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[0:00] And a warm welcome to this service this morning, the service of remembrance this morning. And those who are visiting, it's good to see a couple anyway, and you're very welcome.

[0:12] It's good to see you this morning. I won't go to intimations just now, we'll deal with these just in a short while. We'll begin this time of worship by singing to God's praise in Psalm 46.

[0:24] Psalm 46, we'll sing verses 1 to verse 7. God is our refuge and our strength and strength of present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid.

[0:36] Down to the end of verse 7. We'll stand to sing to God's praise. What is the refuge and the strength?

[0:53] In strength of present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid.

[1:15] Though hell summits the seas be cast, Though waters rolling may, And trouble be, yet o'er the hills, By swelling seas do shame.

[1:48] A river is whose streams do blood, The city of our God, The holy place, When the Lord, Most high hand is a hole.

[2:19] Caught in the midst of her doth dwell, Nothing shall her remove, The Lord to earn, And help the world, And that right there be good.

[2:51] The heathen race, To march us lead, The kingdom smoothed well, The Lord called us today, And that right there be good.

[3:19] The Lord of hosts, Thou on our side, Hath constantly remained, The Lord of Jacob's earth refused Asshave me to his name Just a few portions of scripture as we come up to 11 o'clock When we remember those who have given their lives in past years John chapter 14 Jesus said, Peace I leave with you

[4:21] My peace I give to you I do not give to you as the world gives Do not let your hearts be troubled And do not be afraid Isaiah 40 Do you not know, have you not heard The Lord is the everlasting God The creator of the ends of the earth He will not grow tired or weary In his understanding no one can fathom He gives strength to the weary And increases the power of the weak Even youths grow tired and weary And young men stumble and fall But those who wait upon the Lord Shall renew their strength They will soar on wings like eagles They will run and not grow weary They will walk and not be faint Will the congregation please stand As we observe two minutes of silence I will notice

[5:25] He will akl of 68 So that it is But those who have led to us The Bible says I will not become well Listen to you They will not see you You will not Verm Thefend Year Thank you.

[6:07] Thank you.

[6:37] Thank you.

[7:07] Thank you.

[7:37] At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them. We will remember them. Please, please take a seat.

[7:48] And let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you.

[8:11] we thank you for this day we thank you that we are able to come into your presence to seek to draw near to you and worship we thank you for the psalm that we have sung which reminds us so powerfully of the fact that you are our God you are the one who is on our side we thank you that you are the God who has helped us in ages past the one who is our hope for years to come and we thank you Lord for the the memories that that we hold today we thank you for the lives of those that we have remembered in that silence and we are conscious that some are able to remember faces and able to remember conversations with those who went to war and did not return others who gave their lives and did return and have since passed on from time into eternity we think of some who remain we think of of Donald especially on Scott Road as he remembers all that he went through over the years of war for so many of us it seems so far removed from where we are so hard for us to be able to imagine and yet we are thankful for all those who gave of themselves so selflessly we're thankful for all those who who laid down their lives and serve us some who paid the ultimate price so that we can enjoy peace and freedom so that we can come together and worship in the way that we do even this day so we will remember them we thank you Lord for these lives and we we thank you for the way that they point us to to Jesus your son our saviour who came from heaven to earth knowing that he was coming to suffer knowing that he was coming to lay down his life so that we who were enemies of God because of our sin could have our sin taken away and be called friends of God we thank you that

[10:50] Jesus laid down his life so that we who had no rest and no peace innerly are able to know that eternal rest and that eternal peace that comes from trusting in Jesus so we thank you Lord for for Jesus and we pray that you would give us faith each of us to trust in him we pray Lord for your comfort for those who grieve today we pray for your presence to be with those who wrestle with difficult memories of past years we ask Lord that you would strengthen them we pray for those who are anxious today who have loved ones in the armed forces in different places around this world we ask Lord for your protection over them and we pray for your presence to be with those who are anxious about those that they love we pray for army chaplains those who seek to come alongside those who are in service to bring the hope of the gospel and we ask Lord that you would enable those that you have allowed to be in these positions to speak truth to speak the gospel to take the opportunities to point young men and women to Christ we pray for those that you have allowed to be in authority over us in politics and in positions of influence in the country and across the world we pray for wisdom for them we ask

