Let's turn this afternoon to
the Song of Solomon, chapter 8. Song of Solomon, chapter 8, verses
11 and 12. My subject is those that keep
the vineyard. I say without the least reservation
that the greatest blessing God ever gives to a people in this
world is a man who preaches the gospel of his free grace without
compromise, without fear, and without favor, who proclaims
to sinners the way of life and salvation by Jesus Christ alone. I say without hesitation that
the noblest, most awesome, heaviest responsibility in this world
is that great blessed privilege of preaching the gospel to sinners
in the name of Christ. The Lord's promise to his church
is this, I will give you pastors according to mine own heart who
shall feed you with knowledge and with understanding. And when
God grants that covenant blessing, his people are indeed blessed. And with that in mind, let's
read this text in the Song of Solomon, chapter 8, in verses
11 and 12. Solomon, the Lord Jesus, represented
by Solomon, had a vineyard. The vineyard throughout this
blessed song of loves is representative of the church of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Indeed, throughout the scriptures,
God's church in this world is described as his vineyard. A
vineyard that he has let out to husbandmen, to vinedressers,
to those who care for the vineyard. The vineyard which he has purchased
with his own blood. which he hath planted in this
world, the fruitfulness of which is by his own hand. He says Solomon
had a vineyard in Belhaman. He let out the vineyard to keepers,
every one, that is every one of the keepers, for the fruit
thereof was to bring a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard,
which is mine, is before me. Thou, O Solomon, must have a
thousand And those that keep the fruit thereof, two hundred."
Now in the 11th verse, there's several things set before us
clearly. The first is what I've already
stated, that the Church of God is our Lord's vineyard in this
world, that from which He must and shall have His fruit. The
church is that which he has planted, that which he has purchased with
his own precious blood. Our Lord Jesus describes this
fruit, this vineyard, as being that which is pruned by the hand
of God, that we may bring forth much fruit. This vineyard, throughout
the scriptures, we are told, has been let out by the Lord
Jesus to certain gifted men, called specifically by his purpose
for the keeping of the vineyard. We have this parable of the vineyard
in Matthew 20, where it is set forth in just that way, and again
in Matthew 21. Gospel preachers then are those
men who are the keepers of the vineyard. They are the Lord's
rent gatherers. They gather and collect the fruit
and bring it in to Him. He said to His disciples, you've
not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that you
should go and bring forth much fruit and that your fruit should
remain. Some of you here, I've been privileged
of God to bring you as fruit to the Master. Fruit that shall
remain. Fruit that will remain, what
you read just a little bit ago, Merle, righteousness will stand
forever. His righteousness. That righteousness
which stands forever is that which is given to you who believe
by the grace of God through the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the fruit gathered and brought in by these vine keepers, these
dressers of the vineyard, this fruit is all the same. Notice
this. He says each one, everyone for the fruit thereof was to
bring a thousand pieces of silver. Late last night, right before
I went to bed, I read some things on this text of scripture and
just clicked so well for me. The fruit that is brought in
by each one is exactly a thousand pieces of silver. Now what on
earth does that mean? It means just this. God's servants
all have the same commission from God. They are all responsible
to preach the gospel of God's free grace in Christ. That's
the responsibility. they have different gifts, they
have different abilities, to outward appearance, the way we
judge things by sight, that's the only way we can, they have
differing measures of success. Some seem to have great success
and some seem to have very little in this world. Some are highly
honored in this world, some are hardly even known in this world.
