May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word.
Let's turn to the Gospel of Luke, chapter 19, and we'll read verse
14. The Gospel of Luke, chapter 19,
and reading verse 14. But his citizens hated him and
sent a message after him saying, We will not have this man to
reign over us. Sadly and surely, that is the
cry of the majority of mankind today. They say we will not have
this man to reign over us. and it will be a great blessing
and a wonderful favour if such words do not emanate from our
heart or from our lips and that we are numbered amongst those
who are the true worshippers who truly follow what the Lord
directs us and says. This chapter, as we well know,
is very interesting because it has the account of Zacchaeus
And what a wonderful account that was. And as we come to the
end of that account, we hear what Jesus tells the people who
were complaining that he'd gone to be with Zacchaeus and they
disagreed. And the Lord comes and says,
this day is salvation come to this house for as much as he
also is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man is come to seek
and to save that which was lost. And as they heard these things,
he added and spake a parable, because he was knight of Jerusalem,
and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. So these words which we read
for a text tonight are part of this parable that Jesus speaks. And as he runs on, he says, a
certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself
a kingdom and to return. And he called his 10 servants
and delivered them 10 pounds and said unto them, occupy till
I come. And what that means is he called
10 people there who were we could classify as preachers, servants
of God to preach the gospel and he gave them each a pound and
he told them to occupy till I come and that means they were told
to work they weren't to just sit around and laze they were
to work and that's a good word of instruction for us who preach
the gospel we're not to sit around and work But we are to work in
the place and position the Lord has placed us in. And so we're
told that he came back and he came to pass that when he was
returned, having received the kingdom, Then he commanded these
servants to be called unto him, to him he had given the money,
that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. And then we're told of course
the first came and gained ten pounds, the second had gained
five pounds, and then the next one who he spoke to just said
Lord behold here is thy pound which I've kept laid up in a
napkin for I feared thee because thou art an austere man and thou
takest up that thou layest not down and reapest that thou didst
not sow and he said unto him out of thine own mouth will I
judge thee thou wicked servant thou knewest that I was an austere
man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did
not sow. Wherefore then gavest not thou
my money unto the bank, that it might at my coming I might
have required mine own with usury. And so he goes on and he comes
down to the 26th verse. where we're told, for I say unto
you that unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from
him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from
him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should
reign over them, bring them hither and slay them before me. So that's
the result I've just read to those things which we read in
this 14th verse where the citizens hated him and sent a message
saying we will not have this man to reign over us. And the solemn result then to
such is that thine enemies which would not Yes, they did not want
the Lord, but unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from
him that hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken away
from him. But those mine enemies, which
would not, that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay
them before me. So really, we have here a very
solemn and striking parable the Lord gives. You remember he was
speaking to the people that had gathered on the occasion when
Zacchaeus had been blessed and the Lord had come and called
him down and had told him that today you must dwell at his house
and abide there and he came down and received him joyfully and
of course the natural man didn't like that The natural man today
doesn't like that. The natural man today doesn't
agree with these things and therefore it's no different really after
all those years. We still find there is this situation
that for the most part the citizens of this world They say, we will
not have this man to reign over us. Well, the reality is that
God does reign and God will reign and poor puny man may say such
things, but they will not change the great and wonderful plan
of almighty God. And as we've noted in this account,
there were those who preached the Gospel who were wonderfully
blessed. Those who laboured in the word
and doctrine the Lord honoured and blessed their work. And yet
there was that one example of one who was lazy. He just buried. that which he'd been given. He
didn't work at all. He laid it and buried it in a
napkin. And the Lord condemned that person. So we must realise
that in the things of God we are to occupy till the Lord returns. We don't know when that will
be, but we know it will come. We are therefore to work that
which the Lord will involve us in, and not to, as it were, sit
on the sidelines and be unconcerned. Because we should be concerned
