complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this evening wish to direct your very
prayerful attention to the chapter that we read together in Luke's
Gospel and chapter 12 and by way of text the latter part of
verse 48 I'll read verses 47 and 48 so we may ascertain the
meaning immediately and that servant
which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself neither
did according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes but
he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall
be beaten with few stripes for unto whosoever much is given
of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed
much of him they will ask the more for whosoever much is given
of him shall be much required and to whom men have committed
much of him they will ask the more some of you here were probably
favoured to know the Lord's dear servant the late Mr Howard Crowther one of the things he said was
it's very difficult to preach the preceptive parts of the Lord's
Word because it's so easy to be misunderstood nevertheless they are very much
a part of the Lord's Word and we must venture forth faithfully
to endeavour to preach them this text has been one, I believe
the Lord has used it in my own soul and particularly something
that spoke to me when I was probably in my mid to late teens whilst attending the Leeds Chapel. just reading this chapter was
something that was occasionally quoted to me by the Lord's people and I had to fall under it for whomsoever and to whomsoever
much is given of him shall be much required and I mean this think of all the people that
you've known in your life think of some of you here went to school
in local schools at Portsmouth or wherever it may be in the
south or in the north how many people heard the truth
of the gospel? how many of our contemporaries?
I know in my own case as far as I was aware with perhaps one
exception I don't think anybody had heard anything what would
remotely be considered to be calvinistic truth and the thing is this friends
how has it affected us? what have we done with it? and
when I say that I don't mean that in any duty faith sort of
a way but how has it affected our hearts? I say that because
as a a young lad I felt condemned, this spoke to me of all the people in Leeds and how few heard the truth well
friends, well friends what we read here is very solemn
indeed for His Son but we pray that the Lord would use these
words and apply them to our consciences that He would use them in the
workings of the Holy Ghost in our own souls that we would see
the preciousness of the Lord Jesus and how the Lord has favoured
us throughout our lives now we'll come back to the application
if the Lord will later on but we must consider firstly the
context and draw out some of the things which are pertained
to which our text is almost a crescendo in what the Lord is saying here
in this twelfth chapter of Luke I don't know if you have noticed
this, but Luke's gospel is actually very different from the other
three. The whole tenor of the gospel
is that of a searching nature. It's that which gets underneath
the skin, as it were. It penetrates into the very heart,
it searches us out, it sifts us. and this chapter is no exception at the 13th verse where we commence
to read we read of this company one of the company of the people
in the midst of the Lord Jesus said Master speak to my brother
that he divide the inheritance with me now this situation we understood
to be one of a dispute and we would make this observation it's
a sad but a real fact that many families break up and
grudges are harboured for years, years, generations sometimes
in respect of money and this was... nothing changes
does it actually nothing changes, it's still the same today as
in those days and you could see here that there was a reluctance
of one of these brothers we presume the older brother because in
those days it fell to the responsibility of the older brother to divide
the spoil often the older brother receiving a greater part of his
father's inheritance certainly in Old Testament times And one
of the brothers would not hear this. So he came to the Lord
Jesus, this man. Now he didn't come for any good
reason, he came for himself. And further to that, he came
really in a way so that they could sidetrack the Lord Jesus
in his ministry and in his work. But you see the Lord does the
answer so well. He says, ma'am, who made me a judge or a divider
over you? Now we must clarify this statement.