And yet, in the faithful and honest discharge of their work,
those who preach the gospel of God's grace are so blessed by
Him as to answer the end of all that God has ordained for their
ministry in this world. That means just this. Every one
of God's servants are reckoned by Him, even the humblest and
least gifted, to bring in a thousand pieces of silver just like the
noblest and most highly honored. so that they all bring their
work before God Almighty and are accepted of Him exactly the
same. Now, if preachers could get hold
of that, they'd take care of a lot of jealousy. I had someone call
a while back. Someone just asked the other
day if I'd be interested in going somewhere. I said no. Some time back, somebody
called and asked if I'd be interested in coming and considering pastoring
a church. I said no. They said, well, what's that
church you pastor? I said, oh, 35, 40 folks, I don't know. We
got over 400 I said that doesn't matter Well, well, what do they
pay you? I said that doesn't matter either
doesn't matter I'm where God put me and being put where God
put me I do what God has given me to do That's our responsibility
if we could get hold of that God honors those who honor him
no matter how he's pleased that we honor him you understand that
I so that our work that God's given us to do is received by
Him exactly the same. Each one brings for the fruit
a thousand pieces of silver. All right, now let me apply this
text to you as believers. I've mentioned this just briefly,
but it needs to be stated plainly. Every believer is, in a sense,
one to whom the Lord God has entrusted the keeping of his
vineyard. God has entrusted the keeping of your own soul to you.
It's your responsibility, and you must keep your own soul.
The Lord says, keep your heart with all diligence, for out of
it are the issues of life. Take care, my brother. Take care,
my sister, that you keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep your
heart. Watch over your heart. You say,
but we have to be kept by God's grace. I know that, but you're
responsible to keep yourself. We have to be kept in the love
of God. I know that, but you have to keep yourself in the
love of God. But we must be kept in the faith. I know that, but
you must keep yourself in the faith. Keep your life for Him
as well. How can I impress upon us the
necessity of honoring Him in all things? I believe this is best. Gary
Baker, you're not your own. You've been bought with a price. Is that enough? I beseech you,
therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your
bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto the Lord. That's
just the only thing that makes any sense. And what Paul says
is that's just your reasonable service. It's just reasonable
that Merle Hart and Don Fort, Present themselves a living sacrifice
constantly to God. That's just reasonable. He bought
us He called us. He saved us. He keeps us. He's
bringing us to glory. He's made us his sons Now then I Would urge you also
to faithfully keep to the work which he's put in your hands
Turn it over to John chapter 21 for a moment I've been working this over a
little bit the last few weeks in my mind. Every now and then
I'll get a call or letter or somebody will come by and want
to encourage you to do something. You know, sometimes fellas say,
you know, they handle church business like they'd handle building
a 7-Eleven store. And they say, if you'll raise
so much money, then we'll raise so much. If you'll do this, then I'll
do that. You do what God has for you to do, and I'll do what
God has for me to do. Don't ask me, don't come ask me if I'll
help you do what God told you to do. The fact is, believers
are given their responsibilities and their opportunities, and
it's my responsibility to do what God gives me the opportunity
and ability to do, and yours to do the same thing. And it's
not my responsibility to get you to. I asked the other day,
could you get somebody to sponsor this? I wouldn't ask anybody.
If they had $50 million, they ain't on the coffee table to
sponsor anything. No, sir. No, sir. Why not? God takes care
of that. What do you do? Preach the gospel
to folks. Tell folks what Christ has done
for them. And encourage them to give themselves to Him. That'll
take care of business. That'll take care of stuff. Look
here in John chapter 21. The Lord had just dealt with
Peter. And old brother Peter, he's so much like me. I get a
lot from him. The Lord had just restored him from his terrible
fall. He had just come and brought him back into the blessed fellowship
of His grace and His salvation and His knowledge. Then he said,
now Peter, feed my lambs, feed my sheep, feed my lambs, feed
my sheep, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. And when you get done,
they're going to hang you upside down on a tree. And Peter looked around and he
saw John coming. Oh, brother John, he never got into trouble
for anything. He was always mild-mannered, kept his mouth shut. He was that
disciple described as the disciple whom Jesus loved. Now look at
this in verse 20 of John 21. Peter turning about seeth the
disciple whom Jesus loved following, which also leaned on his breast
at supper, and said, Lord, which is he that betrayeth thee?