about the salvation of souls, realising how valuable souls
are, and to desire therefore, as the Lord may give us opportunity,
to speak well of him, in particular those who are called to preach
the gospel, they are to labor in the word and doctrine. You know, we have that striking
word really in Matthew's gospel where the Lord speaks and in
the 11th chapter, at the end of that chapter, the Lord Jesus
says, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and
I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls, for my yoke is easy. and my burden is light. Many people today ignore such
a word as that and say, we will not have this man to reign over
us, we're not going to do the will of God. And my friends,
the will of God is laid out before us in his word, very clearly. And yet you see, the path is
not an easy path. The church of God a call to follow. We're told to take up our cross
daily and to follow him. We cannot expect to journey on
through this world without any opposition. We are to therefore
hear God's gracious words to indeed take up our cross the
Lord has a cross for each one of us to carry to bear and we're
not to ignore it because our lives are on this earth for a
divine purpose if we are the children of God and that should
be a very solemn thought and consideration a divine purpose
Divine purpose is to bring honour and glory to God. And in order
for that to come to pass, quite clearly we are to follow that
which the Lord would have us to do. The Lord has work for
each of his people to do in this world. And we're not to shirk
our responsibilities. We're not to say, well, I don't
think that applies to me. And we think we can somehow get
away from it and therefore not get involved. And what we're
really saying is the same words as these citizens said. We will
not have this man to reign over us. We won't be subjected to
what he says. You see, naturally speaking,
we have kings and queens who reign. And the subjects under
those kings are to do the commands of that king. And my friends,
to think that to a far, far greater extent, the subjects of King
Jesus are to do his will. Each one of us is to do the Lord's
will. And we are not to come and be
found like these citizens saying, we will not have this man to
reign over us. Perhaps not quite in those words.
But we may be saying, I'm not going to do this. I don't think
this is right for me. I don't think I should follow
that path. I've got my own ideas. Perhaps
we may not be as bold to physically say it, but we may think it.
We may hope that things work out in accordance with our plans. We'll always remember we have plans which may not be
God's plans and may not come to pass. God has a plan which
will come to pass. And what a blessing it is if
you and I are willing to come and to submit ourselves under
the mighty hand of God, because we are His subjects. And what
a mercy to realise that He is our King, not a natural King,
a far greater King. And it's good if you and I have
a right understanding of that. He is the King of Kings, the
Lord of Lords. And what a blessing, therefore,
if we are made willing in the day of His power. willing to
do his will, to leave aside our own plans, our own ideas, be
sure of this, God's plan is best. We're not to fight against God.
We're not to walk contrary to God. The Lord says, if you walk
contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you. And sometimes we tend
to thinking that somehow it doesn't have an application to us, but
be sure it does. We are subjects of the King of
Kings and it is our great favour and our great privilege to be
subjects and therefore to be willing to do the will of Almighty
God, realising that we are on the earth at this time Not yesterday,
not perhaps in the future, today. As we read in the book of Esther,
as Esther was told by Mordecai, for such a time as this. And it wasn't easy, was it, for
Esther. She didn't know what the outcome
was going to be. She was fearful that if the king
didn't hold out the golden scepter, she would lose her life. But
she was given faith. to come and say, I will go. And
if I perish, I perish. Trusting in the Lord. My friends,
that's the same today. We have the same God and he puts
us in positions. He puts us in places to show
forth his praise, in places to do his will. And sometimes it
may seem that the position and the work that he lays before
us is just too difficult and just too hard. We might even
say it's impossible. Well, don't forget, the things
which are impossible with men are possible with God. And what a blessing, therefore,
not to be left like these citizens were. You see, the Lord had set
before them the position He told them the situation. Excuse me. He called his ten servants and
delivered them ten pounds and said unto them, Occupy or work
till I come. His citizens knew that. They
didn't want to hear. They didn't want to see the work. quite clearly stated, we will
not have this man to reign over us. Well, they were obstinate,
they were rebellious, they were hard-hearted, and by nature,
my friends, we're no different. We don't want to bow down before
Almighty God. What a blessing it is when the
Lord gives us grace so to do. And don't forget then, as we
read together in these later verses, what the position was. We're told, but those on enemies
which would not, that I should reign over them, bring them hither
and slay them before me." We don't want to be found, do we?
