I won't be able to read all of
our text tonight, so I'm just going to... I read it to you
a moment ago, so we'll just go through it now, verse by verse. Matthew 24, verses 36 through
51. Now, every one of us is going
to meet God. That's a certainty. And the Lord
will return very soon, a second time. He's promised that. Now
the Lord gives us here instruction that every faithful and wise
servant of the Lord will heed. That's what He calls those that
He's given faith to believe Him, are faithful and wise servants. That's what I've titled this
message. We'd be wise to heed this. Now here's the first thing
He says. Do not seek the time, the day
and the hour of the Lord's return. Look at verse 36. Of that day
and hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. Now the day and hour no man knows. The angels don't know it. And
it's pride for you and I to try to attempt to use the scriptures
to try to figure out the day and the time. That's just pride.
Ignorance, really. The Lord, they asked Him one
time, they said, are you about to restore the kingdom? And the
Lord said, it's not for you to know the times or the seasons
which the Father hath put in His own power. Not only is it
not for us to know the day or the hour, it's not for us to
even know the times or the seasons in which the Lord will return. True godly humility trusts God,
believes on Him. redeems the time right now that
we have, seeking Him, seeking His face, seeking His Word, seeking
His will right now, without knowing a day or a time. That's what
true humility does. When Christ walked this earth
as the Son of Man, in humility, he didn't even seek to know the
time. He himself, who will be the one who's returning, didn't
seek to know the time. He said, of that day and that
hour knoweth no man, know not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father. The importance of not knowing
the time is that we live every hour, every day by faith. That's the importance. If men
put off right now seeking the Lord and live for this world
and for our own selfish lusts and our own estates right now,
knowing He's going to return, imagine what men would do if
we knew the exact day He was going to return. Well, I could
put that off till just before that time that he comes back,
and we'd live for ourselves every day, every hour, more so than
we do now. So it's a good reason that we
don't know the time. Alright, here's the second thing
he says to us. He teaches us not to be like
those in the days of Noah. Instead, get in the ark. Here's
what he says, verse 37. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered
into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them
all away, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." And Noah
stood there and he preached the gospel of God in his day. He's called a preacher of righteousness. That's what he's called in the
scripture. Noah was called of God. And the Lord showed Noah
grace. He found grace in the eyes of
the Lord. He was a sinner saved by grace. And so Noah, having been saved
by the power of God, by the grace of God, by the righteousness
of God, preached the righteousness of God. And I know just what
Noah preached. Look over at Romans chapter 3. I know what Noah preached because
his gospel is my gospel. There's only one gospel. The
gospel then is the same as the gospel now. And I know exactly
what he preached because it's the gospel of the righteousness
of God, and that righteousness is manifest one place. It's manifest
in Christ Jesus. That's who that ark typified.
So Noah, he stood up and he said, you see this ark right here?
He said, this ark, manifests to us that every one of us, the
man preaching to you included, every one of us are guilty before
God. That's what Christ coming to
the earth manifests, that all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. Look at Romans 3.23. for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God." That's exactly
what Christ coming into the earth tells us. If we could live up
to the glory of God or had in some manner, there would have
been no need for Christ to come. That's why folks hate the gospel
being preached. It's not because they think it's
boring to come in and sit down and hear a man preach. It's not
because of the place that somebody worships in. It's not because
of all the different excuses men give. It's because when men
hear the gospel preached, when it's preached in truth, that's
what the gospel is. When it's preached In truth,
men here, they have no cloak for their sin. They've got no
refuge for their sin. They're guilty before God because
our message declares that's why Christ came. That's why Christ
came. Alright, look here. I know this
is what He declared too. He declared that the Lord is
merciful and gracious. He could say, you see this ark
right here? This ark declares to us that
God of heaven and earth is gracious and merciful. that He forgives
iniquity and sin and transgression because He's going to save some
people in this ark. And that's what I'm telling you.
