Okay. Now we're rolling. Thank you very much for your patience. We're in Luke chapter 12 and we're reading from verse 39. This is the word of God.

And this know that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not have suffered his house to be broken through. But be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not.

' Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.

But, and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men's servants, and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers.

And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, to him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Amen.

May the Lord bless to us this reading from his word.

The principal purpose of this passage throughout has been to encourage thoughtfulness and attentiveness in Christ's people for the Lord's coming.

Now I mentioned last week and I'm going to repeat myself this week because I think it's a valid point. Often we think of the Lord's coming in terms of his second coming, his return to earth in judgement and certainly there are many passages that direct us to the end times and the coming of the Lord Jesus as judge of all the earth.

However, we need not limit ourselves to thinking about that one single visit of the Lord in the last day, great and glorious as it will be, significant as it will be, because there are also visits from the Lord where he can be said to come to visit his church with periods of growth, with periods of deliverance and blessing.

And there are visits that are experienced by individual believers when the Lord draws near to us. For example, at conversion, such as with Lydia, whose heart the Lord opened. And all of us have an experience, I trust, of an encounter with the Lord Jesus, which led to the illumination of our eyes, our spiritual understanding and our heart to the person of the Lord.

And we might think also in this context of Saul of Tarsus, whom the Lord met on the Damascus road. And Saul there said, Lord, who art thou? And the Lord Jesus introduced himself to Saul. And the Lord also meets with us in times of trial or to bestow some comfort or help.

For example, we read in Acts 23 that Paul was almost killed by Jewish enemies. Jerusalem and delivered only when the Roman commander forcibly extracted him from the hands of his attackers and housed him in a fortress overnight. And then we read these words, and the night following the Lord stood by him and said, Be of good cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, so must thou bear witness also at Rome. And of course there was significance in this message, not least to tell the Apostle Paul that he would live through this experience and he would continue to serve the Lord even to the point of serving him and witnessing for him at Rome. But also for the personal encouragement of the Lord's servant at this time of great stress and difficulty in his life's experience.

And I have thought for many, many years, I can remember as a young man thinking about this verse and thinking how blessed it was that the Lord said, Paul. The Lord stood by him and said, be of good cheer, Paul. Now, if I'm not mistaken, Paul means little or small. So here is the Lord standing by his servants and saying, be of good cheer, Paul. Be of good cheer, my little one. And he could have said, be of good cheer, and it would have just been as powerful and as significant to Paul to hear those words from the Lord. But the Lord said more than that. He called him by his name. And I think that that's a lovely addition to this portion in the Word of God, this testimony from the Apostle.

Because here was the Lord visiting him in the night hour. and calling him by his name and supporting him and encouraging him. Be of good cheer. And then later on as well, Paul is largely forsaken in Rome. So he's got to Rome, where the Lord told him he would witness, and he writes to Timothy. And he says in 2 Timothy 4, verse 17, the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear. And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion." By which he likely means that he was delivered from death on this occasion.

So we can say that believers may find and should be looking for, should be thoughtful about and attentive to personal comforting and strengthening in visits. from the Lord, spiritual encounters, private moments of close and intense personal experience of the Lord, when the Lord witnesses to our heart, when the Lord speaks to us and his Spirit draws close to us.

For another example, we might also mention that the churches in Revelation are told explicitly that the Lord would come to them and fight against their enemies, all by which it seems clear that when the Lord says, lo, I am with thee always, he means that we ought to be ready and alert to discover visits from him whenever needs require his special intervention.

And then from verse 39, the Lord seems to alter the sense a little bit and to speak specifically to his disciples and to require a heightened attentiveness, I would suggest, on the part of the Lord's ministers in their care for the church. And he uses the example of a man who fails to safeguard his home against the entrance of a thief. And Peter seems to sense this shift in emphasis in the Lord's words and he asks if this lesson is particularly for the disciples or if it's intended for everyone. And I don't see that the Lord actually gives him an emphatic answer, but there is implicit in what the Lord says that it is to them, the disciples, and I would enlarge that to say to all gospel ministers to whom the role falls of feeding the Lord's people in gospel times.