And Peter seeing him saith to Jesus, Lord, what shall this
man do? Now you told me what I'm going
to do. What's John going to do? How's John going to serve you?
And the Lord said, Peter, that ain't none of your business.
That's exactly what it says. Look at the next line. Jesus
saith unto him, if I will that he tarry till I come, what is
that to thee? I told you to follow me. Follow
thou me. Now this is what I'm saying.
It is not your responsibility, nor is it mine, to watch out
for what somebody else does. That's our problem. We spend
most of our time and energy concerned about what somebody else is doing
or not doing. So I've done my part. When you've given your
life, you haven't done your part. I've given everything I am, everything
I have, my life, my family, everything. My soul, I'm an unprofitable
servant. No, we haven't done our part.
I get so, I get infuriated when I feel so I've done my part.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no. We haven't begun to do our part.
You do what God gives you opportunity to do and don't you worry about
what somebody else does. God'll take care of it. God'll
take care of it. Serve the Lord where you are. And to serve the
Lord where you are is to serve his people and his calls and
his interest and his will where you are. And there's something
you can do for which you're responsible. Something that you must do for
Christ, for the good of his church, for the furtherance of his gospel
that only you can do in the place where you are. So do it. Just
get after it. So a preacher, what should I
do? I'll leave that between you and God. I'll just leave that
between you and God. But whatever it is, do it. Put your hand to it and do it
with all your might. And then there are some who are given
special talents and special responsibilities as keepers in the Lord's venue. With special talents come special
responsibilities. but not special people. We don't have any clergy or laity. Sometimes I'm kind of tempted
to get one of those clergy stickers, put it on a car so I can park
where I want to and not get a ticket, but we don't have any clergy
and laity. There's not a barrier here between
me and you. The only reason I'm standing
up higher than you is because that's the way we built the auditorium. There's
not any superiority in God's servants. One serves doing this,
and one serves doing that, and one serves doing what I'm doing.
But the people of God are His servants. We're His servants.
Now, I'm given the privilege and the responsibility of being
one of the Lord's pastors, an under-shepherd, a keeper of the
Lord's vineyard. But the Lord requires the same
thing from me as He does from you. Very same thing. He requires the same thing from
Larry Crisp, where you are, a welder, working over at UK, serving in
this congregation. Bobby Estes, retired farmer and
hunter, working right here in this congregation, requires the
same thing. What does he require? Moreover, it is required in stewards. That's all we are, just stewards. Let a man be found faithful. Gary Baker and his wife Carla
were to entrust to my care the execution of their will and their
family to take care of their sons should something happen
to them prematurely in their understanding of things. And
I assumed the responsibility. Honor requires that I faithfully
execute your will. Honor requires it. Our God has
entrusted to us family, the keeping of his business, the care of
his vineyard. Rex, honor requires that we faithfully
execute his will. Is that reasonable? That's just
reasonable. As a steward under God, this congregation is my
vineyard. I speak plainly and honestly
when I say my vineyard is before me. It is the vineyard to which
God has given me his trust. This is the sphere of my responsibility. It's before me. Always before
me. There's never... I can honestly
say this. There's never a waking hour,
James Jordan, when you and the care of this church is not before
me. Never a waking hour. Always before me. I'm responsible
for this thing. I'm not responsible for 13th
Street Church in Ashland, or Todd's Road Church in Lexington,
or Bible Baptist in Madisonville, or Rescue Baptist in Rescue,
California. I am responsible for this vineyard. I'm not responsible
for what those brethren do. They are. I'm not responsible
to get them to do things the way I do. I'm responsible for
this vineyard. If I see another brother prospering
more than I am, I'll thank God for his blessings on that apparent
prosperity. But my vineyard is before me. And this is what I must look
after. I don't desire another man's place or another man's
work or another man's responsibility. This is what God's given me. Now then, what about you? Will
we be faithful where God's put us, doing the work God has given
us to do? As we serve Him, this text declares
also that there is great reward in the service of our Savior.
