I think it's been too long since
I said we have the best piano player in the world. I thank
the Lord for her. I've worked with a lot of different
piano players over the years, and I've known a lot of people
that could entertain playing the piano, but I haven't known
very many that could worship playing the piano. And I'm thankful
for that. She's going to be mad at me for
bragging on her, but she'll get over it. I thank the Lord for
her. Luke 1911. Luke 19 and verse 11 I Believe
we'll just instead of reading this whole text. We'll just take
it a step at a time here And as they heard these things he
added and spake a parable Because he was not to Jerusalem and because
they thought That the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
I'm glad the Lord speaks to us because our thoughts are not
his thoughts. He has to teach us because what
we think is wrong. I'm so glad he's gracious to
do that. Now he had told his disciples in the previous chapter,
chapter 18 verse 31, he said we're going up to Jerusalem And
so the disciples thought that Christ would establish his kingdom
there. He had talked about his kingdom. He's going to rule and
they're going to be in his, they're part of his kingdom. And so they
thought when they got to Jerusalem, he was going to set up his kingdom
and rule over Israel. Multitudes followed him. They
could see him doing some miracles perhaps. And next thing you know,
he's the king of Israel and they all get, you know, jobs as princes
over cities and governors and whatnot. That's what they were
looking forward to. They thought that the kingdom of God was an
earthly kingdom. And they had argued about who
would be greatest, who would be able to sit on his right hand
in the kingdom. You remember that? They thought this, not for lack
of teaching on the Lord's part already though. He had told them
that, he said, we're going to Jerusalem because I must be mocked
and spitefully entreated and spit it on and scourged and put
to death. That's why we're going. And they
heard him say that. And as I've already intimated,
some of the key words in our text are they thought. They thought. And here's the thing. People
believe what they want to believe. They believe what they want to
believe. He had specifically told them while he was going
to Jerusalem and they still thought something else. He wasn't unclear
about it. Until the Lord Jesus Christ turns
the light on. People believe what they want
to believe. And he is that light. People who believe in salvation
by the free will of man, for example, they don't find that
in the scriptures. The scriptures are diametrically opposed. It is not of him that willeth.
It is not of him that striveth or runneth. It is of God that
showeth mercy. It couldn't be any more clear
about that. And just like the disciples who had taken what
the Lord said about the kingdom of God and imagined what they
wanted to be true, people now still take a scripture or two
out of context and ignore all the rest of it and go on believing
what they want. The Lord Jesus says, no man can
come unto me except my Father bring you to me. And people hear
that and they just say, well, it doesn't mean what you say
it means. Well, what does it mean then?
It's not unclear. The disciples likely thought
that this business about him dying, you know, in Jerusalem
was some kind of a figurative thing. You know, people think
that, oh, that's just figurative, you know. He told them over and over and
over, and they were still devastated when it happened. Notwithstanding
the last part of what he said, I also must rise again the third
day. And then when he did, they didn't
understand because they believed what they wanted to believe.
They thought that was the problem. They thought. Instead of believing,
they reasoned. It doesn't mean that the truth
doesn't make any sense, that there's no reasoning about it.
It makes perfect sense when the Lord turns on the light, when
he gives you an understanding, as we saw in our Bible class
this morning. It makes perfect sense. And listen, I'm not trying to
tell you this morning how dumb the disciples were. I'm trying
to tell you how dumb we are. How all of us, we don't know
any... We have his word. We don't have
anything else to go by. We're not going to figure anything
out. Deduction and inference and IQ have nothing to do with
it. He's deliberately chosen the foolish and revealed all
things to them. And what he told them wasn't
complicated, was it? It never is. The gospel's not
complicated. What did he say to them? Christ
crucified. That's what it was, wasn't it?
That's what he's still saying. Can you hear it? He often said,
he that hath ears to hear, Let him hear. If you have ears to
hear, you know where you got them. You weren't born with them. They just didn't want to believe
it. They didn't want to believe it. And so they didn't. And that's how people are by
nature. They believed what they wanted based on some of what
he said. He spoke of a kingdom. He's a
king. We're his subjects. Okay, we,
no. Listen to every word. Man lives
by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Faith is his gift and it's believing
him. Faith is not believing there's
a God. The devil believes there's a God. It's believing him. Every word he says. Whether you
like it or whether your flesh likes it or not. It's bowing
to him and what he says. Now look at verse 12. And he
said, therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive
for himself a kingdom and to return. Now they thought, and what they thought, and so
he teaches them about how he's going to his father far away
into glory. He's going to a far country.