[12:29] Lord that you would give to them that wisdom that comes from heaven because we know that wisdom is not something that we can manufacture ourselves so even if they will not ask for themselves we ask for them and ask Lord that you would grant wisdom to those in authority and we pray for peace we pray that we would continue to know times of peace we pray for our children we pray for our grandchildren that they too would know times of peace peace in society and we pray Lord for the peace of the Lord Jesus to descend upon us and to abide with us and we pray all these things in Jesus name and for his sake amen boys and girls would you like to come out to the front please so boys and girls we've had a big clue already but what day is this today

[13:53] Henry it's remembrance Sunday yeah it's remembrance Sunday and what do we remember or who do we remember Fraser soldiers yes soldiers who went out to war many years ago now and tell me do you know any of these soldiers can you remember any of these soldiers put your hand up if you can remember if you can picture the faces or remember times that you spoke to any of these soldiers well you can't can you because it was lots of years ago and and this was going back to the 1940s which is how many years ago you can see them all thinking just now it's a long time ago isn't it 80 years plus and so most of the people who were out at war are no longer in this world

[15:00] Donald from Scott Road who would come here very often before Covid he was out in the war and so when he remembers he's able to remember men and women that were with them and there's some in the congregation still today I'm sure who remember those who went to war but we have something in the village that helps us to remember the war and it helps us to remember the people who went out to war do you know what it is Fraser yes you're on the ball today and there's some pictures coming on the screen in just a second I think of the war memorial and tell me this if John Angus just flicks through a few of these pictures just now keep an eye on them what do you see in these pictures have you been able to move on John Angus to one or two more if you can't don't worry the one picture will be fine there you go there's there's another one it's the front of the war memorial and there's one of the sides there's another of the sides now as you're looking at all these pictures boys and girls what what do you see

[16:22] Henry people's names that's exactly right so there are all these names we see the name there of A McKinnon and J McLeod and J Morrison and N Shaw and R Ferguson and Don McKinnon and D W McCaskill and there's lots and lots and lots of names there and it tells us as well where they're from whether from Tarbert or Uraga or or whatever but there's all these names and you can go to the war memorial it's a good thing to do is go down and have a look and you'll see the wreaths you see the big monument it tells us which battalion they were part of as well and it's a good thing to go down and look and look at all these names because remember all these names each name was a real person just like one of us we sometimes think about war and it's so far away we think about lots of people but we sometimes forget every person it's just like us so it's good to go down and look at all these names and we remember today these names we remember what these people did they laid down their lives so that we can have peace and we're thankful for them we remember them and what do they remind us of or who do they remind us of these people they laid down their lives many of them went away and they never came back to Harris because they died in war they laid down their lives they died so that we can have peace who does that remind you of us yeah

[18:26] Jesus he laid down his life didn't he he went to the cross so that we can have peace that starts in this world and lasts forever and you know the other thing boys and girls I wanted to say to you is we see these names and we remember them but you know God knows every one of your names Fraser God knows your name and Ailey he knows your name and Miriam and Katie and Callum and Lily and Henry and Gordon and Dana and Russell and Adrian and Ian and Callum and Kenny he knows our names all of our names and I'm going to read a little verse that I was going to read but we didn't have the time before 11 to read but listen to this this verse that

[19:48] I'm going to read from Isaiah 43 you listen this is God and he's speaking through this man Isaiah to his people and he says fear not don't be scared for I have redeemed you I've saved you I have summoned you I have called you by name you are mine and there's all these promises about when we go through trouble in life God says I'll be with you and that's a great thing isn't it to know that God knows us he knows our names and he promises to be with us in any kinds of trouble and in good times too and boys and girls not only does God know your name but he wants you to know him he wants you to know him and we can know him really know him as our best friend and our saviour when we trust in