in the care of his vineyard. Look at this. Thou, O Solomon,
must have a thousand. His is the great reward. His
is the great honor. We trust each of us feels the
necessity of this word must. Our Savior must have a thousand. He must have the fruit of his
vineyard. He must receive all honor, all
glory, and all praise from his church. We don't applaud ourselves
for God's blessings on us. I never will forget the first
time this happened to me. I didn't reprove the folks because I know
they didn't know any better. They were just trying to honor
me. I didn't reprove them at the time. I did neck service.
I got done preaching and folks just started clapping. I wanted
to crawl under a rug somewhere. My soul, I'm just God's messenger. We don't applaud the preacher.
We applaud the message. We applaud Christ and Him crucified.
We must not exalt and magnify those who labor most zealously
even in the kingdom of God, not even those who give most generously.
People, they act like that, you know, you keep tabs on folks.
Sally and Bob sitting here, I don't ever want to look at books in
this church, see who gives what. I don't want to know who gives
more, who gives less. I don't care. And I sure don't
want it to influence what I preach. We don't applaud folks for what
they give, what they do. We simply magnify Christ and
His grace in folks. We must not give glory and praise
to the preacher or to the people as though somehow the Lord depends
on us. Oh, no, no, no. We give glory
and praise to Him whom we serve, for whose honor we are seeking
His glory. He that glorieth, let him glory
in the Lord. No flesh shall glory in his presence. And yet the keepers of the vineyard
are here told that they too shall have their reward. And those
that keep the fruit thereof, two hundred. Oh, now then, if
we serve faithfully, then we're going to get bigger crowds than
somebody else. No. If we give a lot, then we're
going to have greater rewards than somebody else. No. But the Lord
does swear this. Them that honor me, I will honor. There's not a law in the universe
stronger than that, or more sure. Buddy Dardy, just as we honor
God, He honors us in everything. Just as we despise Him, He considers
us lightly in everything. Read it for yourself, 1 Samuel
2.30. Each man and woman who faithfully serves the Lord Jesus
Christ will find great reward in serving Him. We sometimes look at our work,
I've often commented with farmers, I think I've said this to Oscar,
you know, there's just something rewarding and satisfying about
working with your hands and doing things with your hands. And you
look at your works and that's gratifying, that's gratifying.
Buddy builds little cars and Man, there's some gratification
in that. Listen to me now. Our souls themselves are profited
by faithfulness to Christ. What could be more profitable
to your soul than faithfully worshiping Him? What could be
more profitable to your soul than faithfully giving yourself
to Him? What could be more profitable to your soul than faithfully
seeking His will, His honor, and His glory? Such men and women
who are honoring to Christ should be highly esteemed also by those
who profit by their labors. So that if God's pleased to take
you, some word you speak, some thing that you give or do, by
which you benefit folks, and often at the time it's done,
you're not even aware you're doing anything, so fantastic.
But those people who profit, oh, how they honor those who
profit their souls. Those who are faithful gospel
preachers are to be rewarded for their labors by those for
whom they labor as well. Turn over to 1 Thessalonians
5. And I say this not just with
regard to your pastor. I say this because I want you
to have this regard for every faithful gospel preacher. I don't
have the problem that some pastors have, and I'm so thankful to
God for his grace to you. In this congregation, you give
great esteem to your pastor and those who preach the gospel.
