Luke chapter 12. I'm taking the title for the
message from verse 42. Luke 12, 42. And the Lord said to Peter, in
the answer to that question that Peter had asked, the Lord said,
who then is that faithful and wise steward? Who then is that
faithful and wise steward? The Lord gives the same parable
that we read earlier in Matthew 24, And there the Lord also and
plainly describes the faithful and wise servant of the Lord. And then He also described that
evil and faithless servant of the Lord. Very similar to what
the Apostle Paul does in Acts chapter 20. Now, listen carefully. the faithful servant of the Lord,
and the faithless servant of the Lord, that wise servant,
and that evil servant, both were servants of the Lord. Both were used of the Lord for
His own eternal purpose. Both were the Lord's servants. All things in heaven and in earth
serve the sovereign and eternal purpose of our Lord, for the
eternal good of His elect, the eternal good of His church. All
good angels and even all fallen angels, both Satan and Gabriel,
are the servants of the Lord. He is the absolute Lord, the
absolute Lord over all creatures. He's Lord of heaven and earth.
He's the absolute Lord over all creatures, over all events. Nothing happens on this earth
without the will of God being done. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. He worketh all things out to
the counsel of His own will. The old theologians talk about
the directive will of God, or the permissive will of God, but
everything that happens is according to the will of God. His people
rejoice in this truth, while others despise the sovereign
rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. But nevertheless, all men are
under the absolute dominion and purpose of God, and the will
of God, all men. He does according to His will
and the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of this earth,
and none can stay His hand or send Him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest thou? Our God, our great God, rules
over all things everywhere, over everyone everywhere, totally
and absolutely everywhere, over everything, over everyone, always
has, and always will. Of him, and through him, and
to him are all things. Romans 11, 36. Of him, and through
him, and to him are all things, to whom be glory, both now and
forever. And the people of God, as it
says there in that verse, say, Amen. Amen. Now I'll tell you a story, this
true story. Back in 1950, Ashland, Kentucky, 1950, Brother Roth
Barnard came to town. Brother Henry Mahan said, this
town has never been the same since God's servant showed up.
Roth Barnard came to Ashland, Kentucky, 1950, preaching the
absolute sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Brother Mahan
first sat and listened to Brother Rothbarnard, Brother Mahan was
just 24 years old. He's 91 now. One day, Rothbarnard
was preaching along this line of the absolute sovereignty of
God. You can still find his sermons on Sermon Audio. There's about
700 or 800 on Sermon Audio. But Brother Barnard was preaching
along the lines of God's absolute sovereignty over all things.
And someone said to him later, Brother Barnard, he said, you're
God the monster. Whoa, maybe I better change my
message. That old man with a backbone
of steel looked dead in the face of that man and he said, get
ready to meet a monster then. If you think what I'm preaching,
God is a monster, then you better get ready to meet Him. This is
a God with whom we have to do. You see, God is God over all,
blessed forever. Romans 9 verse 5. Now the Lord
had just declared, In Luke chapter 12 verse 40, He had just plainly
declared that the Son of Man will come back again. It's talking
about His second advent. Be ye therefore ready also for
the Son of Man cometh at an hour when you think not. That's when
He's coming. There should be a copy of that
message out there on the table. If not, you can listen to it
on sermon audio or you can have me make a copy for you."
The Lord had just declared that the Son of Man would come back
again and that we should be ready to meet Him and receive Him who
is coming back. We talked about that in our message
last week. The only way anyone can be ready
to meet the Holy Lord God Almighty is to be one with Him and found
in Christ who is salvation, who is life, and by trusting and
believing in Him only. For there is salvation in no
other. Now, Peter just heard that. Look what it says in verse 41. Then Peter said unto him, You
speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all men?" Peter,
usually the first one to speak up, and many times what he says
is just totally foolish. But Peter speaks up as he always
does, and has something to say. Lord, are you speaking to us,
or are you speaking to all men? Yes, and yes. Yes, I'm speaking
to you. And yes, I'm speaking to all
men. The Lord intended for Peter and the twelve apostles, and
for all who are blessed to hear the word of the Lord right now,
this morning, this is for you and this is for me. Yes, Peter,
this is for you. And yes, this is for everyone
that will hear God's truth. Now, in verse 42 and verse 44
of our text, The Lord describes who the faithful
and wise servant is. Luke 12, 42. And the Lord said,
who then is that faithful and wise steward? servant, 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." Doing what? feeding the sheep. Give them
their meat in due season. That's what I try to do each
time I come to this pulpit. I try to feed the sheep the Word
of Truth. Now, the Lord describes for us
the faithful and wise steward And this is talking primarily
about those who are placed over the household of God, ministers
of the gospel, but also to all those who serve the Lord in the
ministry of the gospel of Christ in whatever capacity. If you're
a believer, you're in the ministry. If you're a believer, you've
been put in the body of Christ, and in the body of Christ we
all serve the Lord's purpose. He is the head, we are the body.