[20:59] Jesus so be trusting in Jesus that's the message I tell you every week I'll tell you again this week be trusting in Jesus let's pray Lord God we thank you that you love us we thank you that you know us we thank you that you know us by name we thank you that even before we came into this world you knew us we thank you we thank you this week for we thank you that she came safely into this world and we pray for her as we pray for Donna and for John and for Cameron we thank you Lord that before we thank you that you knew you knew her and we pray your blessing on her and for other babies that we haven't yet met we pray for them too we pray for Jane and we pray for Michaela as they carry children we pray for these wee ones we ask

[22:04] Lord that you would protect them that you would bless them we pray for the wee ones in the creche today and for the boys and girls here who are going into Sunday school in just a minute we thank you Lord that you know us by name and you want us to trust you so that we can know that peace that Jesus paid for with his life we thank you for everyone else for those who are middle aged for those who are old for those who can't be here because they're struggling with not enough strength and energy because the years are taking their toll we thank you that you know each person you know them by name those in the building here those at home listening and we ask Lord that you would draw near to them and draw near to us and give us faith we pray that we would be trusting in Jesus and we pray all these things in Jesus name and for his sake amen okay boys and girls you can head through well no actually we'll sing first we'll sing first then you can head through so we're going to sing mission praise number 673 673 there is a redeemer

[23:23] Jesus God's own son Road sale shall be rod himself Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done

[24:28] Jesus, my Redeemer, Name above all names Precious Lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done When I stand in glory, I will see His face And there I'll serve my King forever in that holy face

[25:31] Thank you, O my Father, for giving us your Son And leaving your Spirit till the work on earth is done Okay, boys and girls, you can head through now Just going to highlight a couple of the notices Just now before we turn to God's Word You've seen the notices, I think, before the service began

[26:32] Going around on the screen But if I could highlight that this Wednesday We'll hopefully come back into the church for the prayer meeting Assuming there's no surge in cases of COVID And we'll persevere with trying to have the prayer meeting in the church With the Zoom link What I will say is that if you're able to come to the prayer meeting And you were in the habit of coming in the past And even if you weren't in the habit of coming in the past It's a good time to start that Please come Don't just stay at home with a cup of tea And your slippers If you could come in It's encouraging to be able to come together And to pray And it's also not very easy to make it work When you've got some who are praying from home And some who are in the building So if you're able to come at all Please do so For those who are not able to genuinely It's great to be able to have you on the screen

[27:32] But just to try and make this work Let's be encouraged to come into the building If we're able to I think the rest of the intimations you can read At your own convenience You see the different meetings And the usual times of these meetings One further thing was just to remind you That the Thanksgiving meal we hope to have On Saturday the 27th That's two weeks yesterday At 6pm And there's a sign up sheet at the door For food So if you're able to help with that Please do so And that's a date there for your diary All that will be obviously dependent On just what's happening In terms of COVID cases here Let's turn now to God's word And we'll turn to Luke chapter 16 We've been going through Luke's gospel For some months now If you pick a text

[28:40] And you just Go from one end of the Bible to the other Week by week Then this is the kind of passage That probably you may never come to In your ministry But when you're going through A book Chapter by chapter There are passages Which are very encouraging And reassuring And there are passages Which are really quite unsettling And difficult to read But Jesus came to this world He was full of grace And truth And we read the words of Jesus here As he has the Pharisees And his disciples gathered around him And he tells them Another story A parable About the rich man And Lazarus So let's read these verses From 19 Verse 19 Of Luke chapter 16 Jesus says There was a rich man Who was dressed in purple And fine linen

[29:41] And lived in luxury every day At his gate Was laid a beggar Named Lazarus Covered with sores And longing to eat What fell from the rich man's table Even the dogs came And licked his sores The time came When the beggar died And the angels carried him To Abraham's side The rich man also died And was buried In hell Where he was in torment He looked up And saw Abraham Far away With Lazarus By his side So he called to him Father Abraham Have pity on me And send Lazarus To dip the tip Of his finger in water And cool my tongue Because I am in agony In this fire But Abraham replied Son Remember that in your lifetime You received your good things While Lazarus received bad things But now he is comforted here And you are in agony And besides all this Between us