That does not mean that the Lord is undermining in any way his
lordship of kings on the earth. That is not what is meant. What
is meant here is that the Lord's work, his principal work, the
law of Jesus upon the earth was that not of a civil nature but
an ecclesiastical nature and this was simply an attempt to
undermine his lordship actually but look how the Lord answers
him and he said unto them take heed and beware of covetousness
for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things
which he possesseth success or the validity or the
value if you like of a person's life today is often judged by
how much money they've made but we see that the Lord condemns
this now that does not mean that it's wrong to be successful in
a profession or a trade or wherever you may work that's not what
is meant here at all but we know if riches increase set your heart
not upon them and that's the principle here and the Lord spake
to this man in a parable as he often did to reinforce certain
points which he made the ground of a certain rich man brought
forth plentifully and he thought within himself saying, what shall I do? because
I have no room where to bestow my fruits you see, he didn't
ask the Lord, he thought within himself and we have to remember
that the example that the Lord is giving here is one of fertile
ground in respect to farming this man would grow fruits in
the Middle East, fruits do grow but of course these were days
before modern technology where today we can refrigerate such
fruits and keep them. But in the Middle East where
the weather is very hot they would quickly perish if not eaten
within a few hours. And he said, this will I do,
I will pull down my barns and build greater, I'm going to expand.
And there will I restore all my fruits and my goods. I'll
put them there. and I will say to my soul, soul
thou hast much goods laid up for many years take thine ease,
eat, drink and be merry I'm just going to live off these
fruits, I'm going to enjoy myself and I'm not going to worry about
things very much you see this man thought he'd
made it But God said unto him, Thou fool! See that's very strong language
and of course the original Greek here is a very strong word. It's
a very strong word. This night thy soul shall be
required of thee. Then who shall these things be
which thou hast provided? Now, Psalm 49. is a very instructive
psalm in respect of these things. Because it speaks of the generations coming and going. Now listen to Psalm 49 and verse
7. None of them can by any means
redeem his brother. this is speaking of those who
trust in their wealth and boast of themselves in the multitude
of their riches nor give to God a ransom for him for the redemption
of their soul is precious and it ceases forever that he should
still live forever and not see corruption for he seeth that
wise men die and likewise the fool and the brutish person perish
and leave their wealth to others their inward thought is that
their houses shall continue forever and their dwelling places to
all generations they call their lands after their own names nothing
has changed from the days of the Sam's to today in the 21st
century nothing has changed it's exactly the same and friends
it's always been that way you see here is the heart of man
And he goes on in this way as though he will live forever. But you know we don't know when
the Lord may bring us from this time's state. He lay up treasure for himself and
he's not rich towards God. the resources that we are given
in this life we think of our text to whom much is given much
shall be required we all have resources of different types
it may not be monetary wise it may be in other respects it may
be our talents we'll come to the parable of the talents but
the point is this they're not ours they're not ours we may
speak of our house, our flat, our chapel but they're not ours
all the things that we have are loaned to us they're only loaned
to us they're given unto us by the goodness and by the grace
of the Lord and we have to give an account for how we have used
those things in his service in his service This is the truth. Here, the Lord goes on. He gives the example of the ravens. Because He says, Thy life is
more than meat and thy body is more than raven. Consider the
ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which neither have
a storehouse nor barn. And God feedeth them. And how
much more are ye better than the fowls. and we here living
in the 21st century most of us here certainly all my lifetime have not feared where the next
meal is coming from now there was a day of course in England
where perhaps ordinary people did fear where the next meal
was coming from but the Lord has so provided for us and it's
only been his goodness it's only been his goodness so here we have the man who stored
up riches for himself the resources that he had he
thought were his and he was simply going to use them as he saw fit
and live a life of revelry and foolishness but you know there isn't just
as I say these monetary gifts the Lord gives other things to
us for whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required
we think of this what about our time? what about our time? 24 hours in a day and how do we spend our days?
how do we spend them? some of us enjoy reading and
of course It goes without saying that we should read our Bibles
and read them regularly. You know there's so many books
on the shelf, some of us have bigger libraries than others.
