to Luke chapter 19. Luke chapter 19. We'll be looking at verses 11 through
27, the Lord willing, this morning. And the title of the message
is, The Faithful and Unfaithful. The faithful and the unfaithful. Our Lord Jesus Christ, as He
was on His way to Jerusalem, on His way to suffer and to fulfill
all that the prophets had spoken of Him, He tells us this in Luke
18, 31. He says to His disciples, Behold,
we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that were written by the
prophets concerning the Son shall be accomplished. For he shall
be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully
entreated, and spit it on. And they shall scourge him, and
put him to death, and the third day he should rise again." Our
Lord Jesus tells us his purpose, his mission in this life was
to come to suffer and to die. This was his purpose. And as He was going to Jerusalem,
He must first needs pass through Jericho. Just as He said to His
disciples concerning the woman at the well, I must needs go
through Samaria, even so here He must needs go through Jericho
because there was one of His elect that He must meet, Zacchaeus. He must meet the man Zacchaeus,
his child, the one he says of in verse 9 that he also is a
son of Abraham. And Jesus was not talking about
him being a Jew. This man was obviously a Jew.
This man was obviously a child of Abraham physically, but he
was rather talking about his election. He was talking about
his spiritual Israel. He was part of a spiritual Israel
of which Abraham is the father of us all, being the father of
the faithful, the one who believed God, and it was counted to him
for righteousness. What he was testifying was of
his faith, of Zacchaeus' faith in Christ. He's saying this man
was a son of Abraham in that he believed on me. He trusted
on me as Christ. And as he began to preach, he
said, This man is the son of Abraham. Salvation has come to
this house. For the Son of Man, listen to
this, the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which
was lost. Here's His purpose. What a glorious
purpose this is. What a glorious... And this is
something that He had purpose to do, to seek and to save that
which was lost. Now all men are lost. That's
just true. In Adam, all men died. All men by nature are lost. Lost in sin, spiritual wickedness,
man by nature spiritually dead and depraved, deceived. Man by nature is in love with
sin. In love with this world. Now
he may come on Sunday, he may put on a good show for the preacher
and the church, but like the pig, as soon as he is washed,
he returns to the wallow in the mud and dung. Even so are lost
religious men. Let me ask you, is this your
condition? Are you lost? Even so, I say that Jesus Christ
came to seek and such who are lost. Lost. Seek and not only seek and find. Not only seek so that they can
return to the vomit. Not only seek so they can return
to the world of sin. But when Christ comes and seeks
and finds the lost, He saves them. He saves whosoever He finds. Whosoever He finds, He saves.
He saves them. And He gives to them a new heart.
He gives to them a new nature. And it's this heart that comes
to them by the will of God. And all who have this new heart,
what do they do? What's the heart of one who is
lost and receives a new nature? What's the thing that they do
first? They receive Christ. They receive
Christ. Scripture says, as many as received
Him, to them gave He the right The power, the right to be called
the sons of God which were born. How were these sons born? Not
by the will of the flesh, not by blood, not by the will of
man, but by the will of God. If you were born again, sure
you willed to believe. But I tell you, you willed to
believe because God gave you the will to believe. He gave
you the life to believe. This heart that receives Christ
reveals the truth of our sin, the truth of our depravity, of
our inability. I tell you, if you've still got
some hope in yourself, you've still got some gumption in yourself,
you haven't seen who you really are. If you haven't been totally
laid out and helpless in this matter, then you've never received
Christ. You've never believed on Him.
Because He only comes to save that which is lost. Well, I'm
kind of lost. I kind of know where I'm going.
Well, you're not lost. Christ came to seek those that
are hopeless, those who are helpless, to save themselves. These are
the ones Christ came to save. This is the heart. And our hearts
are made to hunger and thirst. After what? Righteousness. Do you hunger and thirst after
righteousness? Who wants to go to hell? Raise
your hand. Just go ahead, tell me. Who wants
to go? Who wants to go to hell? Nobody wants to go to hell. Anybody that has a right mind
or really believes in hell. Nobody wants to go to hell. 100 out of 100 surveyed. Nobody
wants to go. That's not salvation. Salvation is hungering and thirsting
after righteousness. It's God giving you a new nature
that longs to be accepted with God. Accepted with God. Hunger and thirst after righteousness. There are many who want to be
accepted by the preacher, accepted by their parents, their peers,
so they play church. They play. They're actors. They're
actors. They play a good role. But those who are born again
are not playing. This morning, I'm not playing. Oh, I'm not playing. I'm not
acting. This is not a show. I come here
to preach to you, a man. and the only man that could save
you, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. We are made aware of eternity.
We're made aware of our absolute need of perfection and righteousness
that we can in no way provide. We're made aware of our inability
to please God. So when the message of Jesus
Christ is preached, who says, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. Hunger and thirst for what? Righteousness,
eternal life, peace with God. They shall never hunger for pardon
or acceptance with God, for Jesus Christ has come to fulfill the
law of God and satisfy God's eternal justice for them. Hear His words in John 6, 37,
Listen to Me, all that the Father giveth Me. What's going to happen
to them? What's going to happen to all
those that the Father gave Him? He said, they shall come to me. Me. They shall come to me. This is the will of the Father
that sent Him, that He should die for their sins, that He should
procure their righteousness, that His Holy Spirit should come
to them, and they should be found and saved, and they should come
to Him by faith and believe on Him. This is the will of God.
This is why Christ came. He came to provide righteousness.