[30:41] And you A great chasm Has been fixed So that those Who want to go From here To you Cannot Nor can anyone Cross over From there To us He answered Then I beg you Father Send Lazarus To my father's house For I have five brothers Let him warn them So that they will Not also come To this place Of torment Abraham replied They have Moses And the prophets Let them listen to them No father Abraham He said But if someone From the dead Goes to them They will repent He said to him If they do not listen To Moses And the prophets They will not be convinced Even if someone Rises From the dead Amen And may God bless That reading Of his word To us We're going to Sing again Now to God's praise And we sing From Psalm 46

[31:43] The last two verses Of that Psalm In Gaelic We sang The first Section And we'll sing The last Two verses Of the Psalm In Gaelic Verses 10 And 11 Be still and know That I am God Among the He and I Will be exalted I on earth Will be exalted High Our God Who is the Lord Of hosts Is still upon our side The God of Jacob Our refuge Forever Will abide These two verses In Gaelic We'll sing And we'll remain Seated to sing In Gaelic Austin To learn Thero Vi's Casa Facebook Jesus God Amen God You Look Hot habe S sadivat St Y cam England Holy God円 De Awesome Hvl

[32:43] Спасибо Joy的 church Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji

[33:45] Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji Satsang with Mooji

[35:15] Satsang with Mooji If you could turn back now please to the passage that we read from Luke chapter 16.

[35:36] And we'll just pray as we return to it. Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word.

[35:46] We thank you that these words were not crafted by men, but these are words which the Holy Spirit used men to write.

[36:01] They're spirit inspired words. And we pray that you would help us to remember that as we listen and as we think these passages through.

[36:12] We thank you that we thank you that we can go back in time 2,000 years and hear Jesus preach as we have this chapter open in front of us.

[36:22] And we ask Lord that you would give us ears to hear, give us eyes to see, give us hearts which are open to the truth of your word. We pray Lord that you would be with us.

[36:38] We pray for congregations that we are connected with those who are visiting with us and those who may be listening in at a distance. We ask Lord that every fellowship that we are connecting with even at this time that they would be your blessing upon.

[36:56] We pray for the congregations around us and the different denominations here and across the island and across the nation and across all nations. Wherever the word of God is opened, wherever Christ crucified and risen is preached, we pray Lord that you would be adding your blessing, that you would be building your church.

[37:15] Minister to us Lord we pray, help us to feel our need of Jesus. Help us to see our sin and the need that we have for a saviour.

[37:30] And we ask Lord that you would help each of us Lord as we come before you now. You know us through and through, you know our needs and we pray that you would minister to us.

[37:44] We pray again Lord for those who are grieving. We have thought about those who remember, those who have passed from time to eternity a long time back, those who lived through war years.

[37:55] But we are conscious that there are those who have suffered loss in the last few days even within the fellowship. Those who have lost a mother, those who have lost a sister.

[38:07] And so Lord we pray for the Morrison family. We pray for DJ and for Mary Catherine and for Margaret and for Eddie. And we pray Lord for the wider family there as well.

[38:21] And we ask that your comfort would be upon them. And for Nanny who watched from a distance as her sister was laid to rest last Friday.

[38:33] We pray your comfort for her also. And for those Lord who still feel the sting of grief. Although the years may have passed since they have lost loved ones.

[38:44] We bring them to you. We carry them to you in prayer. And ask that you would minister to them your comfort and your compassion. So Lord help us we pray now.

[38:56] As we open your word. And we ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well the children have told us already.

[39:06] And we know even from looking around at the poppies that many of us are wearing. That this is Remembrance Sunday. It's a day where across the nation there is that necessary call to remember.

[39:23] We are people who are prone to forget. And as time rolls on we are more forgetful. And so there is that necessary call for us today to remember. To remember those who did not waste their lives.

[39:38] Who did not live their lives in a selfish way. But we remember those who were selfless in their living and in their dying.

[39:48] And as we remember people like that. We have a very stark contrast. With the central character.

[40:00] In this parable that Jesus told. We see. We are introduced in this parable to a rich man. And this rich man.

[40:12] He lived his life. But he wasted his life. He had everything. And we will see that as we take a look at him. But he wasted his life on excessive wealth.

[40:25] He wasted his life on every luxury. We see here in this parable a selfish man. And his life is remembered.