Every believer is in the ministry. We all serve the Lord, His cause,
His purpose, by serving His people, serving one another. Believers
gladly serve the Lord with reverence in their heart. They serve the
Lord out of love and gratitude. Being a servant of the Lord is
a high title. I've instructed the men of this
church, when I die, put that on my tombstone. A servant of
the Lord. Not the servant, a servant of
the Lord. Being a servant of the Lord is
a high title. The Lord Jesus Christ takes that
title to Himself. He's called the servant of the
Lord. Being a servant of the Lord is a special calling, a
special title. Whatever the Lord has gifted
you and called you to do in His service, Do whatever your calling
may be in His service, in this ministry, do it heartily as unto
the Lord. Now let me read this to you,
Colossians chapter 3 verse 17 and verse 24. Whatsoever you
do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving
thanks to God and the Father by Him. And whatsoever you do,
do it heartily as to the Lord, not unto men. as unto the Lord. Be God's faithful and wise servant. Serve the Lord where you are."
It reminds me of another story about Brother Barnard. He was
a wise, faithful servant of the Lord. One time a young man, after
Brother Barnard had been somewhere preaching, he preached and traveled
all over the country, And in one of those meetings, a young
man said to him, Brother Barnard, I would like to meet with you
later today at your convenience. He said, okay, well, come on
over. We'll talk. And the young man finally came over and said,
Brother Barnard, I'd like to serve the Lord. What's he going to say? You know
what he said? Do it. Do it! You want to serve the
Lord? Do it as unto the Lord. But I want us to focus for a
minute, focus in for a minute, about the gospel ministry, the
servant or steward of the Lord that is set over his household. Talking about the pastor in the
ministry. That's what he's talking about
primarily. The Lord points out four things
that distinguish His servants who are faithful and wise from
the opposite of those who are false and evil or the false prophets. The faithful and wise servant
or the evil prophet. unwise servant." Now, here's
four things he says about the faithful and wise servant. First
of all, this, the minister or the servant or the pastor or
steward of the Lord are put into the ministry and over the household
of the Lord. They do not make themselves stewards. They are called and appointed
of God. Who then is that faithful and
wise servant whom his Lord shall make servant, and a ruler, and
a pastor? Now turn to, hold your place
there, and find Ephesians chapter 3. Believers are no more strangers
or honored, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household
of God, talking about the church. Now look at Ephesians chapter
3 verse 1. For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ,
for you Gentiles. Now Paul was in prison in Rome,
but he never called himself a prisoner of Rome. If you've heard of the
dispensation, you see that word right there? It's exactly the
same word that's used over here in Luke 12, stewardship. Stewardship. If you've heard of the stewardship
of the grace of God which is given me to youward, how that
by revelation he made known unto me the mysteries, as I wrote
afore in few words, whereby when you read, you may understand
my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other ages was
not made known unto the sons of men, as is now revealed unto
his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and partakers of the body, of the same body
and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel, wherefore
I was made a minister." You see that? I was made a minister according
to the gift of the grace of God, given unto me by the effectual
working of His power, unto me who am less than the least of
all the saints is this grace given, that I should preach among
the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. and make all
men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the
beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things
by the Lord Jesus Christ." This household is the family of God. It is God's church, not yours. It's not mine. Now, many times
I've been asked this question when people find out that I'm
a pastor and minister. They always want to know how
many people are in your church. Well, the first thing I say is,
this is not my church. This is the Lord's church. And
that's His business, not mine. I don't count heads. We have
no counting. There's not a board up here with
numbers. The counting is of the Lord. He has a people out of
every nation, tribe, kindred, tongue, and heaven. It's a big
church. It's a big church. It's innumerable. Ten thousand
times ten thousand a thousand. But the point being, it's His
church, not mine, not yours. This is His ministry. The Lord
has chosen who would be in His household, who would be in His
family, how He would make them His own by His own electing and
redeeming grace. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called sons
of God. God hath pleased to put pastors,
stewards over His household, to care for them in love, and
to feed them with the gospel truth. Feed them the bread of
life. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
the bread of life. We read just a moment ago in
Acts 20 that the elders were to feed the church of God which
He purchased with His own blood. Ministers of the Gospels are
called good stewards of the manifold grace of God. There in Colossians,
or Ephesians 3, we read about many times there, He calls the
Gospel a mystery. the mystery of His incarnation,
the mystery of the Lord Jesus Christ being made sin for us,
the mystery of salvation, and the mystery of regeneration.