He said in John 14, I go unto my father And he said, you know
where I'm going, and you know the way. They said, Lord, we
don't know. How can we know the way? He said,
I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. So they thought he was going
to set up his kingdom right then in Jerusalem. He said, I'm going
to a faraway country to receive my kingdom. And I'm going to
come back. The word nobleman is a compound
two-part word that's very instructive here. The first part means human
being. Do you ever marvel at that, that God became a human
being? A man, he's a man, born of a
woman, made under the law, yet without sin. It means human being. God, as God, Christ, always had
all authority and glory, but now as a man, he's gonna receive
a kingdom. As man, he's gonna be the king.
As God, he always was the king of the universe, king of creation,
king of providence, king of salvation. But as a man, he earned a kingdom. He earned the right to rule and
to reign. As a human being, he has earned as the conquering
victorious king of his people, whom he saved at Calvary, a kingdom. And he's going to receive it.
And the second part of that word means well-born. He's a human
being, but he is well-born. When we talk of royalty, you
know, people talk about royalty. They say, that person's well-born.
They mean they're from a good bloodline. He's from a real good
bloodline. His blood, in his veins flows
the blood of God. He is the child born. But also
the Son given in Isaiah 9 6 unto us a child is born Also unto
us the Son of God was given And he said I'm gonna return
As he said in John 14, he will come again and receive us unto
himself that where he is there we may be also And I'll tell
you this it ain't Jerusalem I Where he is is not the earthly one
anyway. Not that one. Not the one where
he's hated and mocked and misused and spit on and scourged and
slain. Not that one. I don't want to
go to that one, dude. People want to go to the holy land.
Holy land? Are you kidding me? Why would
you want to go there? That's a godless place. This
country's a godless place, is it not? I'm not just talking
bad about them. This world is a godless place. There's no holy land. There's
the Holy Son of God. I want to go there, wherever
He is, that's where I want to be. Not that one, not where He's
abused and spit on and slain. He's going to that one so that
we can live with Him in the New Jerusalem. He went to that one. Verse 13, and he called his 10
servants and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto them, occupy
till I come. 10 servants, 10 pounds. Everybody
got one pound from him. Now while the Lord is gone, let's
talk about that word occupy. We occupy, it means to carry
on business. Our Lord Jesus Christ, he said,
I must be about my father's business. What are you doing in this world?
Whose business are you on? That's a pretty good question,
isn't it? It means to carry on business. It isn't complicated.
God has given us means. He gave us a pound. He gave us
something and said, occupy. We're not to squander those means
on ourselves. If he had given this pound to
one of his servants and he said, well, you know, I went out and
had a good time. I don't have anything left. That
wouldn't have gone well, would it? Some people live in that
way. We're not to squander the means that the Lord has given
us on ourselves, on luxury. The Lord has the right to expect
a return. We're bought with a price. We
belong to him now, and it's our privilege to use what he gives
and return to him what? We've talked about this a lot
of times. What's gonna benefit God? He already owns everything. What do you get somebody that
has everything? I'll tell you what he's gonna get. He's going
to get it from you one way or the other. Glory. Glory. It's not like the business of
this world, just like His kingdom is not of this world. It's not
about making money for Him or, you know, or building buildings
or anything. He doesn't need anything. He
doesn't need anything. When the Lord himself was with,
you think anybody ever had more outward advantage than the disciples
who walked with the Son of God himself and worshiped? And they
didn't meet in fancy buildings. They didn't have any of that.
Didn't matter, didn't need it. If they'd have needed it, they'd
have built one. It's not about that. I thank
God for a place to worship, but it's not about that. It's about
Him and His glory. If He's not glorified here, this
is a horrible place. What He has declared that He
will receive is glory. What He has given us is means
to that end. That's what that pound is. And
we all have the same now to start with. We have his word. We have his gospel. Now listen
to this passage with regard to him receiving a kingdom and with
regard to us occupying. Listen to Romans 14, 7. For none
of us liveth unto himself. And no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord. And whether we
die, we die unto the Lord. Whether we live, therefore, or
die, we are the Lord's, apostrophe S, Lord's. That's why he expects
a return. Occupy, do my business. For to this end, Christ both
died and rose and revived. Here's him receiving a kingdom.
Why did Christ die? Well, he died to save his people,
but listen, here's another reason that he might be Lord, both of
the dead and the living. He's your Lord whether you like
it or not. Well, let's make Jesus Lord. It's too late. God already
did that. The Father already did that. You can't make him
Lord. What I'd do is bow if I was you. He's Lord of creation. Without
Him was not anything made that was made. He's Lord of providence,
not a paradise. You read this book. If somebody
rolls a pair of dice, it says the whole disposing thereof,
or the one who decides whether it's a snake eyes or an 11, is
the Lord. Nothing moves without Him. Not
a hair of your head falls to the ground without your Heavenly
Father. He made everything and He runs it. Every bit of it. And He's Lord of salvation too.
He said, I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Now if you
need mercy, you'll be happy about that. If you don't, you're going
to say that's not fair. Oh my, may He have mercy on us. notwithstanding our various gifts.
Now he does give various gifts and that's part of what happens. And he gives to some five, some
ten. We'll see that in a minute. There
are various gifts that are received. But we all receive one pound
in the beginning, the same. We're not responsible to exercise
gifts that he didn't give us. We have the same, him, his word,
his means is the gospel. It's his truth. That's how he
gets glory, not by anything we come up with. He gets glory from
his own word, from his truth. He's exalted his word above all
his name. And then we see three types of
people represented in the rest of the story. Let's look at them.
Verse 14, but his citizens hated him and sent a message after
him saying, we will not have this man to reign over us. Now there were only 10 servants
and everybody else in the whole place hated him. There's a representation
there. There's a picture there. By far,
the majority of this world openly hates the Son of God. Openly. Now you think about all the peoples
of this world. I don't need to name names. Most,
by far, most people in this world openly despise God's Son. And that's who these people are
here. And they want him to know it. They sent word after him,
look. They sent a message after him
saying, we will not have this man direct. They want everybody
to know it. They want him and everybody to know they hate him.
Boy, we see this all the time, don't we? Notice the first two words that
come out of their mouths. We will. There's the problem. Do you know that when they crucified
the Son of God, it says that Pilate released him unto their
will, the will of the people? You want a picture of free will
in the scripture? There it is. It's nailing God's
Son to a cross. There's man's free will. I wouldn't
name my church that if I was you. This is the free will of man.
We will not. That's why they crucified him.
And they mockingly put above his head, this is Jesus the King. But God saw to it that they wrote
that there, because he is the King. No sovereign, we won't have this
man to reign over us. He can bless us, he can woo us,
he can do all these other things, but he's not going to be the
boss. Oh yes he is. Listen, this is a quote by Charles
Spurgeon. Some of y'all know who Spurgeon was. He said this,
men will allow God to be everywhere but on his throne. They will
allow him to be in his workshop to fashion worlds and make stars.
They will allow him to be in his almonery to dispense his
alms and bestow his bounties. They will allow him to sustain
the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of
heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean. But when
God ascends his throne, his creatures then gnash their teeth. And we
proclaim an enthroned God. Remember our text? I'm going to receive a kingdom.
And we proclaim in his right to do as he wills with his own,
to dispose of his creatures as he thinks well without consulting
them in the matter. And then it is that we are hissed
at and hated. And then it is that men turn
a deaf ear to us for God on his throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne
that we love to preach. It is God upon his throne whom
we trust. He went to receive a kingdom
and he did. And he taught us to pray this way, thy kingdom
come, thy will be done, not ours. I have two things that I disagree
with Spurgeon on in that statement, although I love the statement
generally speaking. But he's saying that men will
allow the Lord to do all these other things, most men won't
even that. Most people in this world, they will not admit that
he created the world. They've got some other guy. Most
people will not allow the Lord to even be the one who blesses
them. It's stuff they gain. I'm a self-made man. So most
people won't even allow that. So I would go a little further
than Spurgeon did on that. Also, Spurgeon speaks of God
here on the throne, but he never uses the word Christ in that
statement. And let me tell you something.