Christ coming into this earth tells us God is merciful and
He's gracious and that He is a forgiving God because Christ
came into the earth because of that, because He is merciful
and He is gracious and He is forgiving. And so Noah could
stand there and he could say, God keeps mercy for thousands,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. What a merciful and
gracious God. So what's the purpose of this
ark? It's declaring to us God is merciful,
God is gracious, that God's a forgiving God. That's the purpose of Christ
coming into the earth. And yet Noah could declare this
too. Noah declared God is holy and He's righteous. Because he
could look at that ark and say, you see this ark? God's holy
and righteous in showing mercy and showing forgiving sinners. There's coming a flood, a flood
of God's judgment, a flood of God's wrath, a flood of justice
is coming into this earth and every man and woman and child
in this earth will fall under the guilty condemnation of God's
just judgment. The ark of was there because
the ark's going to bear that judgment. The ark's going to
be immersed in the flood of that judgment from beneath and from
the top and be surrounded in the flood of that judgment. And
everybody that's in that ark is going to die the same as everybody
outside of that ark. The difference is those that
are in that ark are going to die in the ark. They're going
to die by the ark bearing the flood of the judgment rather
than them bearing it themselves. That's the truth of Christ. Look
here. Christ came into this earth and He bore the just demands
of the broken law for His people. In doing so, He justified us
freely, freely by God's grace. Look at verse 24. Being justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus. That's what that ark pictured.
This is the one who's going to pay the price so that we can
be redeemed freely and justified freely and be saved freely by
God's grace in this ark. And Noah could say, and God has
set forth this ark to show us that this is the place of mercy. This is where God will meet with
us in mercy, right here in this ark. If you want the mercy of
God, the forgiveness of God, get in this ark right here. Look
at next verse 25. whom God has set forth, speaking
of Christ, to be a propitiation, a mercy seat, a place of mercy
with God through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God." And that's something else Noah could preach. He could
sit there and he could say, and our God's a long-suffering God.
I've been sitting here, Noah could say, I've been sitting
here preaching to you now for almost 120 years while this ark's preparing. I can say to you today, I've
been sitting here preaching this gospel to you because Christ
has gone forth to prepare a place for His people, and when it's
prepared, He's coming again to receive His people to Himself.
And in this day right now, it's a day of grace, it's a day of
His longsuffering, where He's forbearing with the vessels of
wrath, fit meat for destruction, that He might show His mercy
and His grace on those vessels that He, before the foundation
of the world, prepared unto glory by putting them in His Son, in
Christ Jesus. And so right now, He's long-suffering. And Noah could say, and He's
waiting this whole time until this ark is finished, the work
is finished, and then the floods are coming. Look at the next
verse. To declare, I say at this time, His righteousness, that
He might be just and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus."
And Noah preached this. Everyone that believes on Him
is going to glory in one only, in Him. Because He's the one
that's just and He's the one that does the justifying. And
it's shown us in this ark that Christ was typified by that ark. But back to Matthew 24 now. But
what happened? What did folks do in Noah's day? The Lord says they did in Noah's
day exactly what they're going to do in this day, in the day
until Christ returns. As the gospel is being preached,
they're going to do the same thing. Verse 38, they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that
Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came
and took them all away." You see, they were not thirsty, and
they were not hungry for Christ our righteousness. They were
not married to Christ our husband, and they were not concerned.
Their preeminent concern was not to have their sons and daughters
married to Christ our husband. They were hungry, and eating
and drinking and busy with the cares of this world, eating and
drinking the things of this world, marrying this world and giving
their sons and daughters to be married to this world. We can
get our schedule so filled up and so filled up and so filled
up that we don't have a choice but to be married to this world.
We don't have any other choice but to think on this world and
all of the things we have to do in this world. They didn't
seek to keep their lamps filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit,
with the Spirit of His grace, so that they would be watching
and ready when Christ came. But they sought to have all their
receptacles, all their coffers, all their bank accounts, all
their treasuries loaded up with everything of this world. That's
what they were seeking. They didn't seek to sow an increase
in the spiritual riches of Christ Jesus, in the spiritual talents
which Christ yield. They sought to They had their minds set on sowing
and increasing in earthly pursuits and earthly riches. And so it
is today. And right up until the very day
that Noah entered that ark, they knew not. It wasn't because they
didn't have the gospel declared to them. It wasn't because they
hadn't heard. It was because they ignored the
gospel and gave their full attention to all of their day-to-day affairs
in this world and all the business they had going on in the world.