But with our life taken we find ourselves in that eternal state
of hell because we've been obstinate, because we've been hard-hearted,
because we've been rebellious. It's a very humbling consideration
as we might think of that which the Lord places before us to
do if we are His children. He has a perfect right to direct
us, a perfect right to instruct us, and therefore we are indeed
to do His will. I read those verses in the 11th
chapter of Matthew because they are encouraging verses really. And the Lord tells us and encourages
us to come unto Me We're not to go to other people. We're
not to look around. We're to come to the Lord. Come
unto me, the gracious and glorious God. Come unto me, all ye that
labour and are heavy laden. We may be labouring. We may be
heavy laden. I don't know what you have in
your life. There may be things that you're
labouring under. Things where you're burdened,
you're heavy laden, you struggle on day by day. Well, remember
the word, the invitation. Now we've got some lovely invitations
in the word of God. We tend to turn away from them.
But here is this one, come unto me, all ye that labour and are
heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And then he spells
it out. take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. That means to be yoked to the
Lord Jesus Christ. I expect you know what it refers
to. It refers to in the Lord's day there was a yoke of oxen,
there were two oxen and they were joined together by a yoke
and of course the two being joined together by a yoke They were
able to accomplish much more. And here the Lord says very wonderfully
to take his yoke upon us and not to say, well, I'm not going
to do that. Just like this here, just like
these people where they were walking contrary and said, we
will not have this man to reign over us. What we're really saying
is we're not going to take this yoke upon me. I'm going to carry
on as I am. I want to ignore such a statement
like this. I want to assume it doesn't apply
to me. Well, my friends, the Lord is
very gracious and he deals with us. in love to our souls. And that's very humbling, isn't
it? And so he says, take my yoke upon you, because in that condition,
what do we find? He says, learn of me. Unless
we're yoked, we don't learn. We wander on by ourselves. We
don't learn. We don't hear the gracious words
of the Savior. But if we're yoked to him, we're
with him. We're instructed, we're directed
by him. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me. And then he explains what he
is himself. Glorious words these are. They
should be encouragement. He's not a hard taskmaster. He's
a very able teacher. And he teaches in love to our
souls and for his honour and glory. So he says, for I am meek
and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. Perhaps we've been very restless. Perhaps we've been rushing around
doing this and doing that. But here we have these gracious
words to us. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. The great God speaks
here, my friends. What a mercy to have such a God.
It's not highfalutin. He comes down to our level. He encourages us and He tells
us, and you shall find rest under your souls. You see, those who
are disobedient, Those who walk contrary to God find their life
restless. They don't know what to do. They
don't know where to go. Just like a stormy sea, waves
here and waves there, following one after another. What a mercy
then to hear such a gracious and glorious invitation to come
unto Him and take His yoke upon us.' It's a gracious invitation
because he says, I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find
rest unto your souls. And then he concludes by these
encouraging words, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Sometimes we might think that
can't be true, but it is true, because the Lord has promised
he will not loan us more than we are able to bear. Yes, sometimes
we think we won't be able to cope, Here we have the promise. And you see, when the Lord directs
his people, he directs us in a way that we can refer to the
promises of God. We can come, we can pour out
our heart to our God. We can tell him all our concerns. Yes, what a mercy it is then,
for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Well, it's a blessing
if we're found in that path. We don't want, therefore, to
be in this path saying we will not have this man to reign over
us let us reflect let us recognize that we are under the kingship
of the lord jesus christ and he is a far greater king than
all the kings and queens on this earth and naturally speaking
i expect if king charles came and not to your door and asked
you to do something, you'd spring up and do it. You think it was
a great honour and a great favour. And yet you see often when the
Lord speaks, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, we all begin to
make excuse. Yes, the Lord speaks to us, doesn't
He? One said, well, he'd married
a wife and he couldn't come. Now they said he bought some
land and he couldn't come and he got some cattle and he got
to go and see them etc. You see we all like to make excuses
and yet we have a great and glorious King who speaks still today. The Lord is not silent. The Lord
does still speak and what a mercy it is if therefore you and I
are submissive and willing in the day of his power to do that
which he will have us to do. And we are to follow his instructions. When the Apostle Paul wrote to
his son Timothy in the faith, he gave him some Good instruction. It's good sometimes to just study
and follow the Word of God because there we can recognize the wisdom
of it. In the second epistle of Timothy,
in the second chapter, the apostle tells us in verse 15, study to
show thyself approved unto God, a workman. The need is not to
be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. See, there's
a very simple statement he gave to Timothy, and my friends, a
very simple statement the Lord gives to us today. We are therefore
to take heed to such gracious words, to study, to show ourselves
approved under God, A workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
Rightly dividing the word of truth. In the Bible we are to
study the word of God, all of us. It's a blessing that we have
the word of God. We're not to have it on the shelf.