[40:37] So today we remember selfless people. But as we come to this parable. We are drawn to look at this selfish character.

[40:48] We remember his life. And he is called to remember his life. Because if you have the passage in front of you. Right in the centre of this little parable that Jesus tells.

[41:01] We can underline the word remember. Remember. The rich man. From the depths of hell.

[41:13] Is called to remember. The way that he lived. The way that he lived. And so this man's life. This rich man's life.

[41:24] Is remembered for. For all the. The wrong reasons. So. Let's take a look at this parable. That Jesus told. And. There's. Hopefully four points.

[41:35] The first point is. We see the routines of life. The routines of life. And. Right the way through the parable. We've got these two characters.

[41:46] And we'll be flicking between these two characters. With the contrast. And there's. There's stark contrast. Between these two. Routines of life. And first of all. We're. We're drawn to look at the rich man. Verse 19.

[41:58] There was a rich man. Who was dressed in purple. And fine linen. And lived in luxury. Every day. So here we. We see a rich man.

[42:09] And everyone knew he was rich. Because of the way that he dressed. He dressed in purple. We're told in verse 19. And that was like the biblical.

[42:20] Equivalent of saying. That he always wore. The best designer gear. His clothes were always noticed. The purple dye. That was used to. For clothes.

[42:31] In that. In that age. It came from shellfish. It was. It was massively. Difficult. To extract. And then used. To dye the. The clothes.

[42:41] And so. Anybody that wore purple. Everybody could see. This is a fabulously. Rich person. It could only be afforded.

[42:53] By those who were the elite. In economic terms. And. And. Not only is he dressed in purple. But. He's dressed in fine linen. And that was usually imported from.

[43:04] From Egypt. It was. It was again. The. The highest quality stuff. Again. It was only for the very. Very rich. Most people had no. Such. Undergarments. Fine linen was not something.

[43:16] That they knew. That feeling of. But. This man. On the outside. Purple. And just a little under the surface. He's got this fine.

[43:27] Linen. That he's clothed with. And. It says that he lived. In luxury. Every day. So it's not like he. He threw the occasional party.

[43:37] Just to. To treat himself. And. A few of his friends. No. No. Every day was party day. For this man. Every day. Was a. Another day. To. To eat. Drink.

[43:48] And be merry. Every morning. He woke up. With a sore head. Every morning. He woke up. With a bloated belly. And. Indigestion. We have this.

[43:59] Picture here. Of a. A crass. Self-indulgent. Lifestyle. You know. Big mansion. We know he had a big mansion.

[44:11] Because. Lazarus. Is outside his gate. And. The word. In the Greek. Used for gate. It's not about. It's not a picture of a garden gate. Hanging on a wooden post. This is an ornate.

[44:22] Massive gate. So. Big mansion. You know. Fast cars. You know what I mean. Fast cars. Designer clothes.

[44:35] Champagne. And caviar. That. That. That was the. That was the norm. For this man. That was the routine of life. That he followed. Lord. So that's him. The rich man.

[44:47] And then we have Lazarus. It says. At his gate. The rich man's. Ornate. Gate. Was laid. A beggar. The word used in the Greek there.

[44:59] For laid. Is thrown. Was thrown down a beggar. Named Lazarus. Covered with sores.

[45:10] And longing to eat. What fell from the rich man's table. Although it seems that he never. He never did get the rich man's crumbs. Even the dogs came.

[45:22] And licked the sores. So for Lazarus. That's his routine. It's very different. From the rich man. The rich man lacked nothing.

[45:37] And wasted so much. Lazarus begged for anything. But he went hungry. The rich man appears to be healthy.

[45:49] And wealthy. And well cared for. In his appearance. Lazarus. Is covered in sores. No one cares for him.

[46:03] He's no. Bupa health plan. The rich man is. Is celebrity. He's. He's surrounded by. By celebrities.

[46:14] He. He. He lived in luxury every day. Every day was. A feast day. A party day. All the. The VIPs of the day. Would gather at this man's house. He's.

[46:24] He's not short of company. Just like the prodigal son. Wasn't short of company. When he had lots of cash. Lazarus. Lazarus. It seems. Only has dogs.