These things come by revelation, and it's our business as the
ministers of the gospel to declare the mysteries of God. Not to
try to understand them, but to declare them and to believe them
as fact. Hold your place there and find
Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13 talking about
these wise and faithful ministers. Faithful and wise ministers. Hebrews chapter 13. Look at verse 7. Remember them
which have the rule over you. You remember He said, they will
rule over my household? Remember them which have the
rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God, whose
faith follow, considering the end of their conversation, Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. We preach Christ
and Him crucified. In the same chapter, Hebrews
13 verse 17, obey them that have the rule over you, submit yourselves,
For they watch for your souls, as they that must give an account,
that they may do it with joy, not with grief, for that is impossible
for you." And then Paul said, pray for us. God has set pastors,
ministers, teachers over His household for the good of His
people. Now here's the second thing he
described. Look back in Luke chapter 12
verse 42, their work is described. They're appointed by the Lord
to rule over His household, and their work is described, not
only to rule over them in love, but to give them their portion
of meat in due season. Now, that's what the preaching
of the gospel is all about. To give the Lord's household
their portion of meat in due season. Remember, the risen Lord
said to Peter, Three times. Peter, do you love me? Do you
remember the answer? Yes, Lord. And then the Lord
said, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. He asked him a second
time and then a third time. Peter, do you love me? Yes, Lord.
Feed my sheep. That's what the preaching of
the gospel is all about. It's feeding the sheep of the
Lord Jesus Christ. This is the steward, the servant
of the Lord. It's his main business and principal
purpose to feed the church of God, which he purchased with
his own blood. Feed them the meat of the Word,
the bread of life, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter put
it this way in his epistle, 1 Peter 5.1, of God which is among you, taking
the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not
for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind." As Paul said, for as much
as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel to you who are at
Rome. ready and willing to preach the
gospel of Christ. That is a charge that Paul, the
apostle, gives to his church, I charge you before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and the dead at the
appearing of His kingdom, to preach the Word, preach the Word,
preach the Word, determined as Paul to preach Christ and Him
crucified, determined to preach the gospel of God every time
we have opportunity to do so. We preach not ourselves, do we?
We preach not ourselves, but Jesus Christ the Lord. It please
God through the preaching of the gospel to call out His people.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of truth. These servants
sent of God and put in the ministry, spend their time in study of
the word, in preparation of sermon, and in prayer, and in preaching. That's what they spend their
time doing. Not socializing, not counseling,
not debating. Someone mentioned the other night,
back a few years ago, one of the big preachers from over town
showed up on my front door out here. And he challenged me to
a debate. Let's have a debate on a public
stage. Let's debate the gospel. I said,
the gospel is not up for debate. I don't want to debate you or
anyone else. I'm going to declare the truth. Now why do you want
to pick a fight with me? I don't know. I don't know. But he did. Maybe because he
hated what I preached and wanted to expose me as a sham. He is the one that was a sham.
So we preach the gospel, that is our principal business, not
socializing, not counseling. I'm not a counselor. I'm not
a community organizer. I'm not a door knocker. One man
got mad at me one time, said I didn't knock on enough doors.
I'm not a door knocker. I don't chase ambulances. I don't
walk the halls of the hospital trying to beg people to do something
for Jesus. My business is preaching the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all about. God's
servants give out the meat of the Word in due season. They
come with the meat of God's saving grace, with the knowledge of
Christ, declaring what God has revealed to them from the Word.