and just take it down when it suits us or perhaps we might
take it down in the morning to read a few verses and get through
it as fast as we can to somehow justify ourselves that we're
doing God's will but we are to study God's gracious and glorious
word to receive his instruction into our hearts yes what a mercy
it is and he goes on to say but shun profane and vain babblings
for they will increase unto more ungodliness and their word will
eat us at the canker of whom is hymenaeus and felitis yes
you see we are not to follow those things which are false
we're to follow the great and glorious truths contained in
the word of god and what a mercy it is if god gives us that grace
that willing power in our hearts to do His will. Well, the Lord
Jesus here then speaks to these ten servants. And again, don't
forget, it was following on from the criticism he'd faced when
he went in to Zacchaeus, when he told him to make haste and
come down. And when they saw it, they all
murmured saying that he was going to be a guest for the man that
is a sinner. Well, what a blessing it is that
God is one that comes to be a guest. of those who are sinners. you
and me, sinners, I think that God is willing to come and to
be a guest. And so having therefore spoken
in this way and acknowledged what Zacchaeus said when he came,
you see, Zacchaeus, you notice this a few times in the Word
of God, people come and they tell the Lord what wonderful
things and great things they're doing, et cetera. The Lord ignores
that. He ignores that. He says very
simply, this day is salvation. Come to this house for so much
as he also is a son of Abraham. What does it mean? It means that
all that we might do which we may think is a wonderful evidence
of what God instructs us to do and we're doing it willingly
and we're therefore can't be criticized for it and we're proud
of it. It's very easy you know to become
proud of the things that we might think we're doing for the Lord.
But we only do those things in accordance with God's will, that
he gives us ability to do, not for our own gratification, come
back to that point, but for his honour and for his glory. And so you see, the Lord speaks
and tells in this great and glorious truth which is far more important
than giving a pat on the back, if you like, for those things
which he's doing naturally. You know, we are to do all unto
the Lord, not looking for any acknowledgement, really. Not
looking for pats on the back. But if we're doing God's will,
my friends, we have an answer with good conscience. And that's
far more valuable than that which men come and give accolades for. No, we want to know that we are
doing God's will. And all of us, whatever scene
that is, we all need to know that you and I are doing the
Lord's will. His citizens hated him. Men today
hate the Lord. They hate the things of God.
And they say in their hearts and sometimes very openly, we
will not have this man to reign over us. You only have to say
it, see it, don't you? We only see it clearly, really,
when we hold our market stall and we see people come and glance
at the stall and go on their way. They don't want to acknowledge
there is a God. They don't want to bow down and
worship this God. No, they want to carry on their
little life. And yet you see how sad and solemn
it is to realise that such little lives will soon end. And then a desperate situation
of eternity in hell. Oh, my friends, it's a frightful
thought. It's a terrible thought. And
that should make us really very willing to serve the law in whatever
sphere that may be. Sometimes we have our own plans,
we have our own views, we think The Lord hath called us here
and the Lord hath called us there. The Lord hath have us do this
and the Lord hath have us do that. We are to come very simply
and commit ourselves to the Lord and plead that we may be as nothing. Just like the wonderful description
in Ezekiel of the potter. The potter had a perfect right.
to do what he would with that lump of clay. And my friends,
almighty God has a perfect right to do with you and me as he sees
fit. And what a mercy to have the
evidence that God's hand, that almighty hand is upon us for
good. And he's leading us and he's
directing us in the right way. He never makes a mistake, my
friends. And you and I will be able to come and thank God that
He's taken us in hand. He hasn't left us, as it were,
to our wild career. God left us to ourselves. Where
will we get to? My friends, I'll tell you this.