[46:37] For company. And so Jesus paints this picture here of extremes. Two routines of life. Two extremes.

[46:50] And that was the kind of thing that could be seen back then. It's not as if Jesus is taking some. Some picture. And he's. He's painting a picture that was absolutely alien to them.

[47:03] This was happening back then. And the Pharisees well knew it. They tasted it. And yet.

[47:16] This is the kind of thing that we can still see in our city streets today. You know some people are. Are walking along the. The streets.

[47:28] I'm thinking of Edinburgh in my mind. I haven't been there for a while. But you can see. Some people kind of coming out the doors of. Of Jenner's in Edinburgh with. Bags full of designer gear.

[47:40] And fine food. And fine wine. And there are other people. Just on the doorstep. Sleeping in cardboard boxes. And we get.

[47:52] We kind of get numb to it. If you're. In Edinburgh often enough. You know if you live in a city long enough. You don't even notice. How many people are living.

[48:04] In that kind of poverty and misery. We don't sort of notice. The extremes of the different routines. In life. And yet.

[48:14] I think one of the applications here. Is that Jesus notices. But we don't notice. Jesus sees.

[48:27] The people that we. Over time start to overlook. Jesus cares. Jesus cares. For those who are suffering. He doesn't just step over us.

[48:42] He doesn't leave us to suffer alone. Jesus came from heaven. To earth. To be with us. When we suffer.

[48:55] We read that. Or we were going to read that. In Isaiah. Listen to the verses again. Fear not. Says the Lord. For I have redeemed you. I have summoned you by name.

[49:05] You are mine. When you pass through the waters. I will be with you. When you pass through the rivers. They will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire. You will not be burned.

[49:16] The flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God. The Holy One of Israel. Your Savior. And that was something that the people. Experienced in some measure.

[49:27] In Isaiah's day. But that was something that was seen. Much more clearly. When the Savior Jesus. Came into this world. He was the man of sorrows. He suffered.

[49:39] With those who suffer. He wept. With those who weep. In fact Jesus. Came. Very deliberately.

[49:50] To suffer. Not just with us. But for us. In our place. Remember the hymn. Bearing shame. And scoffing rude.

[50:01] In my place. Condemned. He stood. The cross was all about Jesus.

[50:13] Suffering. For us. That we. Won't have to. More about that shortly. The routines of life. That's the first thing.

[50:24] The second thing we see here. As the. As the parable develops. As the reversal. In death. And again. There's two. Very different.

[50:34] Very different scenarios here. First of all. We see. As the parable develops. This. This picture of Lazarus. After he dies. and it says in verse 22, the time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side.

[50:54] Now when beggars like Lazarus died in that culture, no one noticed. No one really cared. The body of someone like Lazarus would not be carried to a place of rest with any kind of respect and dignity.

[51:11] There was this dump just outside the city of Jerusalem that was always burning and the bodies of people like Lazarus would just be thrown there. That was the reality of what was going on in that place at that time and that's what people would expect for Lazarus.

[51:33] But in this parable, Jesus, he takes us behind the curtain of this world. He takes us into the spiritual realm and we see that on death, Lazarus is carried by the angels to Abraham's side in heaven.

[51:51] Now does that mean that every believer is literally carried by angels to heaven when they die? Well, I don't think that's the main point here.

[52:04] I don't think you can take that literally. I think that's probably pushing the parable too far. I think the message that we're to grasp here is that when a believer dies, God knows.

[52:19] God cares. And that person may have been the most overlooked person in the world. They may have been a nobody in the eyes of everybody else, but if that is one of God's children, he sees.

[52:34] He carries them. From perhaps a place of great suffering in this world to a place of great rest for his children.

[52:47] Psalm 94 and verse 14 says, For sure the Lord will not cast off those that his people be. And so we see Lazarus, the beggar, he's not cast off, but he's carried off by the angels to heaven.

[53:09] I read a quote this morning from J.C. Ryle, which I thought was really a beautiful picture. He says of this expression when Abraham's carried to Abraham, when Lazarus is carried to Abraham's side.

[53:21] He says, There's something very comforting in this expression. We know little or nothing of the state of the feelings of the dead. When our last hour comes, we will lie down to die.