Declaring what God has done for sinners in Christ. He's performed
all things for us. We preach ruin by the fall? What
happened in the garden? When Adam sinned by one man,
it plunged all men into absolute depravity, ruin, guilt, and sinfulness. We preach ruined in the fall
and Adam all sinned and Adam all died. We certainly preach
and believe original sin, born in sin, shapen in iniquity. We
preach not only ruined in the fall, we preach redemption by
the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words,
what happened at Calvary? What happened when the Lord Jesus
Christ died? Did He make an effort to put
away sin? Did He try to save somebody? Or did He accomplish
salvation by His sacrifice? He accomplished the salvation
of His people. He absolutely saved those for
whom He intended to save. None for whom He died can be
lost. Definite atonement, that is particular redemption. He
died for a sheep. We preach ruin in the fall, we
preach redemption by the blood atonement of Christ, and we preach
regeneration by God the Holy Spirit. We preach regeneration
by God convicting sinners and making them new sinners in Christ
Jesus. We don't preach salvation by
a decision you make. We preach salvation by His will,
His power, and His grace. We preach grace for the guilty.
We preach mercy for the miserable. We preach righteousness imputed
to God's people. We preach salvation for sinners.
That's what we preach. That's our message. Has been
ever since I started preaching. The gospel of God. Here's a third
character that he reveals about those Servants of the Lord, they
are called in verse 42, faithful and wise servants. You see that? They're faithful and wise. Now,
two things he mentions here. The character of the Lord's servants
who were put in the ministry to preach the gospel, they are
faithful men. They are faithful men. we read
in 1 Corinthians 4. Moreover, it is required in a
steward that a man be found faithful. Faithful. 1 Peter 4 says, As
every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one
to another as stewards of the manifold grace of God. They are men who are proven men,
proven to be faithful to the Lord in their life, proven to
be faithful to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, faithful
in every aspect of their life, faithfully serving the Lord in
the responsibilities the Lord has given to them, faithfully
declare the word of the Lord, faithful to the Lord's church,
faithful to the Lord's people." The second thing he mentions
here is that they are wise men. Wise men. That is, they've been
given wisdom of God. If any man lack wisdom, let him
ask of God." Now, they are not faithful nor wise by nature,
but rather they are faithful and wise by God's grace and by
the revelation of God the Holy Spirit that's been revealed and
given unto them. They've been given knowledge
and understanding of the Scripture. They've been given ability to
declare it to others. We have this treasure in an earthen
vessel nonetheless, that the excellency and glory may be of
God and not of us. Blessed is that servant. Look
what it says there in the last part of verse 43. Well, let's
read verse 43. Blessed is that servant, that
wise and faithful servant, whom his Lord, when He cometh, shall
find so doing. Doing. Doing. Doing what? Preaching the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Doing. Doing. Feeding the sheep. Being about the Father's business.
Always about the Father's business in preaching the gospel. Turn
if you will to Colossians chapter 1. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians
chapter 1 and look at verse 25. Colossians 1.25, Wherefore I
made a minister according to the dispensation. Now that's
the same word stewardship. the stewardship of God which
is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, even the mystery
which hath been hid from ages and generations, but now is made
manifest to his saints, to whom God will make known what is the
riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is
Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach. We preach Christ,
warning every man, teaching every man in all wisdom that we may
present every man perfect in Christ. Whereunto I also labor,
striving according to his working, which worketh in me. Mightily
it works in those who were sent of God. Now, here's the fourth
thing that the Lord mentions here. Again, He's describing
His faithful, wise servants that are sent of God, who preach the
gospel. Look at verse 44, Luke 12, verse
44, "...but truth I say unto you, that He will make Him ruler
over all that He has." Now, what does that mean? make Him ruler
over all that He has." Now, here's His reward. This is a reward
of grace, not of merit. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ
is our exceeding great reward. He's made us kings and priests
under our God, and we rule and reign as we're one with Him. And this is true of every believer.