But you know we have to lament how little time really in comparison
to that we should we spend reading good things, good things. It's
so easy isn't it to be distracted by trivia. and the things that
don't matter you see we have to give an account
for the things that we have been given we here in this course we have been
given a tremendous heritage just think of the 200 years it's been
recorded of the Lord's mercies unto us
as a church and to us as a church and faithfulness is that which
is required it's not success it's not success but it's that
which is to be faithful and friends does it not make
us tremble when we think and when we read of the testimonies
of those who have gone before us and the things and the truths
that have been committed unto us. To whom which is given, much
shall be required. You see, isn't the Lord He is
so reasonable in what he says. He is so reasonable. He is so
gracious. Now here we must make a doctrinal
point. The verses preceding is speaking
of the stripes that men shall feel. these stripes are those
where God is dealing with men in his strict justice and God
always deals in strict justice and the doctrinal point is this we believe that man's responsibility
is not to savingly repent and believe but it is to fulfill
the law in its entirety and in its completeness and the punishment
that here is mentioned in these preceding verses are those that
are metered out to men in the judgment for their breaches of
the law and it speaks of men having harder strikes than others
lighter stripes than others. And those who have not had as great a light
receive a lighter stripe, as it were. Because there is such
a thing, of course, as sinning against light and against the
knowledge of the Lord. We've heard of the name of the
Lord and we've read His Word and we despise it. That only
adds to our judgment. It does. It's the truth. It's
the truth. It's the truth. If we die outside
of Christ that we are lost. But we see here a greater judgment
for those who have professed the Lord's name and have proven to be frauds. The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for him. and at an hour when
he is not aware and we'll cut him asunder or cut him off and
we'll appoint his portion with the unbelievers and it goes on in the next verse
to say he will be beaten with many strikes with many strikes
there are many that take the Lord's name upon their lips There
are many that profess to be His ministers. I suppose really one
of the things that moved me to a preacher in this text we heard
on Thursday night and I have to say it did speak to me of
those in the book of Samuel, those priests in Eli's day. There
were priests in the Lord's house in Israel and they used the office
and abused it to a horrendous extent. What a solemn thing. What a solemn
thing. They extorted money from the
church and ravished the women on the very doorstep of the Lord's
house. It's very solemn. Very solemn. But you see, unto whomsoever
much is given, much shall be required. much shall be required now we must also make this final
point there are those who attempt to use this text
to justify in fact I saw it in writing the other day they said
we can't earn our salvation but we can earn a greater reward
No. No. No. No, not at all, friends. We can't earn a greater reward. If we fulfilled this text, which
we weren't, but if we fulfilled it, in the very letter and to
the very jot and to the very tittle, we would only be doing
that which is reasonable. And we would only be doing that
which we owed the Lord. The Lord is not a debtor to us.
we are a debtor to him in every respect but he's not a debtor
to us he's in under no obligation to give us a greater reward what
we can say though is this we can say though is this some men's
sins go before and some men's sins go hereafter the Lord's
children in this life are chastened for their sin they're chastened,
they're not punished They're chastened. They're chastened. And if we're faithful servants,
and this is the preceptive element that we have to say, if we are
faithful servants, the Lord will honour it. Again we come back
to Samuel, we think of that word, preached from it not so long
ago to friends at Braybourne. To whom much unto them that honour
me, I will honour. And men that despise me shall
be lightly esteemed. The Lord is faithful. He is faithful. And He does honour them that
honour Him. And though circumstances may
appear to be deceitful, they may appear to be pretty difficult,
the Lord honours us. The Lord honours us. he really
does he really does and the truth is this we know we
know we know if we are living before him in that right way
now what do I mean by that? I mean this You know, man's Christianity,
I've heard it said, is not decided by his words alone. It's not decided by his actions. But it's when the two come together
and when they are consistent. You see, we can all talk, can't
we? We can all talk. But to walk
before the Lord in a consistent life Is that not an evidence of living
faith? And what is that walking before
the Lord consistently? Well it's not, as some men think,
to be sinless. We've all heard of John Wesley's
doctrine of sinless perfection and the banner of truth doctrine
of progressive sanctification. Neither of which have any part
in the Word of God at all. Neither. Because the flesh does
not improve at all. It does not get better. It does
not get better. But in the new birth there is
a turning from sin. That even then the old nature
harbours, doesn't it? It's there. It's there and it
will raise its ugly head. And we have to say this, when
we read so much of the New Testament that Paul speaks of, is it not
about loving the brethren, enduring the brethren, so on and so forth.