We wouldn't get closer to God. We'd get farther away. because
we want to please ourselves. But what a mercy it is to realise
we have a God who takes us in hand and deals with us for our
eternal good, and more than that, for his honour and for his glory. The Lord never makes a mistake
with his plans. And it's a very comfortable path
to walk in if we are knowing we're doing God's will. It's
a very uncomfortable path if we walk contrary to God. It won't
be comfortable. And all the while, perhaps, if
we have problems and difficulties, that's not to say we won't have
If we do follow the Lord's will and purpose, but we can be sure
of this, as the psalmist tells us, he led them forth by the
right way that they might go to a city of habitation. And that must always be our concern
and always have that prospect in view. The Lord's leading us
in that right way that leads to the city of habitation, that
glorious place in heaven. My friends, that should be our
daily concern, to realise that we are in that way. Yes, we're
not promised an easy path, but we know it's the right way. We
know it's a narrow way. And if God be for us, who can
be against us? You see, God is on our side. Oh, my friends, it's a place
of comfort. Yes, it's a place of His favor. And we can look to Him to help
us in all that He commands us to do and say. We're not by ourselves. because we're doing His will.
And we can come to Him with that humble confidence, believing
that He is our God. And so, let us remember this
statement here, that the citizens said, yes, they were walking
contrary to God. They'd heard the Lord had come
and given these pounds to these 10 people. They didn't want to
get involved. They didn't want to get involved.
But the Lord went away and he came back. As he said he would,
he returned. The Lord does, will come back.
It came to pass that when he was returned, having received
the kingdom, then 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. So there's a solemn
responsibility that we are to do God's work. We are to trade
in the currency that he's given us to trade in. We are to do
his will. and sing of His honour and glory.
We don't want to come down, do it to the end of our life. And
just be like this person who had this one pound and said,
Behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin.
For I feared thee because thou art an austere man. Thou takest
up that which thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst
not sow. And the Lord said, Out of thine
mouth Will I judge thee, thou wicked servant? Well, I hope
none of us walk contrary to the way that God would have us to
walk in. That God gives us grace to submit
ourselves under the mighty hand, his mighty hand, and to recognise
that he has a perfect right to govern you and me. The Lord has given us natural
life. It's a blessing if he's given
us spiritual life. And it's very humbling, therefore,
to think that he's called us to serve him in this world, to
show forth his praise. We're not just to wander on doing
those things which seem right there is a way that seemeth right
to a man but the end thereof for the ways of death we don't
want to go in a way that seems right we want to go in a way
that is right and that way that is right is the way that God
directs us in well my friends this evening may the Lord give
us grace to hear his voice to submit ourselves to our God,
to walk in His ways. The disciples came, didn't they?
The Lord called them. What did they do? Didn't they
say, oh, we're not going to do this. We're not going to do that.
No, each one was called from different paths in life. They came. They did God's will. They did His work. And my friends,
what a sacred and blessed time it must have been. Those three
years when the Lord walked on this earth with His disciples,
and they saw His wonderful works. My friends, these see the work
of the Lord. It's very humbling to observe
God's work, to observe His power, to observe His will being worked
out. My friends, God's will is worked
out. He will do. He will perform His
will. No one can stop that. All those
who might say, we will not have this man to reign over us. Oh,
poor people, poor people don't realize the power of Almighty
God. Don't realise what is the end
of the road. Do not realise what that glorious
reward is, the great gift of eternal life. Well, may each
of us be given that grace to come and to take up our cross
daily and follow him. Amen.