[53:33] We shall be like those who journey into an unknown country. But it may satisfy us to know that all who fall asleep in Jesus are in good keeping. They are not houseless, homeless wanderers between the hour of death and the day of resurrection.

[53:49] They are at rest in the midst of friends with all who have had like faith with Abraham. They have no lack of anything. And best of all, Paul tells us, Philippians 1.23, they are with Christ.

[54:08] It's a wonderful, comforting picture for us. Even as this week passed, we have felt that sense of loss of those who have died, that died in Christ.

[54:23] So we have that beautiful picture of Lazarus in verse 22 as he's carried off by the angels to that place of rest. And then there's a contrast.

[54:36] There's a stark contrast. verse 23, the rich man was also, the rich man also died and was buried.

[54:51] And that in itself is very bleak and stark to begin with. No angels carry the rich man. He may have been carried about all over the place in limousines when he's been in this world.

[55:05] He may have had a whole lot of people making a fuss of him wherever he was. But when he dies, no fuss, no special transport.

[55:19] He died and he was buried. But that's not the end. Actually, it gets a lot worse for the rich man. Verse 23, in hell where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side.

[55:41] So he called to him, Father Abraham, have pity on me. Send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I'm in agony in this fire.

[55:55] See, the rich man's still thinking like a rich man. He thinks he can snap his fingers as the rich man that he was and get Lazarus, the nobody, Lazarus, the beggar, to jump to attention and serve him.

[56:16] But that's not going to happen, not ever now because the tables have turned and there is this awful reversal that the rich man is now having to endure.

[56:34] And we see the very clear reversal. In this world, the rich man, he knew nothing but luxury and comfort, but in hell, he knows nothing but torment with no relief.

[56:49] It's a reversal. In this world, Lazarus was outside the rich man's gate, locked out away from everything that was good.

[57:02] But now we see Lazarus and he's inside the gate. He's enjoying everything that is good and the rich man is now locked out of heaven in that place of misery that Jesus calls hell.

[57:20] And I think that we have to note here that Jesus in this parable, he teaches us that heaven and hell are real places. You know, we hear people talking today about heaven and hell as if they were states of mind or states of experience in this world, not places of reality and yet Jesus teaches us very clearly here that there are these two places.

[57:50] heaven and hell and on death we are taken to one of these two places.

[58:03] One commentator in Milne says only Jesus could speak with this level of authority about the world beyond death because that's where he's come from.

[58:16] we don't read here that everyone gets to heaven. We don't read here that although they came different routes, everybody ends up in the same happy old place.

[58:33] No, no, we see here that there's a great contrast here. Lazarus is in heaven and the rich man is in hell. And the question I want to ask is how did this happen?

[58:48] How is this? Why is it that Lazarus is in heaven and the rich man is in hell? Is this some kind of Robin Hood story? Is this some kind of story where economic misdemeanors are corrected?

[59:03] Is this a story where rich people are punished forever because they were rich and poor people are rewarded forever because they were poor? Well, no, that's clearly not what it's teaching because we see Abraham in heaven.

[59:18] And Abraham was very rich, but he's in heaven. So how does this work? Well, I think the key to this is in the name.

[59:33] We were talking to the children about names. Names are important and when we see names in the Bible, they're loaded with a whole lot more significance than we perhaps put in them today.

[59:47] And the thing to see here in this parable is that the beggar, he has a name. His name is Lazarus. And Lazarus was known by God.

[60:03] His name was known and the meaning of the name Lazarus is significant also. Lazarus means God has helped. And who does God help?

[60:17] Well, he helps those who know their need. He helps those who call upon his name. And Lazarus clearly did. Lazarus may have lived in the most abject material poverty, but spiritually he had been helped.

[60:39] He had been saved by God. And his name is known by God. But the rich man, he has no name.

[60:52] Do you notice that? We don't know his name. He isn't given a name. He's not known by God. He's just a rich man. He hasn't felt his need of God because he's got so much stuff.

[61:10] He hasn't ever cried out to God for help because he feels no need of help. He's fine, thank you very much. Helps for the poor people.

