Satan’s Battle Tactics Part 4
Scriptures: Proverbs 11:25; 22:6-7; Luke 6:38; 16:19-31
Introduction
This is part four of my series “Satan’s Battle Tactics.” Last week I shared with you the first part on how the devil will use money to deceive us. This morning I want to conclude the tactic on the deceitfulness of riches.
I told you last week that our money should be working for us versus our working for it so we can have more and more things. I know that this statement may have caught some of you by surprise so I want to elaborate on what I meant when I said it. When our hearts are aligned with God and we take on the servant’s mentality, our money becomes a means to an end, not something that we measure our worth by. When we have a servant’s heart, money is a tool to be use for our needs and the needs of others. We allow God to use what we have for His kingdom. However, as long as we are focusing on ourselves and what we have as a measurement of our worth, we are empty before God. If we use our money correctly, then it should work for us. The two primary ways our money works for us is through our proper managing it (thrift and savings which is investing in our future) and investing in other. Investing in our future is about us and our ability to keep money in its proper place. To do this we spend money wisely understanding that we will not spend what we do not have. Many Christians are working to pay for their past (credit card debts, etc.) They are not able to plan ahead for how they will use their paychecks because they spent it before they received it. This is not how God wants us to live! When we invest in others it is a spiritual investment that we receive the benefits of on this side and when we leave here. Investing in others is the only investment that we will reap the benefit of when we stand before God. This morning we will examine the story of the rich man and Lazarus. This story exemplifies what Jesus said about the deceitfulness of riches and it demonstrates what I shared last week about how our money should be working for us. Before we read that story, let’s examine a few Scriptures from the book of Proverbs (the book of wisdom) which will help us put the story in its proper context.
Proverbs 11:25. “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.” This verse states that a person who is generous (willing to sow to others) will prosper because others will likewise give to them. This is not only talking about money, but in everything we can give; love, forgiveness, etc. Jesus made this clear in Luke 6:38 when He said "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return." Jesus makes it clear that our prosperity (spiritually, mentally, financially and otherwise) is linked to what we are willing to sow of ourselves. These two verses talked about our giving, the next one speaks to saving and debt. These two verses are normally quoted separately as individual thoughts. This morning, however, I will read them together because together they will give us a clearer view of something we should be doing as parents. Turn to Proverbs 22:6-7. It reads, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it. The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower becomes the lender's slave.” Do you see it? If we read these verses together we can see a different recommendation pertaining to what we should be teaching our children. If read together we would be teaching our children to spend their money wisely so as not to get into a lot of debt because the borrower becomes a slave to the lender. If we are not living in this manner before our children they will definitely not see it or live it when they become adults. We must teach our children to save and spend wisely so that they cannot be threatened with loss (something I will address in my close of this series.) Keep these two verses pertaining to generosity and debt in your mind as we read the story from Luke chapter sixteen.
In Luke chapter sixteen, let’s begin reading at verse nineteen. “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores, and longing to be fed with the crumbs which were falling from the rich man's table; besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house for I have five brothers in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:19-31)
In this story we see the lives of a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus. In this story Jesus demonstrates that while a man may have great wealth and pleasure in this world if his heart is not right before God (as evident in how he lives) he will perish forever. In this story the only sin of this rich man that we are made aware of is his providing for himself only. This is important to understand because this rich man was a child of Abraham and as such it was a gross violation of the Abrahamic covenant which required for him to take care of one of his brethren who was without. Lazarus, a godly man, was in the depth of adversity and distress and yet the rich man never took notice of him. While we are not told that the rich man did Lazarus any harm, we can see that the rich man did nothing to care for him. After each man died they went to different places based on their lives here on earth. The rich man went to hell and Lazarus to heaven. In hell the rich man lifted up his eyes as he was in torment. (Please understand that it is not probable that there are conversations taking place between those in heaven and those condemned to hell, but this dialogue is for our sake to show the difference between the states of the person who is saved versus the one condemned.) When they were alive the rich man had more than enough to feed Lazarus but he took no notice of him at all. As a matter of fact, he was so busy enjoying all that life had to offer that he had no time for anyone unlike himself. Lazarus, on the other hand, was poor and destitute. Every day he lay at the gates of the rich man’s home hoping that he could receive some small amount of food from the rich man’s table. Remember what we read in Proverbs 11:25 that “The generous man will be prosperous, and he who waters will himself be watered.” The rich man had every opportunity to help Lazarus, but he chose not to. He used his riches on himself and no one else.