That's why they didn't know. And verse 39 says, And the flood
took them all away. Now the Scripture tells us that
in Christ Jesus, all of His children are one. They're all one. There's
no differences in His children in Christ Jesus. There's not
male and female. There's not rich and poor. There's
not learned and unlearned. There's not Jew and Gentile.
We're one in Christ. He has made us the righteousness
of God in Him. That's what Christ has accomplished.
But the same is true of those outside of Christ. There's no
differences between them outside of Christ. And men loved to,
there were many wealthy in that day, and there were many poor
in that day. And you know what the flood did?
It swept them all away together, every one of them, richest and
the poorest. There was many learned men in
the world in that day, and there were many uneducated men in the
world that day. But their education, it did not
save them at all. Oh, it was helping them fill
up those earthly accounts. It was helping them fill up all
those earthly lusts. But it didn't help them in the
day of God's judgment. It didn't help them at all. The
most learned, the most educated of them died right along beside
the unlearned and the uneducated. There were many zealous in vain
religion. The religion was thriving in
that day, just like it is in our day. And there was many wicked
men outside of religion that wanted nothing to do with their
vain religion. And you know what happened when
the flood came? They all died together. The vainly religious
man that looked down his nose and wouldn't have anything to
do with the harlot and the pimp, he died right alongside the harlot
and the pimp, right alongside them. the oldest with the youngest,
the oppressor with the oppressed. And so shall also, the Lord says
there, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Paul called
it a great falling away, a great falling away. The Lord said,
when the Son of Man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? Eight
souls were saved that day. Men lived so long that day. Sin
hadn't taken its toll on the earth and on man's flesh like
it has in our day. Noah was over 600 years old when
the flood came. Men lived a long time. There
was multitude, millions and millions of people in the earth in that
day. Millions and millions of people in the earth that day.
And God saved eight souls. Eight people in that ark. You think about that. God has
an elect remnant. He's always saved an elect remnant. Throughout the scriptures, you
look, it's always been a remnant. A remnant that God has. Anytime,
at any period, throughout the scriptures, you'll find there's
a remnant. God has a remnant. And the majority, there's a bunch
with them, but the majority don't even care. So you think about
that. Here we are, and what the Lord's
telling us, here we are, we're on the edge of eternity. When
we were in Australia, we went out to these beautiful cliffs,
and they were beautiful. I mean, it was just these huge
cliffs, and I mean, way, way down to the ocean. The ocean
came right up, you know, right up to the base of these cliffs.
And I was so scared. I mean, I was just scared to
death. And we were walking right along the side of these things
and by this cliff and had little kids with us running around and
playing, you know. And everybody just seemed to be concerned about
their own path and where they were going and how they were
meandering through these rocks and things. And I'm sitting there
thinking, we're going to all fall off this cliff. We're right
here on it, you know. How is it we go through this
life worrying about our own individual path and worrying about, you
know, establishing ourselves in this earth like we're going
to be living forever and we're right here on the edge of eternity? Look at the third thing he says.
Know this, that when Christ comes, He's going to separate His believing
redeemed children from the reprobate. Verse 40, Then shall two be in
the field, the one shall be taken, the other left. Two women shall
be grinding at the mill, the one shall be taken, the other
left. Now believers alongside of reprobate men and women, worldly,
careless, ignorant men and women who care nothing for the gospel,
along with the believers. They work side by side. They
live side by side. They come into the house of the
Lord side by side. Some sleep in the same bed. Some
live in the same house. Some go to ball games at the
same ball field. Some work side by side at the
same jobs. Some sit side by side each other
in the same church building. But what's the difference between
them? One of them, if you just looked
at them, you wouldn't tell any difference between them. But
one of them, God's given a heart. He's given a new heart by His
grace. He's put His Word in their heart, and He's put His Spirit
within them, and He abides in them. And so while they're working
in the field, side-by-side somebody else working in the field with
them. When they're sleeping in the bed, side-by-side the husband
or the wife sleeping in the bed with them. Whatever it is they're
doing in this earth, sitting in the congregation, in the Lord's
house. One of them has their heart and
their mind set on Christ and thinking upon Him and thinking
about His return and thinking about Him and serving Him and
the great unsearchable riches of Christ they've heard in His
Gospel. And the other, God is not in all their thoughts. They're
just concerned with whatever's right there at the end of their
nose. Whatever it is, it's right there that they can see with
this eye and feel with these hands and touch and taste with
these earthly senses. And who made the difference?
