going beyond just money, Jesus' whole view on coveting anything was that it was sin, Luke 16:14-31.
  2. The Credibility Of Christ Viewed From His Idea That ANY Covetousness Is SIN, Lk. 16:14-31.
    1. Luke's Gospel was written to reveal the credibility of the Christian faith to Theophilus, Lk. 1:3-4.
    2. In doing so, Jesus' view not only on money, but on what money could buy or on coveting anything revealed He was truly righteous, and gave evidence that He was from God as follows:
      1. The Pharisees felt that when one obeyed God, he was blessed in accord with the Mosaic Covenant of Deut. 28 so that all wealthy Jews were righteous and poor Jews were sinners, B.K.C., N.T., p. 247.
      2. The problem with this view is that not all wealthy people are righteous: many ungodly Gentiles were wealthy, and many upright Old Testament saints had suffered poverty and affliction!
      3. Thus, Jesus spoke of the Pharisee's way of judging, saying it was a way that covered for sin, 16:15-18:
        1. Jesus revealed to the Pharisees that where they often justified themselves as being righteous because they were wealthy, God, who knew their hearts, felt otherwise, Luke 16:15.
        2. He then stated that because of their distorted views of righteousness, these Pharisees were abusively externally making themselves look like they were kingpins in the Kingdom, something like forcing a square p eg to fit a round peg hole, Luke 16:16.
        3. As an illustration, Jesus referred to the Pharisee practice of divorce that actually violated the seventh commandment on adultery: (a) God had given clear in structions in the seventh commandment that adultery was a sin to be avoided, cf. Exodus 20:14. (b) However, in Jesus' day, many Pharisees allowed a man to divorce his wife and ma rry another woman for such trivial wrongs as the wife's adding too much salt to the meal she cooked, cf. G. Campbell Morgan, Luke, p. 190. (c) However, as Jesus stated, this was nothing less than actual adultery, for the Pharisees would allow for remarriage after divorce, which was a sanctioned way of committing adultery: accordingly, Jesus said that in God's eyes, to divorce a woman and marry another was adultery, and to marry a woman who was divorced from her husband was equally an adulterous act, Luke 16:18.
      4. Then, to illustrate how erroneous was the Pharisees' view that wealth meant righteousness, Jesus gave a revealing parable about existence after death in Luke 16:19-31:
        1. He told how, just opposite the belief of these Pharisees, a rich man died and went to the place of torment and a beggar, Lazarus died and went to be with righteous Abraham, Luke 16:19-22.
        2. In torment, the rich man saw Abraham and Lazarus and begged Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue in the flame, 16:23f.
        3. Abraham refused, pointing out that what had happened in the earthly life sojourn was different from this post-death experience, and that the roles of blessing after death were irreparably fixed, 16:25-26.
        4. The rich man then asked that Abraham would send the formerly poor man, Lazarus back to warn his five brothers of the truth of the post-death state lest they join him in torment, Luke 16:27-28.
        5. Abraham replied that the rich man's brothers had the Scriptures they could heed, Luke 16:29.
        6. The rich man responded that were one to rise from the dead, his brothers would believe, Lk. 16:30.
        7. Abraham answered that if a man rose from the dead, they wouldn't believe him if they would not pay attention to Scripture, Luke 16:31. In actuality, Jesus did rise again, and these Pharisees did not believe in Jesus, or even the report of His witnesses that He had even risen, Acts 4:1-2, 10, 20-21.
Lesson: Beyond speaking of MONEY, Jesus exposed ALL COVETOUSNESS as SIN, especially the view that WEALTH automatically meant RIGHTEOUSNESS as it fostered covetousness. Thus, Jesus gave evidence He was of God as He lived beyond the control of both money AND ALL covetous lures!

Application: God expects us who follow Christ to live ABOVE the lure of coveting ANYTHING so that we submit to God's will in how we handle ALL the possessions or things valued by men in this life!

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