Now I want you to pay close attention to the request that the rich man to Abraham when he looked up and saw Lazarus in Abraham bosom as it speaks directly to Proverbs 22:7. The rich man asked: “….Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.” (Vs. 24) Do you see it? The rich man’s superior attitude was still on display, even in hell! Proverbs 22:7 states that the rich rules over the poor and the rich man even in hell had that same mentality. In hell he cried out and asked Abraham to have mercy on him, but notice how that mercy was to be demonstrated. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to him so Lazarus could dip his finger in water and cool off his tongue. He was asking Abraham to send Lazarus from heaven to serve him water in hell! His attitude had not changed towards Lazarus. His riches on earth had inflated his own self-importance so he did not realize that at this point in eternity he was actually beneath Lazarus. Also notice that the rich man knew Lazarus’ name. This tells us that the rich man still had the same understanding in hell as he had on earth. In other words, he was the same man in hell as he was on earth with the same knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and awareness of others he knew when he was alive. Know that dying does not change who we are and we will be ourselves in heaven or in hell. The difference will be that we will have a different body, one glorified in heaven or one that experiences pain and suffering in hell. The rich man recognized Lazarus in death so he must have known who Lazarus was in life. Although he was in torment and Lazarus was at peace, the rich man did not offer Lazarus an apology for how he had treated him while they were both living. All the rich man asked for was for Lazarus to be allowed to come to hell and serve him water. In the rich man’s mind, Lazarus was still beneath him.
When the rich man’s request was denied, he made another request for Lazarus to be sent to his brothers. He asked, “Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house for I have five brothers in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.” (Vss. 27-28) His second request was that Abraham would send Lazarus back to the earth to warn his brothers so that they would not end up in that place. This man understood the impact of the life he had lived and the life his brothers were currently living. After attempting to get his own tongue cooled, he shifted his attention to his brothers. He did not want them to end up in hell with him. I want you to see that even in hell this man still loved his brothers and did not want them to end up there with him. He still had his personal feelings! Again, I point this out because some people believe that when we die we cease to be who we were on earth and that is simply not true. Now pay close attention to Abraham’s response to this request because it goes back to the heart of why Satan will continue to try and steal the Word from us.
“But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ But he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.” (Vss. 29-31) Do you see it? Abraham told the rich man “no” because his brothers, just as he had, had total access to the Word of God (through the written Word and the Prophets.) Abraham said that if they would not hear those who were alive, then they would not be persuaded by someone who rises from the dead. Abraham told the rich man that only the Word of God could change a heart. The only power that can change a man’s heart is the power that comes from the Word of God. Abraham told the rich man that if his brothers would not hear the Word of God and change, not even someone who rises from the dead could change their hearts! That, my friends is a powerful statement!!!
Second Peter 1:19: “So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.” Peter said that we have the prophetic Word that we should pay attention to as we would a lamp that was shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star (Jesus the Christ) arises in our hearts. It’s the Word of God that changes hearts!!!
The deceitfulness of riches is a powerful tactic that Satan uses to destroy Christians and I am not just talking about weak Christians who do not study the Word of God. Any Christians who has not established in their heart who is their true master is at risk of being deceived by riches. We cannot serve God and money, we must choose. The only way that we can make this choice and stick with it is to have the Word of God alive and growing within our hearts. It is the Word that changes a heart and as I have said from the beginning, this is why Satan wants to steal the Word from us. Everything that we are and everything that we will become as children of God rests on how we allow the Word of God to dwell within us. Is the Word growing within you or is it dormant? Allow the Word to enter your heart so that money works for you rather than you working for money. I will continue this series next week.
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
(If you are ever in the Kansas City, KS area, please come and worship with us at New Light Christian Fellowship, 15 N. 14th Street, Kansas City, KS 66102. We look forward to you worshipping with us. May God bless and keep you.)