God made the difference. Who maketh thee to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive? God, in His
sovereign grace, makes the difference. And when He comes, God, in His
grace, is going to separate the one from the other. He says, Verse 31, look back up there.
He shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and
they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from
one end of heaven to the other. One shall be taken to be with
the Lord forever. The other one will be left to
suffer the judgment and fiery wrath of hell forever. And those
that'll be left, I have no doubt that those that'll be left when
God's people are taken, those that are left won't have any
idea what's taking place. They won't even know. They won't
have a clue. And He will take His people away. And it will
be the same for those already in the graves, those that have
already died. That won't hinder God from doing
what He's going to do. Daniel said, many of them shall
sleep in the dust of the earth, shall awake, some to everlasting
life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. God's going to separate.
This gospel is a separated gospel. That's what it does. When it
comes into the heart, it separates a man from his sin and his lust. It makes him desire Christ. When
it comes into a household, it separates the believer from the
unbeliever in that house. When it comes into a community,
it separates believers from unbelievers in that community. It does the
same in the Lord's house. And it does so when Christ returns. He's going to separate the believer
from the unbeliever. And in Noah's day, they knew
not. They knew not until God shut Noah up in the ark. And at that time, when He shut
Noah up in the ark, it was too late then. It was too late then. They had a hundred and twenty
years to repent and believe on the Lord. to hear the word of
the gospel God sent Noah to proclaim. And they were too busy with this
world and had their minds set on this world to give heed to
the gospel. When the reigns came and the
judgment came, of course they wanted to be in the ark. But
it's too late then. It's too late. This is the day
of grace. This is the time of repentance.
Then will be a time of judgment. And that's all it'll be. Now
you think about today. I want you to think about today. And be honest with yourself about
this. Were we so busy today that the
thought never crossed our minds that today might be the day the
Lord returns. That's the next word the Lord
gives. Always be watching and ready for the day of his return.
Look at verse 42. Watch therefore, for you know
not what hour your Lord doth come. Now the Lord is teaching
us right here. He teaches the same thing in
the parable of the wise virgins and the unwise virgins. He teaches
the same thing in the parable of the talents. He's teaching
us that though we have our day-to-day responsibilities in this earth,
We must never let those things become preeminent in our hearts
and our minds, but have Christ and His return ever in our hearts. The world compartmentalizes things. They say, what they teach is,
this is what the Scriptures teach, put Christ first, and once you've
gone and you've worshipped Him the first day of the week, and
given of the first of your goods to Him and all that, then next,
put your family first, then next, put your job, your occupation
first, you know, compartmentalize everything. That's not what the
Scriptures teach. Whatever we're doing, God's first. Christ is first in our thoughts. He's first. He's first. Not these
other things. He's first. Whenever, on the
fourth Friday night, we come over and the adults watch Brother
Henry on TV and I teach the young people. Well, every Friday, I'm
sitting there working. Right up to the time you get
there, I'm working. But as I'm working, I'm watching for you
to get there. Because when you look forward
to somebody arriving that you're eager to see arrive, Even though
you're working, you watch for them, don't you? You ever had
company coming and you look forward to coming and you're trying to,
you wives running around the house trying to get all the last
little things dusted and cleaned up and everything, but you're
always looking out the window and watching. If you hear any little
noise, you're looking to see if that's them. That's the spirit of the believer.