Christ is our exceeding great reward, singular. Never in Scripture, one time,
does it ever mention in reference to a believer, rewards. Plural. I'm not seeking rewards. I'm seeking Christ who is our
reward. Colossians 3, 24. Knowing that
of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the Inheritant,
for you serve the Lord's Christ. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. There are no rewards
in glory for our service There are no higher degrees of glory
for preachers. We're all one in Christ. We're
all one in Christ. How do we rule with Christ? By
being one with Him. Now, hold your place here. I want you to find Isaiah 52. Isaiah 52. Again, the Lord is
describing those faithful and wise servants. Isaiah 52. Let
me read it to you. Verse 7. I trust you have this
marked. Isaiah 52, 7. And the Apostle
Paul quotes this in Romans 10. How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publish peace,
good tidings of the gospel, publish peace, peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ, that bring good tidings of good, the Lord
is good, that publish salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God
reigneth." That's our message. God is sovereign in all His ways. Now, that gives us to the second
part of the Lord's message here about the evil, faithless servant. But, verse 45, And if that servant
say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to
beat the maidservant, and to eat, and drink, and to be drunken,
the Lord of that servant, remember the Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when
he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, cut him off, and
will appoint his portion with the wicked unbelievers." Now,
the Lord here is talking about those evil servants. This steward,
his motive is evil. His thoughts are evil. His actions
are evil. The Lord is talking about false
prophets. He's talking about hirelings
that care not for the sheep, who can expect nothing but a
righteous judgment from our righteous Lord. God is merciful, but let
us never forget that God is holy and God is just. Right? Revelation
6 says there is such a thing as the wrath of the Lamb. Again, the character of the false
prophet, his character is one of unbelief. Unbelief. He said, my Lord, Goliath is
coming. Why didn't he say, be ready to
meet the Lord? You see, this man, his character is one of
unbelief. He does not say, the Lord is
coming again, as the Lord described. He doubts the Word of God, does
not preach the truth of the Word of the Lord, rather his thoughts
and unholy speculation about what I think maybe you should
hear, rather than saying, thus saith the Lord. So his character
is one of unbelief. His conduct is evil. It says
in Matthew 24, verse 49, "...he shall begin to smite his fellow
servants, and to eat and drink and be drunken." He's drunken
with pride. He's drunken with ambition. The
evil servant is not gracious to others. He's mean-spirited. He beats up on them. He doesn't
feed the sheep, he beats up on them. The evil servant is not
gracious to others, he's mean-spirited, he's cruel, he's judgmental,
he beats up the sheep instead of feeding them, he beats them
up with the whip of the law and puts them back under the curse
of the law. He is not a forgiving and gracious
man. Someone rightly said, an unforgiving
man is an unforgiving man. I believe that's so. This Scripture
verifies that. Be you kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven you. As the Lord hath been longsuffering with us, we
should be longsuffering toward others. You remember Peter said
to the Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother? Maybe seven
times will be okay. Remember what the Lord said?
Seventy times seven. You just keep on forgiving him.
And that's what the faithful, wise servant does. He's been
forgiven and he forgives others. The third thing that the Lord
mentions about the evil servant, his judgment and doom is certain
and sure. The Lord will cut him off and
will appoint him his portion with unbelievers. You remember
those in Matthew 7 where they said, Lord, we preached in your
name, we've done many wonderful works in your name, and he will
say to them, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never
knew you. The Lord will cut him off and
appoint him to be with the people of condemnation, unbelievers,
and they shall receive a greater damnation. Matthew 24, 51, And
he shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with
the hypocrite, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
What is that? Eternal condemnation. Now, I don't want to close this
message on a negative note. I don't want to send you home
with a negative note thinking about the doom of the false prophet. The doom of those who were evil
servants. Now, I want to give you this. Three times in this portion of
Scripture, the Lord describes the blessed man. The blessed
man. Verse 37 and verse 38. Blessed
are those servants found waiting and watching for the Lord who
is coming. And then verse 43. Blessed are
those servants when the Lord cometh shall find doing, doing,
doing. And I put a I question to myself
and to you, doing what? Believing all things written
in the word of the Lord. Acts 24, the apostles said, I
confess unto thee, after the way which they call heresy, so
worshiped by the God of my fathers, believing all things which are
written in the law and in the prophets, to Him give all the
prophets witness. If you're a believer, you believe
all things in this book. Don't you? God's election, God's
reprobation, God's sovereignty, God's holiness. Yes, we believe
everything written in the book of the Lord, if you're a believer.
You're a blessed man if you're a believer. Let me give you these
four things, four scriptures, in one minute. Blessed is a man
that feareth the Lord, that delighteth greatly in His commandments.
Secondly, Jeremiah 17, blessed is a man that trusteth in the
Lord, whose hope is in the Lord. Thirdly, blessed is a man that
heareth me, watching daily at my gate, waiting at the post
of my door. Watching and waiting. Doing what? Believing all things. Watching and waiting for the
Lord. And lastly, blessed is that man that endures temptation
when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord
had promised to them that love Him. Now, isn't that a timely
message for us to hear? Who is that faithful and wise
servant of the Lord?