Because is that not what being in a church is mainly about?
We can't look for perfection in the brethren. And if you want
to look for faults in people, you'll soon find them. It's not
very difficult. But what we look for is this,
it is the evidence of a continual repentant spirit of a continuous
pouring our hearts out before the Lord. Repentance is not a
once in a lifetime experience. It's a continual experience. It's a continual experience.
A one of pouring our heart out before the Lord. And do we not find? Do we not
experience? new visits from the Lord and
fresh grace sufficient for the day. We can't live on a meal
that we ate 5 or 10 years ago. We can't live on an experience
that we had 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. We need the Lord to visit
us continually, continually. Yes, there's those times, there's
that time we can look back perhaps in our life when The Lord brought
us to our senses and to repentance and faith in Him for the first
time in the new birth. But our flesh, whilst we are
in this world, is a fallen flesh. And though we may not live as
we once did, we certainly don't live as we should. That's the
difference. That's the difference. It's a
continuous repentance before Him. And growing in grace, and
growing in the knowledge of the Lord, is it not to learn our
continuous need upon Him? Is it not to learn the frailty
of the flesh? this text is one if we're taught
of the Lord that will speak to us I have no doubt much being given much being given
every one of us this evening in this chapel I feel I feel
has been given much in the sense that we been favoured to hear
the gospel preached and in that sense this text is
something that does speak but all the more if we have professed
his name if we have professed his name and certainly if we
have put on an open profession and preach his word and preach
his word much to be required but friends you that hear us
much is required spoke of that faithfulness before yes there's
our faithfulness with our resources, there's faithfulness with our
time, but there's faithfulness in this ecclesiastical sense
as well, isn't there? There's much been required. That's
why it's a solemn thing, if we've heard the gospel of free grace,
to abandon it for free will, duty, faith and mongrel Calvinism. We can't do those things, friends,
if our consciences are right, if we know and believe these
things to be right before Him. And we will desire to hear a
ministry that is discriminating, and a ministry that separates,
and a ministry that sets forth the precious from the vile. Whosoever much is given, much
shall be required. What shall be required? We're not forced, as it were,
by the authorities to listen to the ministry that we do. We
come, I trust, voluntarily out of a heart that has been touched. You see, is this not the crux
of all of this? All of these points that I've
made and if a heart is touched we desire to honour the Lord
and we will be fearful of grieving Him we think of those sets of
exhortations at the back of the epistles and I always stop at
this one quench not the Spirit quench not the Spirit To grieve
the Holy Ghost. To grieve the Holy Ghost is a
solemn thing. And there's many ways we can
grieve Him. So many ways. Does this not speak to us? Faithfulness unto the Lord in
the ministry. It is essential. Faithfulness
in our priesthood. It's two-way. I am to preach faithfully and
you, brethren here that preach, are to preach faithfully. But
those that hear are to hear faithfully and to discern these things. You see, everywhere we go we
see a dumbing down, don't we? We see a reduction in the standards. Everywhere. Everywhere. And these things cannot go unnoticed. And the Lord does not wink at
these things. He doesn't wink at these things.
We have had much committed to us, both as individuals and as
a church, as a group of churches. And throughout this life, we
are only stewards of the Lord's mercies. And has he not favoured us? Has
he not favoured us? We think of that parable of the
talents. And what are the things that
strikes us there? I won't go into it now. that isn't the unthankfulness,
the failure to value what the Lord had given them. And what does the Lord do? You
take that. You see, all these things are
His. They're all His. They're not
ours. You see, we've got this natural
presupposition to be so self-centred. It's part of our fallen nature.
But to grow in grace is to see more of Him. To see that we are debtors. But I trust debtors to mercy
alone. You see, a heart that is touched
by the Gospel, it will make us sensitive. but to sin. It will make us sensitive to
the promptings of His Spirit, and we will not be desirous to
grieve Him. For unto whomsoever much is given,
of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more. And I'll leave it there
for this evening. May the Lord and His blessing
be with you. Amen.