We gotta work. We gotta do our day-to-day things.
But we're not living for those things. We're not entangling
ourselves in the cares of this world to the point that we forget
what's our purpose. Our purpose here is we're waiting
his return. We're watching for this one to
come who we're eagerly anticipating his arrival. He says, watch therefore
for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. Now when we have our minds set
on this world, allowing our daily responsibilities to occupy our
thoughts, that's compared to those who sleep in the night,
and it's compared to those who are drunk in the night. That's
why Paul said, therefore let us not sleep as do others, but
let us watch and be sober. Let us watch and be sober. The
Lord gives an illustration in our text here next. Look at verse
43. But know this, that if the good man of the house
had known... Let's read, I want to read verse
42 and 43 together. I think we need to do this. Watch
therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord doth come. But know this, that if the good
man of the house had known in what watch the thief would come,
he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to
be broken up. Now you think about that. If
you got your house, everything in your house is valuable
to you. Your house is valuable to you. You bought that house. You, by yourself, bought that
house. So it's valuable to you, and all the things in it are
valuable to you. If you knew, you were told in what watch,
in the night, that a thief would come to your earthly house, you'd
watch for him, wouldn't you? You'd be watching for him. You'd
know the watch he was coming in, so you'd be watching. Well,
is Christ not much better to watch for than a thief? Is He not? Is Christ not much
better to watch for than a thief? A thief comes to rob you of your
goods. Christ is coming to give us our
eternal inheritance. You would watch if it was your
earthly house, Your earthly goods is not our spiritual house, our
inner man, our new heart that He's created, that house in which
He says He abides. Is it not better to guard and
to watch out for than our earthly house? That's what the Lord's
teaching here. Look at the next thing. If you
knew what watch the thief was coming in, though you didn't
know the exact hour, you know the nights divided into four
watches. But you didn't know the exact hour, you just knew
in the watch that He was coming. Wouldn't you watch in the night
so you would be ready in that watch looking for that unexpected
hour when the thief was coming? Christ has told us He's coming
and no man knows the hour. We don't know the hour. But He's
told us He's coming in this watch. This is the last watch of the
night we call Time. This is the last watch
of the night. This thing we call time in this
earth is the night. Christ said when He was here,
He said, while I'm here, I'm the light of the world. When
I go, it will be night when I'm gone. The light will be gone.
This is the night. But this is the last watch of
the night. These are the last days. And
He said, He's coming in this watch. So, that's what He says. Verse 44, Therefore be ye also
ready. For in such a hour as you think
not, the Son of Man cometh." You see, we don't know the hour,
but we know the watch. This is the watch. He's coming
in these last days. Now, for every unbeliever sitting
here, I'm going to talk to you, just to you now. Listen to me.
Every one of you sitting here that don't know the Lord, listen.
Are you indifferent about the good of your own soul? You're going to spend eternity
somewhere. The soul is eternal. You know what a privilege God's
given you to be able to come here and hear the truth of God? If there was some way that you
could see how many churches there are in the world and how few
of them really are teaching the truth of God, you'd realize It's
been a privilege you've been given to be able to come and
just hear the truth of God preached. Do you give diligence to search
the scriptures to see if these things are so? Some sit and don't even open
up a Bible. You can't catch fish if you don't
carry a rod and reel with you. How are you going to hear these
things? Look these things up, see if they're so. I might just
be a bumbling idiot up here telling you things that I'm just making
up in my own mind. Don't you want to look in the
Word of God and see if they're true or not? Do you give the
same diligence to spiritual matters as you do to your school work,
or to sports, or some earthly thing? These are the words of eternal
life. Which one's going to benefit you eternally? The plays in your
coach's playbook? Or these words of God with whom
we all must face? How much diligence do we give?
Today's the day of salvation. This is the time to prepare.
The parable of the virgins. In that parable, they all slept
at midnight. But five of them are called wives.
We all have to work. We have to get an education.
We have to do the things to be able to survive and make a living
and support our families and all of that in this world. So
just like the two women at the meal. All the virgins slept at
midnight, and so we all have to go into this night of time
and do what we have to do. Here's what made the five wise.
