June 15, 2025

Luke 16:14-31

Across the Great Divide

Sunday Sermons

Luke 16 begins with a conversation Jesus has with his disciples about faithfulness with money and righteous stewardship in the kingdom. He continues that conversation with the Pharisees, who are lovers of money and need to be reminded of the sanctity and reverence of God’s Law. Jesus tells them a fascinating story of two men and five brothers, separated by a great chasm, both in this life and the next. Join us as we look at how the Law and the kingdom of God intersect, and how the love of Christ carries us across the great divide.

Speaker

Matt Pierson

Series

The Gospel According to Luke

Go to Series

Scripture

Luke 16:14-31

Topics
Community Life Growth & Discipleship

Sermon Notes

Luke 16:14-31

Across the Great Divide

Pastor Matt Pierson

“There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry: Mine!”
– Abraham Kuyper

“Wealth is no mark of God’s favor. Poverty is no mark of God’s displeasure.”
– J.C.Ryle, The Gospel of Luke

Luke 16:14-31

1. Who we are will continue into eternity
2. The Law doesn’t save us, but it should shape us
3. Only Jesus can carry us across the Great Divide

Hold everything earthly with a loose hand; but grasp eternal things with a death-like grip.
– Charles Spurgeon

“One very difficult aspect of sin is that my sin never feels like sin to me. My sin feels like life to me, plain and simple. My heart is an idol factory, and my mind is an excuse-making factory.”
– Rosaria Champagne Butterfield

“By grace I have been saved from the penalty of sin. By grace, I am being saved from the power of sin. By grace, I will one day be saved from the presence of sin.”
– Rico Tice, Faithful Leaders and the Things that Matter Most

The Threefold Use of the Law:

1. A mirror
2. The restraint of evil
3. It reveals what is pleasing to God

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
-Micah 6:6-8

“God is more concerned with conforming me to the likeness of His Son than leaving me in my comfort zones. God is more interested in inward qualities than outward circumstances- things like refining my faith, humbling my heart, cleaning up my thought life, and strengthening my character.”
-Joni Eareckson Tada

“Show me your ways, O Lord, teach me your paths.
Guide me in Your truth and teach me,
For you are God my Savior,
And my hope is in you all the day long.”
-Psalm 25:4-5

“Blessed is the person who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers!
But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night.
He will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.”
-Psalm 1:1-3

“The gospel is that Jesus Christ came to earth, lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died—in our place—so that God can accept us.”
-Tim Keller, The Reason for God

Jesus took the infinite distance between us and God and bridged it with His life and death. Because Jesus is Himself God, He is not only the bridge that spans the gap; He is also the God we find on the other side.

“I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.
In the way of your testimonies I delight as much as in all riches.
Oh, how I love your law! It is my meditation all the day.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.”
-Psalm 119: 11, 14, 97, 105

Discussion Questions

  • Luke 16:14 says, “The Pharisees… were lovers of money…and they ridiculed Him.” Jesus responds, “God knows your hearts” (v.15). Would you agree that our view of money reveals our heart posture towards God? What is one step you could take this week to honor the Lord with what He has given you?
  • Pastor Matt pointed out that in Luke 16:19-30, Lazarus was viewed as an inconvenience and was invisible to the rich man. How often do we view the impoverished and the sick as inconveniences? Why do we often look past those who suffer as if they were invisible?
  • “One very difficult aspect of sin is that my sin never feels like sin to me. My sin feels like life to me, plain and simple.” – Butterfield
    Does this ring true for you? What are some ways that your sin can feel like life?

     

Songs, Readings & Prayer

Songs

“On Christ The Solid Rock“ by William Batchelder Bradbury and Edward Mote
“Blessed Assurance“ by Fanny Jane Crosby and Phoebe Palmer Knapp
“Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God“ by Keith Getty and Stuart Townend
“Take My Life And Let It Be“ by Frances Ridley Havergal
“Doxology” by Thomas Ken and Louis Bourgeois
All songs are used by Permission. CCLI License #2003690

Call To Worship: Congregational Prayer

(Excerpts from Psalm 33, 36, 86, 100, 143 and Romans 8)

LEADER: For the word of the LORD is right and true; He is faithful in all He does.

MEN: Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the skies.

WOMEN: You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God,  slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.

MEN: For the LORD is good and His love endures forever;  His faithfulness continues through all generations.

WOMEN: O LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy;  in Your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.

MEN: The LORD is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.

ALL: For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen!

Confession of Faith: The Apostles’ Creed – Article II. “On the Third Day He Rose Again”

Leader: What does the Creed mean when it affirms that Jesus rose again from the dead?

People: It means that Jesus was not simply resuscitated; God restored Him physically from death to life in His resurrected body, never to die again. His tomb was empty; Jesus had risen bodily from the dead. The risen Jesus was seen by His apostles and hundreds of other witnesses.

Leader: What kind of earthly life did Jesus have after He rose from the dead?

People: Following His resurrection, Jesus spent forty days visiting and teaching his followers. He appeared to His disciples, spoke to them, invited them to touch Him and see His scars, and ate with them.

Leader: How does Christ’s resurrection benefit us?

People: First, by His resurrection He has overcome death, so that He could make us share in the righteousness which He had obtained for us by His death. Second, by His power we too are raised up to a new life. Third, Christ’s resurrection is to us a sure pledge of our glorious resurrection.

ACNA, Q. 69-70; Heidelberg, Q. 45

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