Hopelessness or Hopefulness
Luke 16:19–31
Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed. Luke 16:26
Consider this contrast between the hopelessness of the rich man’s condition after death and the hopefulness of his condition before. After death there is no possibility of change. But in this life there is, and therefore we can rightly say, “where there’s life, there’s hope,” spiritually speaking.
This is the note that I make: the opportunity that all who hear this parable of the rich man and Lazarus still have. No matter who you are or what you may or may not have done, you are not yet in the position of the rich man who prayed but who, because he prayed in hell, prayed too late. For you it is not too late. You can pray; you can find God now. You can turn from sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. You can come to Christ in many ways, but it is only through Christ that you can come to heaven (John 14:6).
One of the great writers of the Elizabethan age was Christopher Marlowe, who wrote what is probably the classic treatment of the Faustus legend in English. Faustus was the character who, according to the story, sold his soul to the devil for secret knowledge and intense pleasure on earth. The devil gave him those things. But in the story there comes the moment when Faustus’s earthly time runs out and the devil comes to take him away to damnation. In Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, Faustus, in despair, begs time to stop:
O lente, lente, currite noctis equi!
[The line means, “Run slowly, slowly, horses of the night!”]
The stars move still, time runs, the clock will strike,
The Devil will come, and Faustus must be damned.
Those words chill the heart. They paralyze the will. But praise to the God of all grace, those words are wrong. Why? Because it is not possible to sell your soul to the devil. The devil owns no one, and while we yet live, it is not necessary that anyone be damned. Christ is preached. The door is open. Jesus himself says, “Whosever will may come.”
Do not wait for signs. Do not wait for miracles. Abraham said that the brothers of the rich man would not believe even “if someone should rise from the dead” (Luke 16:31). You have the Scriptures, the Bible, and the story says, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them” (v. 29). Listen to that word. Jesus said, “It is [the Scriptures] that bear witness about me” (John 5:39).
If you are not yet a believer in Jesus Christ, I commend that Word to you. I urge it on you for your soul’s sake.
Taken from Come to the Waters by James Boice ISBN 9798887790954 used with permission from P&R Publishing, Phillipsburg NJ 08865
Scripture quotations are from the ESV (the Holy Bible English Standard Version) copyright 2001 by Crossway a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved.