Luke chapter 16 We're just going to start with verse
1 and just sort of Go through this passage a verse
at a time, I believe Luke 16 1 and he said also unto his disciples there was
a certain rich man which had a steward and the same was accused unto
him that he had wasted his goods now the rich man is God as God
is the householder in Matthew 13 and he is the creditor in
Luke chapter 7 Here God is the rich man, and it says that he
has a steward. And that's everybody. That's
every one of us. Think about this now. A steward,
by definition, is a manager of the affairs of a household or the household itself. It's
the manager of the affairs of a household or the household itself. Now,
in this parable, It is not the householder but a servant which
has been given authority to manage the property and the affairs
of his Lord. Now this pertains to everything
that we have and everything that we do. None of it is ours. None of it. And we need to be
constantly reminded of that. The earth is the Lord's and the
fullness thereof, the world, and they that live in it. They that dwell therein. You,
me, everybody, everything is His. So whatever you can say
that you have, it's His. And we are stewards in that we
are given some dominion over that in this world, authority
to use it as we will, everything and everybody belongs to the
Lord. We're stewards of all that we have, not owners. You've thought about money, no
doubt about that, you know, God decides who gets it and who don't.
It's important to work hard. We're taught that in the scripture. Work for an honest day's wage. But God said the silver is mine
and the gold is mine. What silver? The silver. What
gold? The gold. All of it. But this picture of stewardship,
it involves everything, not just money is what I wanted to say.
We're taught in the scriptures to be good stewards of time.
Redeem the time. Because the days are evil. The
gifts that the Lord has given to us, we're stewards of those.
The mind, the body, the talents that God has blessed each person
individually with. The opportunities that we have
are given by God that maybe others don't have. Everything. Right now, this hour, there is
a wise use of it and a foolish use of it. And without doubt, the most important
thing were stewards. Listen, First Peter 14, as every
man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another
as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If God has saved
you, if you know him, If you believe on Christ, you are a
steward in a much higher sense than you would be otherwise.
1 Corinthians 4, 1, let a man so
account of us as of the ministers of Christ, as stewards of the
mysteries of God. Now the proposition is raised
by somebody in this verse that this steward had not done a good
job managing the affairs of his Lord. Who do you think that is? This is a bad steward here. Is
there anybody like that here? You've mismanaged what God's
given you? Is there anybody not like that here? Don't raise your
hand. This is all of us still, isn't
it? It's all of us. He, in this... This bad steward he'd been accused
were stewards. of everything, and we mismanage
all of it. He had wasted his goods. That's what it says later. He'd
wasted his goods. And this is all of us by nature.
And never in the parable, even when it says now that later on
it's going to say that the Lord commended this man, but never
anywhere does it say that he did the right thing, that he
was a good steward, that he managed the affairs of what God had given
him wisely. He's given some credit here in
the text, and we'll see that in a minute, but the Lord actually
identifies the man in the parable as a lost man in verse eight.
Look at it in verse eight. The Lord commended the unjust
steward because he had done wisely for the children of this world
are in this generation wiser than the children of light. He's
calling him a child of this world as compared to a child of light. That's not a sheep. That's not
one of God's elect. That's a lost man. He's an unjust
steward and that's all he ever is in this. Now This is just
a picture, now the Lord is using a lost man here, but he's teaching
his sheep something. Remember that, he's speaking
to his disciples. And this man is just a picture
in order to teach God's sheep something. So what's true of
this lost man in the parable is true of all of us by nature.
There's no difference by nature, Romans 3.22, no difference. We're
all the same, under sin. Verse two, and he called him
and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of thee? Give
an account of thy stewardship, for thou mayest be no longer
steward. He's called to account, as every one of us will be. Give
an account. And this man, again, he represents
believer and unbeliever. Though he himself was an unbeliever,
he represents our nature. He was unfaithful and foolish
and wasted what his Lord entrusted him with. And never did produce
anything for his Lord. Never in this parable did he
do anything profitable. He lost money all around. And
he did what he did to gain favor with the debtors. We should read
this. Let's read the parable because
I'm making reference to it even though we're going verse by verse.
So let's read the whole thing. Look at verse 1. And he said also unto his disciples,
there was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the
same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And
he called him and said unto him, how is it that I hear this of
thee, given account of thy stewardship? For thou mayest be no longer
steward. Then the steward said within himself, what shall I
do? For my Lord taketh away from me the stewardship. I cannot
dig. To beg, I am ashamed. I am resolved
what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they
may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his
Lord's debtors unto him and said unto the first, how much owest
thou unto my Lord? And he said, a hundred measures
of oil. And he said unto him, take thy bill and sit down quickly
and write 50. Then said he to another, and
how much owest thou? And he said, in hundred measures
of wheat. And he said unto him, take thy bill and write four
score. And the Lord commended the unjust doer, because he had
done wisely. For the children of this world
are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And
I say unto you." Now he tells this parable about a lost man. He's a failure. All of us, by
nature, are failures. But then he says, I say unto
you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when you fail, they may receive you into everlasting
habitations. And this is a different they.
The parable is one thing, don't confuse them. that you may be
received into everlasting habitation. Verse 10, he that is faithful
in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is
unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you
have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will
commit to your trust the true riches? This is a lesson regarding
everyday mammon, the mammon of unrighteousness, which is, it's
not just money, it's gain, it's treasure, it's everything that
you're entrusted with in this world. But then there are true
riches mentioned. They're connected, but they're
not the same. There's a correlation, and we're gonna see that, Lord
willing. Verse 12, if you have not been faithful in that which
is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No
servant can serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. You can't serve God in mammon.
Now he says make friends with the mammon of unrighteousness.
But don't serve it. Don't serve it. And you're going
to serve something, somebody. And the Pharisees also who were
covetous heard all those things and they derided him, of course.
Because they were covetous, and he's speaking against covetousness. And he said unto them, you are
they which justify yourselves before men, but God knoweth your
hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination
in the sight of God. So, with all of that in mind
now, the Lord entrusts and nobody measures up. That's a picture
always he is clearly the rich man here, and he has stewards
Everybody has something that's not theirs that God gave them
gave it to them Everybody and you're gonna do something with
it. You're gonna do something with it But this man he lost
money all around he didn't do anything for his master He did
it to gain favor with his with the debtors and with those like
him who were failures. Nobody measures up, but there
must be an accounting. God is holy. Romans 14, 12, so
then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. You
see the gospel here already. God demands faithfulness and
we ain't got it. We ain't, we're not that. We're
unjust stewards. So how are we going to have favor
with God? I don't want to live with this world, do you? I want
to live with him. I don't want to be fired. So how does that happen? That's
where we're going. Verse three, then the steward
said within himself, what shall I do for my Lord taketh away
from me the stewardship? I cannot dig to beg, I am ashamed. Now again, all of us are pictured
here as we are before God apart from his grace in our natural
sinful condition, our sin nature before God. That's who the unjust
steward is. All of us are by nature. But
listen to it now. This man is not an honorable
man. He says, I cannot dig. Why in
the world not? Why not? What qualification does it take
to dig? I saw a man with no arms digging
before. Assuming someone is not disabled
is completely paralyzed to the point and that has nothing to
do with this parable so we can assume that I think honestly Why can't you dig Because he was worthless that's
why he was a failure as a steward and he was worthless in anything
else Anybody have I lost you yet You willing to admit that
before God That you're an unprofitable servant. That you can't really
do anything for God. He was too lazy wasn't he? And
this is us now. This is a picture. We can't work
for God. Anything we do is sin. We're without strength spiritually. We're dead in trespasses and
sin. A dead man ain't gonna dig. So he's a picture of us. And the truth of the matter is,
not only are we incapable of doing anything spiritual because
of our sinfulness, but we don't want to. That's the man here. He just didn't want to dig. I don't want to please God by
nature. I've got no interest in it. I just want Him to bless
me and give me what I've got coming to me and leave me alone. That's because I don't know what
I got coming to me until he teaches me. And he was ashamed to beg. You know what beggars ought to
do if you're a beggar? If you need somebody's help,
you know what you ought to do? Beg! But that's the last thing anybody
will do before God. You will never beg God for mercy
until he's already given it to you. Too proud, too proud. Again, what a picture of us in
our sin nature. We're too proud to come as mercy
beggars unto God. The leper came to him and said,
Lord, if you will, you can make me whole. I can't do anything
about it, but you can. You know what the Lord said?
I will. But nobody comes to Him like that. They come to Him making
decisions and exercising their free will. You know what you're
going to get for that? Depart from Me, you worker of
iniquity. I never knew you. Take your wonderful
works to hell with you. It's the man that can't do anything
for God that gets mercy. For God or Himself. All mercy beggars receive mercy. But we're too proud by nature
now. So look at verse four. I'm resolved what to do that
when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their
houses. He didn't care anything about the master's house. You
remember, we just heard the parable of the prodigal who just wanted
to be a servant. He didn't care. I just want to
live. I'm going to my father. I want to live with my father. This man didn't care anything
about that, he was just trying to get by. It's just dog eat
dog. I've got to do what I've got
to do to get by. If my master gets cheated in the process,
so be it. So you see what he did, he let
everybody off. They paid some of what they owed
and then he did them a favor so that when the master said,
you just lost me money, guess what, you're fired. Maybe they'll
take me in. And we need to establish two
important things right now. First of all, this man is commended
in the next verse, but it does not mean he was a faithful steward.
He's called all along an unjust steward. He's not commended for
his stewardship. The rich Lord did not come out
ahead in this story. This scheme that this servant
came up with did not benefit his Lord. It only benefited himself. He was selfish. And in verse
eight, after all this is done, he's still called an unjust steward.
Even after he's commended for some shrewdness, he's still called an unjust steward,
not a wise steward. That word unjust there means
unrighteous of heart and life. It means that which violates
law and justice. That's a sinner before God now.
You can't die like that before God. You're a goner. Now here's the second thing that
we need to understand, very important. Don't make this parable teach
anything except what our Lord actually taught from it. The
part where he says, and I say unto you, that's what he is teaching
from the parable. So don't assume anything else. Very important. We have to look
at precisely what our Lord concluded after the parable to see what
he's teaching here. And look at, you know, he said, maybe they'll take me in. Well,
that's Judas, isn't it? He left the Lord of glory who
owns him and everything else, everybody else, and went to this
world and said, what will you give me? What can you do for
me? Verse 8, and the Lord commended
the unjust steward because he had done wisely. He had done
shrewdly. Now listen, that word, the definition
of that word is important. We'll see it in a minute. For
the children of this world are in their generation wiser than
the children of light. Lost people are smarter in the
things of this world than we are. But God uses the smartness
that he gives them to bless his people. And you can think of that in
all kinds of ways. Artists that can make beautiful things. You
know why the Lord does that? So an ungodly wretch can boast
and be proud of what he did? No. So his sheep will look at
that and say, man that's beautiful. And be inspired by it and blessed
by it. You read this book now and you tell me it ain't that
way. This is not the Lord being happy
or satisfied or having profited from what the unjust doer did.
He simply acknowledged that what he did was shrewd. And what he
did was consider the future and provide for it. He provided for
his own future. And he said to himself there
in verse four, my Lord is never going to be happy with me. Even
after I've collected the 50 of the 100 and the 80 of the other
100, I'm going to be kicked out. I'm going to be fired. And he's
right. But those who I do daily business
with will receive me into their houses if I do good by them. There's Judas in it. This is
all of this world. Now who cares if God is honored
and served? As long as we're taken care of.
That's our attitude. This world will take care of
me. I'll come out alright by my dealings with this world,
even if the Lord puts me out. You talk about a spider web.
Your refuge is a spider web. Now this Lord in this parable
saying this was wise is not God saying to those who live for
what this world can do for them are wise, are spiritually wise. That's not what this is. We know
that. That would completely be contradictory to all of scripture.
Read Luke 12, 16 through 31. It's not wise to depend on this
world. We depend on Him for everything
we need. Everything we have comes from
Him. Now you read that on your own because we're going to definitely
run out of time this morning. This man was still considered
an unjust steward and he was still fired. He was put out.
But the Lord acknowledged his wisdom. If you look at that word,
it's from a root word which means this, mindful of one's own interests. That's what this man did. He
was mindful of his own interests. And the Lord is saying to his
disciples, you should be too, in a whole nother sense though.
And he explains the other sense. When it comes to true riches,
you better be thinking about it. You better be thinking about
what's truly important, what's truly valuable. Think about the
future. I remember my pastor Jack Shanks
in Texas told me one time he sat down with one of his grandchildren
and he said, what are you going to do? He said, well, I've got
a good job. I'm doing good. What then? Well,
I'm going to work hard. I'm going to make some money.
I'm going to buy a house. What then? Well, I think I'll start a family,
get married, maybe have children. What then? Well, I'm going to retire. I'm
going to have a good retirement and I'm going to enjoy it. What
then? He kept asking him, is that all it is? Is a man's life
to be estimated in the things which he possesses? However good they are. That being mindful of one's own
interests And that is exactly the definition that applies in
our text. And it's what the Lord is teaching
his disciples here, to think about the future and do according
to what will result in eternal security. He said, here's what
I'm saying to you. Make friends with the mammon
of unrighteousness for the same reason, the future. We need to
be received into everlasting habitations. It doesn't matter
if somebody rich takes us in, if somebody poor takes us in,
if we make it on our own. In this life, what difference
does it make that much? We need a place to live forever.
And the Lord's saying, be wise about that. Be wise about it. And what does physical earthly
things have to do with that? We're getting to that. What he
said about this world as compared to his people is true. In the
things of this world they're better at prospering in the things
of this world than his people are. All they have is what they can
get in this world. That's why it's dangerous now.
You've got to be circumspect in your dealings with this world.
They have a completely different motive And they have a completely
different goal than you do as a believer. Be aware of that. And be careful. Be wise as serpents and harmless
as doves. If there's going to be any harm
done, let it be on their side, not yours. But don't be stupid. Don't be stupid. All they have is material things,
acclaimed, the praise of men. They have their reward, the Lord
said. He said to the Pharisees, they
have the praise of men and everybody they respect, they have their
reward. I don't want that. Do you? Not if it means missing
the true riches. The true riches. The pearl of
great price. May we by God's grace sell every
other pearl we have. Everything we have and everything
we are and everything we know get rid of it That we might have
that pearl the Lord Jesus Christ He is the pearl of great price They have their reward and they're
good at getting When it comes to the things of God now, they're
unjust. They're unrighteous in heart
indeed and But they're good at taking care of themselves. And that illustrates something
spiritual. Now, we may be wise in another way, but concerning
the same thing, the future, where we're going to live. Isn't that what this man was
thinking of? Where am I going to live? Ah, they'll take me. This world will take you in. Don't go. Don't go. I am an unjust steward. If my security rests in how good
a steward I've been, I'm in trouble. So what am I gonna do? There
needs to be a resolution, doesn't there? Verse four, he said, I
am resolved what to do. And you better be too. Don't
just drift through life thinking everything's gonna work out.
You need to resolve. There needs to be a resolution.
This world is smart about this now. They understand that their
future is in question. And what are they resolved to
do about it? They're going to trust the world. They're going to trust
really their own dealings. That's what it boils down to.
I'm smart enough to figure this thing out. All of their considerations
of the future are carnal. Again, Judas leaving the Lord
of glory and saying to the enemies of Christ, what will you give
me? What can they give him that's worth anything? This is serving
Mammon, verse 13 in our text. You can't serve God and Mammon.
That man served Mammon. The fact that he wasn't going
to be serving his master, he didn't care about that as long
as I'm taken care of. Serving Mammon is really serving
yourself, isn't it? For that reason. That's what
he was worried about. Mammon literally means treasures
or riches, but it derived from this concept or this meaning,
what is trusted. That which you trust, that's
your mammon. In this world, now the man in
the parable trusted not his Lord, but the world, and really himself.
It boiled down to his own shrewd dealings. His own resolving, because, and
this is important, whether those people took him in or not, and
listen carefully to this now. Whether those people took him
in or not, he is already called by his Lord an unjust steward. And all that matters is what God thinks of you. Whether they take him in or not,
he's already lost. He's already lost. Whether his
scheme works out for him or not, whether your schemes in this
world work out for you or not, if God says you're guilty, unjust
means guilty, unrighteous in heart and in deed, remember?
You're already lost. It doesn't matter what you gain
in this world. What shall it profit a man if he should gain
the whole world? and lose his soul. Verse 9, and I say unto you,
make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when you fail, oh listen to that, when, he's talking to
his disciples now, when you fail. Don't miss that. We've already
talked about it. I'm reminding you again. Not
if you fail. He's talking to his sheep now,
his elect. When you fail. What needs to happen is that
when you fail, you're still received into an everlasting home and
are safe and secure and blessed forever. That's all that matters. When you fail, Not if all have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. When you fail,
are you going to have an everlasting home when you fail? When you
don't measure up, when your works in the end are not enough to
satisfy God, will you be received anyway? On what basis? This is
just the gospel, isn't it? The gospel. I'm going to have
to be received on the basis of the stewardship of another, and
not my own. Because I fail. I've always failed. I'm failing right now, and I'm
going to fail tomorrow. I'm not going to measure up to
the glory of God, not in myself. We fail all along the way, but
this is referring to the final accounting. When you fail, He's
really saying there, when you die, when the final counting
is added up and you are seen to be short, what then? What then? When all of your righteousnesses
are shown sure enough to be filthy rags, what then? When all is said and done, the
only result can be if you're judged based upon your own dealings
The only result is depart from me, you workers of iniquity. And when that time comes, where
are you gonna go? That's what the man said, where am I gonna
go? If the Lord kicks me out, where am I gonna go? And with
that consideration in mind, our Lord makes application of this
parable. And notice those words there
in verse nine, and I say unto you, don't try to get anything
else out of this parable, but this right here. You're messing
up now. And people do that. Well, what
about this in the parable? Here's what about this. Christ
said, here's what I'm saying to you. In telling this parable,
here's what I'm saying to you. And that's all that can be concluded
about it. And first, he deals with our
handling of earthly treasure. What in the world has that got
to do with it? God is to be honored in everything. He's to be honored in everything
you are, everything you have, everything you say, everything
you do, even everything you think. He's to be honored in it. He
deals with our handling of earthly treasure that God has given us
because this is least. Remember he says here later on,
if you're faithful in the least, then you'll be faithful in the
greater. But if you're not faithful in the least, that's how the
earthly and the spiritual are tied together right there. If
you don't care anything about God in the affairs of your life,
then don't pretend to care about God in the affairs of eternity. You're a liar. And remember, in both, we're
a failure. We're a failure in the end. So
we need to be received anyway, in spite of being unrighteous
in heart and in deed. That's the word unjust. In spite
of that, we need God to receive us anyway. We know how that happens.
Not by what we do. But he does speak about what
they do as evidence. As evidence. The least. What's important about
the least is that as it goes with the least so it goes with
the much. Verse 10. So this is why the
Lord would even talk about money. Why would he even talk about
money? Because it's a test. It's an evidence of your faith. It's an indication of what we
think in spiritual things. What you do in earthly matters
is an indication of where you are spiritually.
Faith without works is dead. Faith without works is not God-given,
saving faith. Because the faith that God gives
works. He that is faithful in what the
Lord has given him in material things will be faithful in spiritual
things too. Why? Not because some of us are
unjust in that and some of us are just. We're all unjust in
it. But the blessing of God, the grace of God, life from God,
the salvation of God affects all of it, all of it, material
and spiritual. So he begins with the material.
Make friends with the mammon of this unrighteous world. What
does it mean to make friends with it? Well, we can see from
the text obviously what it doesn't mean. It don't mean serve it.
Does it verse 13 you're not if you're serving mammon, then mammon
is not your friend Right First Timothy 6 8 having food
and raiment. Let us be there with content
But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and
into many foolish and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction
and perdition and That's talking about in the things of this world.
If that's your desire, then destruction and perdition, that's a spiritual
thing, right? For the love of money is the
root of all evil. The love of money, which while
some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. They've erred from the
faith. How? They've erred from the spiritual. How? By the carnal, the material,
the earthly, the temporal being their God. Go and sell all that
you have and give it to the poor and come follow me. I can't,
I've got too much stuff. You see how the material and
the spiritual are tied together? You can't serve both. But thou, O man of God, flee
these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith,
love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith.
Lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called and has
professed a good profession before many witnesses. We're not to
serve them. Well, nobody serves money. Oh,
my. Everybody, just about everybody does. They're a slave to it. Everything they do, all the grueling,
back-breaking, crazy stuff they do is serving money. And basically serving themselves,
because all money has is what it can do for me. It's all about
me. Secondly, we're not to trust
in them. Don't people get secure they say boy. I've got my bank
accounts fat. I got nothing to worry about
you've got everything to worry about If that's what you're trusting
there are no security in it is there The disciples were astonished
at the Lord's words, but Jesus answered again and saith unto
them children How hard is it for them that trust in riches?
to enter into the kingdom of God. And of course he goes on
there to say it's impossible. With men it's impossible. So
what does it mean to make friends with what God provides temporarily
in this world? And it's called the mammon of
unrighteousness because it is of this world and this world
is unrighteous. But that doesn't mean our use
of it is unrighteous. It's what this world can do. What unrighteous people do But
what they do is for the benefit of God's people, the person you
work for may be completely dishonest, he may be a crook, the mammon
of unrighteousness. But if God gives you some of
it, what are you going to do with it? God's people are to be benefited
by it, to honor God in it and with it, even though they be
unrighteous in their use of it, The world, that doesn't mean
we are, by God's grace. Now, and we're to think of it
that way, that some people, you know, they don't want to have
anything, you know, they don't want to, some people won't eat
at a restaurant that serves alcohol, you know, because, oh, I don't
want to be defiled. The company that you work for,
the owner may be completely dishonest and covetous, he may hate God.
Are you not going to take your paycheck from him? Make friends
with it. Make it so that it's not your
enemy. If you trust it now, it ain't your friend. If you serve
it, it ain't your friend. The Lord says the plowing of
the wicked is sin. They're plowing God's earth and
they're not giving God any glory for it. They're reaping God's
corn and they're not giving God any glory for it. Does that mean
I shouldn't eat that corn? I'm going to put a big old pile
of butter on that thing. And some salt. I'm going to enjoy
it. You see what God's teaching?
Make friends with it. Make friends with it. It may
be the gain of unrighteous men. But if we get part of it, let's
honor God in it. Let's thank God for it and use
it and be friends with it. I want to enjoy it, and most
importantly, honor Him in it and with it when they wouldn't,
by His grace, I want to do that. It's important that we see that
part about not only partaking of the things of this world,
but honoring Him in it, because we see that to make friends with
it is to be faithful to Him in it. Verse 10, remember that? Let's look at verse 10 again. He that is faithful in that which
is least, also is faithful in much. And he that is unjust, to be
faithful to him. Faithful to who? Faithful to
the one that gave it to you. The rich man. The one who owns everything.
The one who made you a steward of it. Being faithful to Him.
That's how you make friends with it. That's how it benefits you and
doesn't take you down to hell. And being faithful goes back
to how you deal with it in regard to the Lord. It's equated with
being just, and what was unjust about the steward wasn't that
he took care of himself. He's commended for that, for
being smart enough to work that thing out to his own benefit. What made him unjust was how
he treated his master. how he treated his master. So
think carefully about this now for just a couple more minutes.
How we deal in earthly stewardship will be a reflection of how we
deal in spiritual things with God. What we think of him. True
riches. How you handle the unrighteous
riches, which themselves aren't unrighteous, but called that
because this world, it's the things of this world. And this
world is sure enough unrighteous. But how you deal with those things
will tell how you will and do deal with the true riches. What is the true riches? Think
of the parable of the treasure hidden in a field. There was
a field for sale and nobody cared anything about it but one man
found out there was a treasure hidden in that field and he went
and sold everything he had and bought that field. Because he
knew something that not everybody knew. There's a treasure in there. And the pearl of great price
the man went and sold all that he had. A merchant man seeking
goodly pearls and when he had found one pearl of great price
he went and sold all that he had and bought that pearl. The true riches is Christ. All you need. Now this man was
worried about, where am I going to live? What am I going to eat?
All the things. One thing is needful. The Lord
says to his people, don't worry about all that stuff. Take no
thought for what you shall eat and what you shall drink. Your
master knows you need all that. Seek you first the kingdom of
God and his righteousness. Seek Christ. And seek to be received
of God, even though you're unrighteous in heart and deed, through the
merits, through the stewardship, through the faithfulness of Jesus
Christ. Now, I'm going to show you that
in the scriptures now, but think about this. Now, how we deal
in earthly stewardship, it'll be a reflection. They're going
to go together. If you honor God, you honor Him
in everything. That's by His grace, but that's
just the truth. It all has to do with His honor
and glory. But what do we do with our bodies?
What is our motivation? In 1 Corinthians 6.13, Paul wrote
that the body is not for fornication. Why does the law say that? He said it's not for that, it's
for the Lord. It's for the Lord. That's why it's wrong. Because
you're taking that which belongs to Him and using it for some other purpose
than to honor Him. What is money for? What's a house
for? What's everything for? What's
it for? Remember how our Lord put it
in Luke chapter 12? It's been a while, you probably
don't, but let me remind you. Our Lord said, That man who said,
look at all my stuff, I'm going to have to tear down my old barns
and build greater barns, just so I'll have room to put all
my stuff in it. And God said to him, you fool, you fool. Tonight, thy soul shall be required
of thee. And then whose shall these things
be? And when he concluded that parable,
he said this, so it is with everyone. that is not rich toward God. You're rich toward yourself,
but not rich toward God. That's how he put it there. It's
all for him. It's for him in the little things
and in the true riches. And it is the little things that
reveal our heart in all things. Think about this. I can't see
whether you love God or not, As far as spiritual things are
concerned, I can't see that. I can't see whether you love
God or not. But they could see that little widow putting those
two mites in that little box. They saw that. And that's a material
thing. That's just temporal. That's
the mammoth of unrighteousness. But why did she do that? The Lord says she put more in
than all these rich people put in of all of their substance.
She put in all of her living. Why do you think she did that?
To get to heaven when she died? She did that because she loved
the Lord. That's why she did that. She did that because the
Lord had saved her. Not so he would save her. Who did she give that to? Who
was she giving that money to? I can't see your heart, but I
can see that woman breaking that alabaster box of ointment and
anointing the Lord with it. And the disciples actually scolded
her for that, saying, she's wasting that. That's worth so much. We
could have sold that and given it to the poor. You remember
what the Lord said to them? He said, leave her alone. You've
got the poor with you always. You don't always have Me with
you. He said, she hath wrought a good work upon Me, for she
hath done this to anoint Me for My burial. Mark 14, three through
nine. And I like what else he said
about her in this matter. He said in verse eight there
of Mark 14, she has done what she could. You know why she did
that? And this is the teaching of our
text now. Be faithful in the little things
with an eye to the future. to what's important, to what
true riches are. Serve God and not mammon, but
serve God with mammon. Do you see that here? As well as with all physical
gifts and spiritual gifts and graces that we have from Him. We're stewards of all of it.
Use it for His glory. It's all His anyway. Remember
what David said, Lord who are we that you'd count us worthy
to give you back what you gave us? Now does this mean that how
we deal with what He gives us is what secures our future home?
Of course not. We know better than that, don't
we? From all the Word of God. It's not depending on that. Remember
those words in verse 9? Even when you have done the right
thing with the little things, with the mammon, you're still
a failure. As far as what you do is concerned.
Isn't that clear there? Even when you've done the right
thing, you're still a failure. And when we do this, we're still
a failure. Then why do it if we're still a failure? Because
our faithfulness to Him in all things is evidence of His faithfulness
to us. And most importantly, our faithfulness
to Him in little things, as in all things, is a result of His
faithfulness to us. His faithfulness to us is salvation. Zacchaeus is a beautiful illustration
of this. If you read the story of Zacchaeus,
where the Lord came to that tree that he was up in, and He says,
Zacchaeus, come down here. I must abide at your house today.
Salvation's come to your house. And Zacchaeus said, well, you
know what I'm going to do? I'm going to restore everything that
I've stolen. He was a dishonest tax collector
that had been embezzling money, cheating people out of money
that they didn't really owe. And he said, everybody I've stolen
from, I'm going to restore it to them fourfold. And then I'm
going to take what's left and give it to the poor. The Lord
didn't ask him to do that. You read that story and you tell
me if he did that so that salvation would come to his house? Or did
he do that because salvation had come to his house? Read the story in Luke chapter
7 where the Lord said of that woman, she's a sinner woman.
That's all we know about her. She was a sinner. She was a great
sinner. And he said to To Simon there,
he said, wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many
are forgiven, for she loved much, but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little. You read that story in Luke chapter
seven there, and you tell me if she loved much so that she
would be forgiven, or did she love much because she was forgiven
much? This is our text now. We've got
to understand that. We're faithful to the Lord in
little and in much so that he will be gracious to us? No. Because
he has been gracious to us. It's evident. It is the result
of his faithfulness to us. Listen to Galatians 2.16. I've
got way too much to stay within our usual time this morning,
but listen to this. Knowing that a man is not justified
by the works of the law. Why? Because we're unjust servants.
We're unjust servants. We fail. And remember now, he's
calling that one that lost the master money unjust, but then
he turns to his disciples and says, when you fail, where are
you going to live then? You see? Knowing that a man is
not justified by the works of the law. Why? We're unjust, we
fail. Even when we've been faithful,
we fail. How are you going to be saved
then? But by the faith, the same word in our text that's rendered
faithful, but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, there's salvation. He is my righteousness before
God. He is the just steward. There's nothing but one. There's
none good but one, and that's God. Jesus Christ, in whom dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. By the faithfulness,
a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the
faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus
Christ that we might be justified by his faithfulness, not ours. By the faithfulness of Christ
and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall
no flesh be justified in God's sight. Unjust. We're all unjust
stewards, everybody. based on what we do. So it's by the faithfulness of
Christ, it's by grace through faith in Him as our righteousness,
as our sin offering, that we're received into everlasting habitations,
even though we're a failure. The victory is ours in Christ.
How can an unjust steward be received into everlasting habitations?
For Christ also hath suffered once, suffered for sins, just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to
death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit. It's by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are justified in the
sight of God and received. Though we're failures, if we
are to be received, this is how, by the faithfulness of Christ,
by his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross,
he is the faithful steward. And the only way that a sinner
can be counted faithful before God is to stand in him. Paul said, not having mine own
righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which
is by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. I stand before God in
Christ, or I don't stand. Always remember Christ's application
of the parable. Be faithful in little things,
for no man can serve two masters. Even in the little things, you're
serving somebody, even with mammon. Are you serving the mammon, or
are you serving God with the mammon? Who are you serving? That's the question. And that's
the evidence of your faithfulness to him. That's the evidence of
whether he's been faithful to you. Whether he is by his faithfulness,
you're saved and righteous in the sight of God. If you serve
one, you'll hate the other. The day that you fall in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ is the day that you don't love money
anymore. I'm friends with it. I want to
be friends with it, don't you? Only one is worthy of our love.
And when you love him, you're going to hate the other. The day you become a servant
of Jesus Christ is the day that you cease to serve yourself.
The day that you trust the Lord Jesus Christ is the day that
you will cease to trust in the deceitfulness of riches, which
make themselves wings and fly away. Do you trust Christ in
the salvation of your soul? Well, let me ask you this, do
you trust him to give you something to eat tomorrow? If not, then you don't trust
Him to save you. You either trust Him or you don't trust Him. Right? Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ
for obtaining eternal redemption for you? Because He redeemed
your soul on Calvary when He shed His precious blood for you. Well let me ask you this, do
you love Him for that? Do you love Him with the little
things that He's given you? Because you see, 1 Corinthians
13, love is defined by what it does and by what it doesn't do. Do you do what you can? That sinner woman, she wept and
wiped his feet with the hairs of her head in those tears. And the Lord said, she's doing
that because she loves me a whole lot. And the reason she loves
me a whole lot is because I've forgiven her of all of her sins,
which are many. As an unfaithful servant, what
is it my hope? My hope is the faithful servant.
The one who was obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. And either he is your righteousness this morning, or
you don't have any. May God give us grace to believe
on him, to love him, to fall in love with him, to trust him. Hey man, let's pray.