But be careful that you do to every faithful gospel preacher,
not just me, any man who's faithful to the cause of Christ, honor
him as he ought to be honored. Look here in 1 Thessalonians
5, we beseech you, brethren, To know them which labor among
you. Try to understand what they have
to do. And the word labor is properly
used. The work of the ministry is a
labor of soul. And you who hear the word and
profit by the word need to understand that. I realize that For many,
preaching and pastoring is a light, easy thing, and involves no labor
at all, but not for a man who's worth his salt. The work of the
ministry involves labor, labor of soul, of heart, and of mind. And I'll make this statement
without any hesitancy at all. There's not a man in this congregation
any week of any year in the 19 years I've been here who spends
more time laboring at his work than I do at mine. Not one. Why? Because this is what God's given
me to do. Your soul's worth it and his
honor's worth it. The gospel we seek to preach
is worth it. So those who labor among you
know them and know who they are who are over you in the Lord
and admonish you. and esteem them very highly in
love, not for their person's sake. You know, you would have
to go far to find somebody better looking than I am, more charming
than I am, or smarter than I am. That's not the reason. The reason
for the esteem is for their work's sake. And just to the degree
that you do, be at peace among yourselves. Find me a congregation
where God's servant is honored, where his servants around the
world are honored. And I'll show you a congregation that walks
in peace. Find me a congregation where that's not so, and I'll
show you a congregation that's in constant turmoil. One of the
old writers, I don't know who he was, made this observation.
He said, where Christ gets his due among the people, there and
there only do his servants get their due. Where Christ is heartily
received, the feet of them that bring glad tidings will be beautiful. Where Christ gets his thousand,
his servants will have their two hundred. Those who preach
the gospel are to be highly esteemed, and they are to live by the gospel.
They are to be generously supported and maintained by their congregations.
This is the reason I don't have any hesitancy to say to you,
men and women of this congregation, with regard to our missionary
brethren and others, when cause comes up where the need arises,
I call on you to give. I don't hesitate to call on you
and myself to give sacrificially, so that these men be supported
in the work which God's called them to do. Because it is our
responsibility and our privilege, and to put it selfishly, Merle,
it's to our advantage, that those who preach the gospel not be
distracted with anything else, so that they may give themselves
to the ministry of the Word. It is written in the Law of Moses,
Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the
corn. Does God care for oxen? Oh, no. Or says he it altogether
for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt this
is written, that he that ploughs should plough in hope, and they
that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. If we've
sown unto you spiritual things, it's no great thing if we reap
your carnal things. That's no profound thing. The Apostle says, Let him that
is taught in the Word communicate to him that teacheth in all good
things. This 200, which is the reward
of God's servants, certainly includes those chosen redeemed
sinners who are converted by the Spirit of God under the influence
of his preachers. Paul said, what is our hope,
our joy, our crown of rejoicing? Are not even you in the presence
of the Lord? Oh, maybe I better say no more
in this regard. Paul said, you are our glory
and our joy. God's servants labor for two
things, just two things. They want two things, only two
things as a result of their labor, the glory of Christ and the salvation
of God's elect. And I'm going to tell you something,
we're going to have it. We're going to have what we seek.
We're going to have His glory. And blessed be God, in time comes
we'll present people called by God's grace through the preaching
of the word through these lips, present them holy, unblameable,
and unreproofable before the presence of God. This 200 shall
be the full possession and compensation of every servant of God in eternal
glory. Oh, here God's servants seem
to come far short of this great glorious possession. Poverty,
disrespect, and reproach are often the common lot of faithful
gospel preachers in this world. But there is a day coming. Listen
to this prophecy from Daniel. There is a day coming when they
that turn many to righteousness, shall shine as the stars forever
and ever. Those who by the hand of God's
providence and the hand of God's grace, by the power of His Spirit,
are instruments to turn many to righteousness, shall shine
forever and ever as the stars of heaven. Therefore Paul was
able to say, I am now ready to be offered the time of my departures
at hand. I fought a good fight. I finished
my course. I kept the faith. Henceforth
there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord,
the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. But this is not
something special just for me. All of God's servants are going
to get it. Everyone of them. All who are keepers of His vineyard,
even you and me. Not for me only, but unto all
of them also that love his appearing. May God make us then faithful
servants in the keeping of his vineyard for the gathering of
his fruit to present it to him for his glory. Amen.