It's God's Son that's on the throne. He has exalted his son
and given him a name which is above every name. And he that
honoureth not the son honoureth not the father. So we need to
understand that. The crucified one is the one
who rules and reigns in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants
of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
doest thou? It is the one that you crucified.
That was the message in the book of Acts, that the one that you
crucified took with wicked hands and slew, God hath made him both
Lord and Christ. And there's none other name under
heaven given among men whereby you must be saved. The one that
you nailed to the cross and spit in his face, that's the one you're
gonna have to go to for mercy, right there. And notice the arrogance
of this statement. We will not have this man to
reign over us as if it was up to you. Oh, you will, you will. Every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. They imagine, though
religion imagines, that Christ is up for acceptance or rejection. He's not. Won't you accept Jesus? He's not up for that. Salvation
is Him accepting you. It's not what will you do with
Jesus, it's what He's gonna do with you. That's the issue. That's
why I would come to him begging. I'd come to him asking for mercy.
What arrogance. This is the religion of this
world. And at the root of their free will religion, except Jesus
as your personal savior, is a hatred for the sovereign Christ of the
Bible. We will not have you reign over
us. And it's up to us. No, it's not. That's the problem since the
garden. It's not about what kind of fruit they ate. They hated
God. They refused to submit to God and his word and his will
and his reign. And people say, you preach the
gospel of God's free grace, of electing grace and love in Christ. They say, well, that's too complicated.
I don't understand that. Oh, yes, you do. There's not
anything complicated about that. God saves who he wants to. That's
too much for you? No, the problem is you don't
like it. Until, by God's grace, we see Him as He is and we bow
to Him now. Everybody's going to bow one
of these days. How about now? Now is the accepted time. There
can only be one free will. You ever think about that? There
can only be one that does whatever they want. And it ain't you.
It ain't you. We can fashion a Christ, and
men do, of their own imagination that they can control. But it's
an idol. It's a false idol. The Christ
of the Bible says, I'll have mercy on who I want to have mercy
on. And you can say, we will, or you won't. He says, I will.
And it's done. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven. And notice the next group of
people. And this is those who believe in Christ, that believe
on Christ, that know him, that serve him honestly. Verse 15,
it came to pass that when he was returned, having received
the kingdom, that he commanded these servants to be called unto
him to whom he had given the money, that he might know how
much every man had gained by trading. That word traded there
also means to do business, to do business. Then came the first,
saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said
unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful
unto very little, have thou authority over ten cities. And the second
came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And
he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. They did business with what God
gave them. That's what we're doing. You're doing some business
in your home, raising your children in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. All we have is what we receive from Him. That's all
we have to do anything with. May God give us grace to do His
business in this world. It's about His glory and the
good of His people. They did the Lord's business
with that which the Lord had given them, and notice their
answer to him. This is key now. There are no idle words. There
are no accidents in the scripture. You notice what they said. They
did not say, Lord, you gave me a pound, and I win, and I did
this, and I did that, and I did that, and now look. They said,
your pound hath gained. There's a big difference. Big
difference. Your pound gained more. That's how it happens. Isn't
that right? It's his word that prospers.
He said, as the rain falls down from heaven and waters the ground,
it doesn't go back up until it accomplishes what he sent it
to accomplish, the tender herb springs forth, the grass grows,
the flowers bloom. So is my word that proceedeth
out of my mouth. It will not return unto me void.
It will accomplish the thing whereto I sent it. It will, not
me, not you, it will, my word. And that's him accomplishing
by his word, his eternal will. Isn't that the way we want things
to happen? Do you really wanna put your hand in it? He uses
us. But he's the only one that can
give the increase. I got that scripture, I just
quoted it from Isaiah 55 10. It shall accomplish that which
I please. He's talking about his word.
And shall prosper in the thing where to I send. You see why
they said your pound hath gained ten more. Oh, that's so good. I'm so, I'm
glad that it's not up to me. Aren't you? I'm so glad. Nowhere does it say look what
I did with what you gave me. It don't say that anywhere. The
means that God gives shall prosper because they're his and because
he gave them for that purpose. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3.6,
I planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So
then neither is he that planteth anything, neither he that watereth.
We're nothing, we're nothing, but God that giveth the increase.
Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one. We're united.
We have the same purpose. And every man shall receive his
own reward according to his own labor, for we are laborers together
with God. You are God's husbandry though.