I think there's a lovely little phrase there because these ministers, these individuals, these pastors, these preachers that are given as gifts to the church, that's what we're told in Acts again, that these were gifts to the church, these preachers, that they were placed over Christ's household to give them, that is Christ's household, their portion of meat in due season. And that's a very potent little phrase there, I think, that the role of a preacher, the role of a minister, the role of a gospel witness is to give the Lord's people their portion of meat in due season. And the Lord commends the servant who is found conscientiously fulfilling his task when the Lord returns, giving the Lord's people their portion of meat in due season.

And I think it's a delightful expression for declaring gospel truth to spiritual people, dispensing the spiritual nourishment for the growth and development of God's elect people. And there is a helpful lesson here, I think. We are being told not only is the church Christ's household, his family, but he has provided for our wellbeing by supplying oversight in his house, servants whose duty it is, as undershepherds, if we were to change the analogy slightly, but servants whose duty it is to minister, to serve, to feed his church with such spiritual truth and gospel doctrine as will sustain and feed their souls.

And these portions, these portions of meat are to be given in due season. That is, as the Lord dispenses and gives appropriately for the needs of an individual, for the needs of a congregation, then that has to be dispensed according to the condition of the Lord's people in that particular place. So that there is a vitality, there is an engagement here between the Lord who dispenses to the pastors, to the teachers, to the ministers, and the ministers who carry and convey that meat, that portion of meat to the Lord's people.

We see that actually spoken about in Psalm 104 verse 27. The psalmist there says, These wait all upon thee, that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, that thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. So there's the psalmist thinking about the way in which the Lord gives to his creatures back in the Old Testament in the Psalms.

These wait all upon thee, that thou mayst give them their meat in due season. That thou givest them, they gather. thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good. And this is a lovely picture because the Lord supplies suitable food for our souls and he instils an appetite for what he supplies. And I take this to describe what we are doing here today because the Lord knows what our souls need and the Truth is that this doesn't come just from the thoughts, I trust, of the individual, but he it is who wonderfully, who indeed only can, suffice the needs of his people.

He supplies our need through the gospel that's preached to us and by opening to us the doctrines of his truth, the doctrines of grace, free grace, accomplished redemption, spiritual quickening, eternal security. These are the doctrines which build us up in the faith, which furnish our hearts with praise, enable our service and arouse our gratitude in worship. As we know more about Christ, so our hearts are drawn out to him.

And it's Christ who dispenses the food and his ministers serve that food at the table. And his people gather from the Lord's open hand and they are filled with good things. It's a beautiful picture of the Lord's spiritual provision and care for his church. And I go back to what we said at the start. We ought not to think of this as a one-off single banquet, single meal, for the Lord promises his servants increased blessing. such as more gospel light and deeper truth and growing knowledge of the Saviour, more experiences of his love and such helps and blessings as will make that servant more useful to the church and in the community, in their broader relationships. And thereafter, in heaven, such a servant will inherit all the blessings of the world to come, all glory and happiness and bliss with the Church of Christ.

But then, as far as these verses are concerned, the Lord closes with a warning as well. He closes with a warning to those who presume to serve but fail in their duty. And who, we might wonder, are these men? Well, they're the ministers who fail to give Christ's household their portion of meat and juice season, who do not give food for the hungry sheep, who bring forth no refreshing for thirsty souls.

Rather, that servant says in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men's servants and maidens and to eat and to drink and to be drunken. Instead of ministering to the household of the Lord, they exploit the household of the Lord. They bully, they dominate and they threaten the Lord's little ones. And how many times we see this in churches. where the gospel has been lost, where imputed righteousness is not anymore preached. Christ's glorious person and his efficacious work is forgotten about and ignored. In its place, rules and regulations, structures and strictures, self-serving ministers and career clergy.

This is what Ezekiel was talking about, was warning against in Ezekiel 34, verse three, where the Lord admonishes these people. You eat the fat, you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill them that are fed, but you feed not the flock. And sadly, it is the widespread experience for many today that they are not fed the true gospel doctrines of God's grace.

So let me return in closing to this little phrase, their portion of meat in due season. If the Lord has bestowed on us his goodness and his grace by supplying our portion of meat in due season, then we have much for which to thank him. May he continue to nourish our souls and to minister to our spirits fresh views of himself, fresh visits in the gospel and in those trying times and more and many more foretastes of that eternal glory and everlasting blessing that is laid up for us in heaven. Amen.