[61:23] And although the rich man lived in material prosperity, spiritually he was poor. He was lost.

[61:39] You know, if we take the lessons from the parable for ourselves today, I think what we can say is that being saved, getting to heaven, escaping hell.

[61:55] It's not about how rich we are, it's not about how poor we are, it's not about how religious we are, because remember Jesus is telling this parable against the religious Pharisees. Getting to heaven, getting to hell, it's not about any of these things, it's not about our credit in terms of economy or in terms of religion, it's about whether or not we know Jesus and whether or not we are known by Jesus.

[62:22] Getting access to heaven, being saved, is about crying out to Jesus for help. So have we done that yet?

[62:35] That's the key question. Have we done that yet? Have we asked Jesus to save us?

[62:48] Have we asked Jesus to take our sin away? Have we asked Jesus to be our saviour, our lord, our friend, our king? If we do that, then we will receive a welcome into heaven.

[63:10] But if we don't do that, when we meet Jesus at the judgment seat, we'll hear these chilling words as we're locked out of heaven.

[63:23] Depart from me. I never knew you. I'm going to stop there.

[63:40] Let's pray. our heavenly father, we thank you for this parable.

[63:57] We struggle with how stark it is in many ways. We see how clearly Jesus is teaching about eternal realities.

[64:15] We see that there is a heaven and there is a hell. And Lord, we thank you that the access that we are given to heaven is not through what we earn.

[64:30] It's not through how many good religious works we can rack up. we thank you that the access that we need for heaven is simply given to those who are trusting in Christ, those who are known by Christ.

[64:49] We so often go to the lyric of that hymn, there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in.

[65:02] And we see Lazarus as one who has been helped of God, who is in his need, cried out to God for help and who knows rest in heaven.

[65:16] We see the picture of that, the illustration of that that Jesus paints. And then we see the contrast of the rich man who has everything in the eyes of this world, who has gained the whole world and yet has lost his soul.

[65:32] And Lord, we pray that there would be none of us in this building or listening at a distance who would know that eternal reality.

[65:44] We pray that there would be none of us who are hoping that our riches or our reputation is going to get us into heaven because we know that it won't. Lord, we thank you that access to heaven, avoidance of hell, is given to those who will simply call upon the name of the Lord.

[66:04] We thank you that we can walk out the door of this church today knowing that we have a place in heaven if we simply pray, Lord Jesus, have mercy on me, a sinner.

[66:19] So help us, Lord, we pray, to see our need, to see our sin and to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus who took our sin upon himself on the cross, who laid down his life so that we could have eternal life and not perish.

[66:45] Give us eyes to see Jesus, ears to hear the call of Jesus, and faith to take hold of the promise of Christ and to know the first taste in this world of the eternal life, which is the portion of all who believe.

[67:07] And we pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. We'll sing to conclude the hymn. There's four verses of this hymn.

[67:18] It's different to the one we have in Mission Praise. I think we've got four verses. If we have two, we'll just sing two, but I think there might be four. Here is love vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood, when the prince of life our ransom shed for us his precious blood.

[67:35] So we'll stand to sing in just a moment. love.

[67:52] Here is love vast as the ocean, loving kindness as the flood, where the prince of life our ransom shed for us his precious blood.

[68:17] Here is love who will not remember who can cease to sing his prayers. He can never be forgotten to attend the eternal days.

[68:36] On the land of crucifixion, but it's open deep and wide, through the floodgates of God's mercy for a last and gracious time, grace of love and might deliver love and love.

[69:00] For it's destined from above, God has peace and perfect justice, yes, my guilty world in love.

[69:16] I love accepting you of the heaven all my days. Let me seek thy kingdom only, but my life be to thy praise.

[69:32] Thou alone shall be my glory, nothing in the world I see. Thou hast cleansed and sanctified me, thou thyself hast set me free.

[69:51] In thy truth thou hast direct me, while I spend through thy work, of thy grace my need is meeting, was I just in thee my own.

[70:09] Of thy fullness thou art pouring, thy grave love and plough on me, without pleasure, full and boundless, pouring out my heart to thee.

[70:30]  And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit be with us all now and forever more. Amen. Amen.