You are God's building. According to the grace of God
which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the
foundation and built it thereon But let every man take heed how
he built it thereon for other foundation can no man lay than
that which God laid Which is Jesus Christ First Corinthians
3 6 through 11 he's going to get all the glory and we're going
to say amen Hebrews 3 3 for this man Christ was counted worthy
of more glory than Moses in as much as he who hath builded the
house Is worth more honor hath more honor than the house And
that's what is gained to him now glory and honor and praise
his word his words gonna bring that to him One way or the other What are you gonna give him What
are you going to do for God? You think about that now. He
not only made you, made this universe and everything in it,
it's all His. You are, it is, everything. What are you going
to do for Him? I tell you this, if He can get
any glory in His dealings with us, so be it. He's worthy of every bit of it.
Any glory, any praise. We do his business with his means
for his glory. That's what it boils down to.
His business, his means, his glory. Those who believe God,
those for whom Christ is righteousness and sin offering. Those who have
been saved by Christ crucified, they give him all the glory.
And I say it that way. You know what we're going to
be singing? Worthy is the Lamb. That was
slain. to receive all honor and glory
and power and blessing. He said, occupy, do my business
and they did. That's how it works with his
church. They believed him and they acted
like it. Then there is the man, the third type here, who represents
a group of people in this world and you know what he did? Nothing. He knew better. He knew better. And he didn't do anything. He
received from God, but he didn't do anything with it. He had the
gospel, but he hid it. He buried it in the ground instead
of doing business with it. Think about this. What good was
this man? You see it? Let's read it together again.
I don't know if we even read that far a while ago, but let's
look at it together. Verse 20 I believe we're at now. And another
came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept
laid up in a napkin. In another place it says he put
it in the ground. He hid it because he didn't want anybody to steal
it. For I feared thee because thou art an austere man. Thou
takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest that that thou
didst not sow. And he said unto him, out of
thine own mouth, will I judge you, you wicked servant? You
knew that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down,
and reaping what I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou
my money into the bank? If you weren't going to do any
business, at least just put it in the bank, and it would have gained
something. But at my coming, I might have
required mine own with usury. And he said unto them that stood
by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath
10 pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.
You know what they're saying there? That's not fair. That's
this world. He's already got ten pounds.
You know, let's let this poor man have one. The problem with all false religion
is that it acts upon the premise that we deserve something from
God besides hell. Everybody deserves a shot. Everybody
deserves a fair chance. No you don't. You deserve hell. That's all you deserve. And me
too. So this man, what good was he?
Did the Lord need him to keep that pound for him? You know,
he could have just kept it himself. Nobody's going to steal it from
the Lord. He didn't need him to protect his pound for him.
He was worthless. He was utterly worthless. The master said, do business.
And this man didn't. He did not. This is not obedience
to the law, which no man can render. No man can render obedience
to the gospel either, except the father. draw them to Christ,
and he does that by the gospel. But he did no business at all,
he didn't do anything. There is such a thing as obedience
of the gospel. We can't keep God's law, and
neither can we obey the gospel, except he gives faith, he gives
grace. But he does do that, and so we
do. The gospel's not a suggestion,
it's a command. And this man refused. This worthless one did not obey
the gospel. Notice he does say I. The other
folks never did say I one time, did they? Your pound gained more
pounds. This man says, I did this and
I did that. I was afraid. I knew this. I knew. I knew. I knew. That's where this started,
wasn't it? The disciples thought they knew
something. And it was a lie. God don't get any glory there
in I, I, I, what I did. There's no profit in that. Not
for him. Instead of God's gospel doing
what it does, and us staying out of the way of it, this man
said, I knew. You see that there, I knew. It's
what he knew that was the problem. And this is implied in Luke's
version, but listen to Matthew's, this is actually a different
time that the Lord gave this same parable similarly. But listen
to what Matthew 25, 24 says. Then he which had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an
hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where
thou hast not strawed. I knew, I knew you. It's not the gospel and what
I know. God gave us that power, that's
his means, that's his truth, that's his gospel. And you take
the gospel and what you know, and you know what you have? Nothing.
You're worthless. The gospel, Christ is everything. But you add you to it and it's
worthless. Was the Lord's instruction unclear?