They had their lamps full of oil. They had the Spirit of God
in their heart. They gave diligence to make sure
that they were feeding the inner man, feeding that spiritual man,
that new man, rather than just giving all their time to feed
the flesh and the carnal things. So when the cry came that the
Lord was here, they were ready. The others weren't ready. They
never even took the time to even look into these things. They
never took the time to even consider having their lamps filled with
oil. And when they came to those that did, they said, go to them,
let's sell. But it was too late then. By
the time they came to the Lord, the Lord said, the door's shut.
It's shut. For us brethren who believe,
let's talk to us for a minute. Are we watching diligently? Are we watching our heart? Are
we watching for the Lord's coming as much as we are about our day-to-day
activities, our day-to-day lives? This helps me in my daily living
put things in perspective. I get overly concerned about
things. I get anxious, though I ought
not to get anxious about things. But this is what I should always
ask myself when that happens. If I knew I would die today and
meet my Redeemer, would this earthly matter, whatever it is,
would it really be as important as I'm making it out to be? What if the Lord was returning
today? What if He was returning today? Is this something, whatever it
is, that I'm so taken up with, is it vital? Is it vital? Peter said, seeing then all these
things shall be dissolved. What manner of persons ought
you to be in all holy conversation and godliness? Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may
be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless." Where's
that peace we want to be found? Look at Philippians 3. Paul said, Verse 8, Yea, doubtless, and
I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I've suffered the loss of
all things and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ
and be found in Him. Peter said, be diligent that
you may be found in peace. Paul said, I want to be found
in Him. That's who I want to be found
in, don't you? Not have in mine own righteousness,
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I might
know Him. and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable unto His
death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were
already perfect." Isn't that how a lot of us act? Well, I
know the Gospel now. Do we? Are we that? Have we arrived? He said, not
that I'm already perfect, but I follow after, if that I may
be apprehended, that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ
Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, reaching forth unto those things which
are before, I press. Do you see that? I press. This is like a, you picture a
runner, and he's running, he's come to the last leg of the race,
and he's giving it everything he's got now. He's pressing. This is what the Lord said, we're
in the last leg of the race. And he says, and I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. Let us therefore as many as be
perfect be thus minded. the parable of the talents, the
two servants who diligently sold the riches that their master
provided to them, they profited thereby. Christ has given the
believer spiritual riches, spiritual riches. And grace, of His fullness
have we received grace. For what? For grace. And He giveth
more grace. God gives the increase. Not for
the purpose of sowing to the world, but to sow to our own
hearts and to fellow believers and to the hearts of those He
shall call. And Christ promises to give more
grace. And only God gives the increase.
But the unfaithful servant was slothful. You know where he sold?
He sold that which the Lord gave him in the earth. He sold to
the earth rather than to that spiritual
bank where God gives the increase. So the unfaithful servant made
no increase in spiritual riches. If a man's not faithful with
less, he won't be faithful with more. The Lord said, take from
him that which he has and give it to him that hath. Give it
to the one that's going to use these things. Remember the Lord?
He said, you that have the ear to hear, be careful how you hear.
Because He said, he that hath, the Lord will give more. And
him that hath not, He'll take from him that which he seems
to have. Paul said, be not deceived, God's
not mocked. For whatsoever a man soweth,
that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh
shall also of the flesh reap corruption. But he that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. That's
what he's telling us here, brethren. Not to sow to the world, not
to sow to the flesh, not to be carried up in the things of the
flesh. How many times have you heard these Scriptures twisted
around to where men use them to excuse worldliness and going
after things in this world? And that's not what it's teaching
at all. So, this is where we come to. Here's the conclusion.
Shall we be wise and faithful servants or unwise and hypocritical
servants? The Lord's going to publicly
reveal each and He's going to reward each. Look, let me just
read this out. I'm out of time. Verse 45. Who
then is a faithful and wise servant? This is what he's saying. He's
telling us what it is to be a faithful and wise servant. And he says,
now who then is a faithful and wise servant? Whom his Lord hath
made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season.
