SEND LAZARUS TO MY FATHER’S HOUSE—LUKE 16:19-31
It appears to be a very simply request, “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.” Having realized too late that his destiny in hell is eternal, the rich man is concerned that his brothers do not share his fate of torment: “Send Lazarus to my Father’s house to warn them.” None of us want our family and friends to suffer eternal judgment and separation from God.
Repentance is a vital step in becoming a Christian. Salvation is a free gift by God’s grace, but repentance is a sign of faith. A. W. Tozer, who pastored Chicago’s Southside Christian and Missionary Alliance Church for thirty-one years, puts it so well: “God will take nine steps toward us, but He will not take the tenth. He will incline us to repent, but He cannot do our repenting for us” [A. W. Tozer, Christian Reader, Vol. 32, no. 5.].
As this is also Worldwide Communion Sunday, we need to remember that repentance is the spirit in which we come to take Holy Communion. Our classical invitation to Holy Communion in the Wesleyan and Anglican traditions begins: “You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins. . . .” I would be the last pastor to ever deny anyone the elements of Holy Communion or at least be extremely careful and discerning in doing so. However, if the Holy Spirit points out sin in our lives before we partake of the Eucharist and we do not obediently and humbly repent, we are in danger of the sin Paul warns against in I Corinthians11:23, “Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.” Failure to repent at the Lord’s Table when the Holy Spirit convicts me of sin and calls me to repentance and confession is “sinning against the body and blood of the Lord.”
What do we learn about repentance from the rich man’s petition “Send Lazarus to My Father’s House?” The word “send” is powerful. It means “to cause to go,” and specifically suggests a messenger, agent, or ambassador who has been sent with a divine commission. It refers in Scripture to angels, apostles, and prophets who have been appointed by God Himself to deliver messages to His people. The rich man requested that Lazarus be sent as a divine messenger to his Father’s house.
He further requested: “Let him warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment. Warn carries a powerful punch. It refers to a testimony about an impending danger. The picture it paints is always one of ministry. It implies “bearing earnestly or repeatedly to the truth of salvation through Christ.” The rich man’s plea was that Lazarus might return to earnestly warn his five brothers of the eternal judgment that awaits those who do not repent and accept Christ as their personal Saviour and Lord. He did not want them to “also come to this place of torment.”
Abraham’s reply is: “They have Moses and the prophets, let them listen to them.” For a person of the Jewish faith “Moses and the prophets” refers to all the Old Testament Scriptures. For those of us with a Christian background it can be expanded to include all the Scriptures of both the Old and the New Testaments. The message is clear, God has given us the Scriptures of both the Old and New Testaments to lead us to salvation and faith in His Son Jesus Christ. John tells us the purpose for writing his Gospel in John 20:31, “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” That was not only the purpose of the Gospel of John but of all sixty-six books of the Holy Bible, and from Genesis through Revelation, God is always calling people separated from Him by sin to repent.
Matthew tells us in Matthew 3:1-2 that John the Baptist’s message was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.” Then in Matthew 4:17, he affirms: “From that time on Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near.’”
What is repentance? How do I repent? Donald Grey Barnhouse, longtime pastor of Philadelphia’s Tenth Presbyterian Church and editor of editor of Eternity magazine, tells this story: “A Sunday School teacher once asked a class what was meant by the word “repentance.” A little boy put up his hand and said, ‘It is being sorry for your sins.’ A little girl also raised her hand and said, ‘It is being sorry enough to quit.’” “Repentance is being sorry enough for your sins to quit sinning.”
That reminds me of another story about George Washington. “Several years ago in the Saturday Review of Literature there was a cartoon in which little George Washing is standing with an axe in hand. Before him lying on the ground is the famous cherry tree. He has already made his smug admission that he did it—after all, he ‘cannot tell a lie.’ But his father is standing there exasperated saying, ‘Alright, so you admit it! You always admit it! The question is, when are you going to stop doing it.’” Repentance is being sorry enough for your sins to stop doing it.
The word repent in our text comes from two root words. The first one means indicates “change.” The second one means “to exercise the mind, think, comprehend.” Repentance is a “change of mind.” It is a “change of mind or turning away from sin.” To repent is “to be sorry for one’s sins and determined not to sin again” [--Morris G. Watkins and others (ed.),
The Complete Christian Dictionary for Home and School (International Bible Society, 1997), p.578.].
Repentance is “a genuine sorrow toward God on account of sin and an extreme dislike of sin, followed by the actual forsaking of it and humble surrender and service of God” [--op. cit.]. In the words of the great New Testament scholar Ralph Earle, “(Repentance) is more than emotional sorrow, which too often does not produce any change of life. Rather, it is a change of mind, or attitude, toward God, sin, and ourselves” [--Ralph Earle, Word Meaning in the New Testament, One-volume Edition (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City, 1986), p. 30.]. Genuine repentance is a 180 degree “about face” that leads us to saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Such change does not come about by our own human strength and determination. It is a result of total surrender and dependence on the Holy Spirit. We can overcome and conquer the power of sin but only in the spirit of the promise Romans 8:37, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” Without my act of repentance God cannot forgive my sins, but it is the Holy Spirit who enables me to repent as we see in Acts 11:18, “When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God saying, ‘So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.’”
The rich man thought “if someone from the dead” went to his brothers, “they would repent.” Abraham declares, “If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.” The Holy Spirit who inspired the prophets and the apostles to write the Scriptures convicts our hearts leading to repentance. Hebrews 4:12 declares, “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”
Those who refuse to repent when the Holy Spirit convicts their hearts by His Word will not be convinced “even if someone rises from the dead.” Jesus raised another man named Lazarus from the dead in John Chapter eleven. Scripture tells us what resulted from that resurrection: “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in Him” [--John 11:45]. John, however, continues his account telling us: “But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. . . . So from that day on they plotted to take His life”
[--John 11:11:40, 53].
Even the Resurrection of Jesus did not bring everyone to faith and repentance. Matthew explains in Matthew 28:17 that even at the occasion of giving of the Great Commission and His Ascension, “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted.” Those who are not convinced to repent and turn to Jesus through the power of His Word “will not be convinced though one rises from the dead.”
A. W. Tozer was right on target: “God will take nine steps toward us, but He will not take the tenth. He will incline us to repent, but He cannot do our repenting for us.” You and I must individually take that step of faith in the power of the Holy Spirit.
“The story is told of a famous rabbi who was walking with some of his disciples when one of them asked, ‘Rabbi, when should a man repent?’ The rabbi calmly replied, "’You should be sure you repent on the last day of your life.’ ‘But,’ protested several of his disciples, ‘we can never be sure which day will be the last day of our life.’ The famous rabbi smiled and said, ‘The answer to that problem is very simple. Repent now.’”
Is the Holy Spirit convicting you of sin and calling you to repentance? Obey Him at the Table of the Lord right now, as we join with Christians around the world in Holy Communion: “You who do truly and earnestly repent of your sins, and are in love and charity with your neighbors, and intend to lead a new life following the commandments of God, and walking from henceforth in His holy ways: Draw near with faith, and take this holy Sacrament to your comfort, and make your humble confession to almighty God.” AMEN.