What made this man not simply do what the Lord said do? You
know what made him not? He just simply didn't do what
the Lord said do. Why not? Because of what he knew. May we never be removed from
the simplicity that's in Christ. It's not Christ in what I know.
It's not Christ in what I do. It's Christ. There are a lot
of people that know a lot of things. They know God and just ask them. And forget about what God said.
There are those who do not believe that God uses means in salvation. The pound that isn't doing business
with that pound, that's not important to them. What will be, will be. Really? God is austere. That's what he
said. I knew that you were austere,
man. What about grace? You know anything about that?
He never mentioned grace, did he? Never mentioned mercy. He
didn't say I knew you were a kind and merciful And what he knew was right he
said I'll judge you by your own words What he said was right,
but it wasn't the gospel It wasn't it wasn't the gospel There's
a lot of true things listen to me now. There's a whole lot of
true things. There's one truth one truth I
am the truth Christ said God is austere, therefore we
won't do anything. You ever heard anybody say that?
I know a lot of people that believe that. We don't do anything. We
don't need to do anything. Well, wait a minute. What if
that austere God says, go do business with what I give you?
Then you better do something. It doesn't depend on you. He
gives the increase, we just read that. But if he said, go do it,
that's not complicated, is it? God is austere, therefore I'm
not going to do anything. What about what he said? The
gospel is salvation by grace through faith unto good works. Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. By grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourselves. You didn't come up with faith
in Christ. It's the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should
boast. And we are his workmanship. created in Christ Jesus unto
good works. But the knowledge, we know something. You remember what Paul said to
the Corinthians? Knowledge puffeth up, love buildeth
up. To know things is one thing,
to love God is something altogether different. But the knowledge of some precludes
that simple truth of Ephesians 2, 8 through 10. They say, well,
if you believe that, you're preaching good works. You're preaching
works salvation. I'm just saying what God said.
But you know, you know that's your problem. The Lord said to him, you're
not wrong about what you know. Your doctrine's true. but you let what you know keep
you from simply believing Christ. You search the scriptures, you
know the scriptures, he said to the Pharisees, but you won't
come to me that you might have life. And that's all the scriptures
say is come to him. That's all they say. The word
of God doesn't say a lot of things. It says one thing a lot of times,
come to Christ. And in the end, everything is
taken away from you. even that which you seem to have.
He's going to take it away. But look at verse 26. This is where he says that for
us saying to you that under everyone which hath shall be given and
from him that hath not even that which he hath shall be taken.
If you do not have Christ through simple faith in him simple obedience
to his gospel You have nothing Now the Lord uses this same language
in another context and we're We're running short on time read
this later. If you would Matthew 13 10 through 16. He uses the
same language In a whole other context, in this context, it
is given to you to know. It is given unto you to know. He gave them all the same means,
but with the means he gives also an understanding. If that means is to prosper,
if it's going to increase, if it's going to prosper, Then he's got to give understanding
he's got to give faith And that's in Matthew 13 10 through
16 again if you want to read that later, and we have a reminder
in verse 27 a Reminder of something, but those mine enemies which
would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay
them before me It's life and death We have a reminder here
that It's a matter of life and death see The stakes are infinite. Let me read you a scripture and
close with this, 2 Corinthians 2.14. Now, thanks be unto God,
which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest
the savor of his knowledge by us in every place. Now Paul is
talking there, 2 Corinthians 2.14, about preaching the gospel.
He makes manifest the savor of his knowledge in every place
by us, by preachers, by those who speak the word of God. And it's always a victory, he
said, if Christ is preached. It's not a question of numbers.
It's a question of whether he is glorified or not. That's what
we've been saying all morning now. For we are unto God a sweet
savor of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perish.
Christ is a sweet-smelling savor to God even when he's not to
everybody in this room. To some, he's a savor unto salvation. To others, they'll perish because
of that same truth. To the one we are the saver of
death unto death, and to the other, the saver of life unto
life. Because this is where it happens
now. When the gospel is preached, that's where the case is decided,
right there. What think ye of Christ? Which is it? Death or life? And Paul said, who is sufficient
for these things? What a responsibility. For we are not as many which
corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity. But as of God,
in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. To some, the savor of life, to
others, death. But when Christ is preached,
it's a sweet-smelling savor unto God. And that's what this is
all about. I pray that the Lord will give
us an understanding that we may know Him that is true. Let's
pray.