Peter said, are you talking to us, the apostles, the preachers
of the gospel when you say this, or are you telling everybody
this? And the Lord in one place said, what I say I'm saying to
all. Now, to me as a preacher, he
has given me the responsibility to feed you your meat in due
season. Paul told Timothy, in season
and out of season. But every believer is a servant
of his. And every believer, he's made
a ruler over his own house. What did he say of these bodies
we live in? They're my house. He said they're
the temple I dwell in. So He made you the ruler of that
house and over your own house, that house you have the sphere
of influence in, to give them meat in due season. What meat? Am I going to feed my flesh with
this world, my inner man with this worldly things? He won't
eat them. He won't delight in them. He
won't be strengthened by them. I'll only feed my flesh. What
am I going to feed you with? I'm going to come in here and
one week come in here and start telling you how some silly thing
about how you need to be living. I'm not telling you how to be
living in this world. I'm telling you how to get ready
to die. That's what I'm trying to tell you. He says, Blessed is that servant
whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. He finds
him doing that which he has been given to do. Verily I say unto
you that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. The Lord
does give us rewards. He gives us rewards now. When
the Lord comes now, you know what He does? He gives you more
light. He gives you more grace. He gives
you more spiritual light in Christ. So to the Spirit. He gives you
more light in Christ. And then afterwards, you know
what He's going to give us? And He'll give you more opportunities
to serve God in the church, to serve Him in His kingdom. And
then you know what He gives? He gives us in the end our reward,
which is life to come for every believer, where we'll be a joint
heir with Christ. I thought about that today. That
ought to settle the argument of whether some's going to get
more, some's going to get less. We're going to be joint heirs
with Christ, Scott. You think we're going to have
more than what Christ has? We're going to be joint heirs
with Him. What He has, we're going to have. That means me
and you and every other believer. That's so. This is how the Lord's
going to find His people. If you read on over to the end
of chapter 25, when He came and He says to the sheep on His right
hand and the goats on His left, He told the sheep, He said, I
was thirsty, you gave me water, I was hungry, you fed me, I was
sick, you visited me, I was in prison, you came to see me. And
they said, when do we do these things? And he said, as much
as you've done it to one of these, at least to my brethren you've
done it to me. They don't know they do it, but all of his faithful,
his children are faithful and wise servants. They heed his
word. They hear it and they heed it. And then here's the case
of those who don't. Verse 48, but, and if that evil
servant, he's not faithful, he's evil, not wise, he's ignorant,
he's called a servant in title only, he's a hypocrite. but the
Lord's sovereign even over false servants too. He says, if that
evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming. You remember when Moses delayed
to come down out of the mountain? Remember what happened? Oh, make us a God to go before
us. Give us something else. Give us something we can see.
You know what they did? You know what we'd do if we do that? He
shall begin to smite his fellow servants. See, we're fellow servants
in this thing. He begins to smite his fellow
servants and to eat and drink with the drunken. He becomes
a drunk man in the night. I'm talking about sitting up
in the whitest, most pristine cathedral in this earth and putting
on the best robe and the best outward show. He becomes a drunkard
in this world. That's what he is, spiritually
drunk. The Lord of that servant shall
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder and appoint him
his portion with the hypocrites. And there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth." So let's go home. Let me just review these
three words that we saw. First of all, Don't be seeking
the hour and the day. He's told us it's this watch.
So get in Christ the ark and be not as those in Noah's day
and as those in the world around us right now who could care less. Secondly, watch and be ready
for the coming of the Lord. He's coming in this watch. Guard
your spiritual house until He comes. You don't know the hour.
You don't know the day. You just know it's going to be
in this watch. So guard and watch. Feed the
inner man. And use the grace, that's the
third thing, use the grace God's given us to wisely and faithfully
sow to the Spirit. Feed one another as fellow servants
in God's house. The Lord honors faithfulness.
He gives more grace. And one day soon, we'll reign
with our King for all eternity. That's His promise. That's what
a faithful and wise servant does. Amen.