And then He came by His Holy Spirit to draw us to Himself. Have you ever been lost? Have
you ever felt the arms of the Savior draw you? With an irresistible love. Love. Have you ever been drawn
to receive Christ? This is the grace of God that
gives us faith in Christ, and no glory goes to our willingness
to receive Him, but all the glory belongs to God in the Trinity
of His sacred persons. If you believed it was because
God chose you, if you believed it was because Christ redeemed
you, If you believe it was because the Spirit gave you life and
faith, and if you still believe, it's because God's grace continues
to give you such graces. All the glory goes to God. This is why He came. Now then,
in verse 11, it says this. It says, And they heard these
things. He added and spake a parable, because He was nigh unto Jerusalem,
and because they thought the kingdom of God should come immediately. Isn't that something? They heard
this message and they were so excited. I mean, they were waiting. They were probably all looking
up, waiting for God to come right then. That's how excited they
were. This message was excitable. I mean, this man, something happened
here. It was great. It was glorious.
And so when Christ said, A son of Abraham, he came to seek and
save that which was lost. These people interpreted it all
wrong though. They were excited, but were excited
for all the wrong reasons. They thought that the kingdom
of God would come to restore physical Israel. They were waiting
for that. They were wanting Israel had
lost its authority. Israel had lost its power as
a nation. And they thought the kingdom of God would come back
and seek and save lost Israel in a physical carnal sense. That's
not what he meant at all. And so, to show this foolishness,
he gives this parable. Now, in verse 12, he says in
this parable, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive
for himself a kingdom. and to return. Who else is this
but the Lord Jesus Christ? He's speaking of Himself. He
is the nobleman. A nobleman is one that is born
noble. One that is born of high rank. Who else was born of high rank
but the Lord Jesus Christ? Who is God, a very God, and yet
when He came into the world, what was the wise men, what did
they say of Him? Where is He who was born King?
Oh, Jesus was always king, but he was born king. He was coming
to this world as a king. He is the nobleman. And as Jesus
came into this world as a mighty conqueror, he came into this
world to accomplish the will of God and secure for himself
a kingdom. A kingdom. He said, I've come
into this world to get a kingdom. And he says, I'm going to leave
and receive that kingdom. I'm going to leave and receive
that kingdom. He came into this world to accomplish
the will of God, and that is to save his people, to fulfill
the scriptures, to fulfill righteousness, to come in and give his life
a ransom for many. He came into heaven itself after
He had done this, after Christ had offered Himself a ransom.
He entered into the heavens itself, not with the blood of bulls and
goats, the Apostle tells us, but with His own blood He entered
into the veil. To do what? To receive a kingdom. To receive a kingdom. He went
into heaven itself in the presence of God with His own blood. He
took the book out of the hand of God. And He sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high. And right now is ruling
over all things for the express purpose of gathering His people. Believer, let's not be deceived
about this. This universe spins for you.
That's it. The sun shines, the moon glows,
the stars twinkle, the seasons change, kingdoms rise and kingdoms
fall. For what? Because Christ has
received His kingdom and He's getting His people. I remember
one preacher preaching a message saying, the Holy Spirit is as
the hound of heaven. He always gets His man. He always
gets His man. And I'll tell you that's what
he's doing right now. He's seeking and saving his lost sheep. His lost sheep. This is the purpose
of the nobleman. These servants, look at this
in verse 13, He called ten servants and delivered them ten pounds.
One pound apiece. Each servant got the same thing.
This is very important. It differs from the other parable
of the talents. You know, each one received different
talents. One five, one two. But this one,
everyone receives the same thing. And this is vitally important.
He said, Every man received a pound, and he said unto them, Occupy. till I come." Now truly, all
men are under the dominion of Christ. All men are under the
dominion of Christ. Yet these servants are given
something that not all men have. They're given a pound. Look at
this in verse 14. Not all men received this pound.
Look at verse 14. It says, But his servants hated him. His citizens. Not his servants. His citizens
hated him. And sent a message after him saying, We will not
have this man to rule over us. Now this pound that was given
to them. Listen to me. This is what you have received
this morning. I've just given you the pound.
The pound is the gospel. The pound is the gospel. Not
everybody gets this. How many people have lived and
died and never heard what you just heard? How many? Those are the ones who say, I
will not have this man to rule over. They're out there. They're
not here. They've never heard. They've
never received the pound. This morning, you have the pound. You have the gospel of God's
free grace in Jesus Christ that says, Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ and thou shalt be safe. What a treasure! What a treasure
that most men have never heard. And you've heard it. You've heard
it. You've heard the Word of God. You have the pound. The pound
is the Word, the Gospel of God's grace. You're here because you
claim to love the Lord Jesus Christ. You claim to be a servant
of God. You profess to be His servant.
And those who profess faith in Christ are unlike the rest of
the world who say, we will not have Him. But people who are
on the sound of the gospel that come here, they say, well, I
like it. You profess to love it. But to us here who profess faith,
profess to be servants of Christ, let me tell you this morning,
you've all received the pound, but I tell you there are two
groups even in this place. Two groups of people. revealed
by these servants. Every one of them had the same
pound, right? There was no difference in the
pound. But I tell you, there were differences in the servants.
There were differences in the servants. There were ten servants
mentioned, but only three are mentioned because these three
represent both groups. Both groups. Faithful and wicked. Faithful and unfaithful. This morning, I've given you
the pound, and I'll tell you there are two groups. You're
either faithful or you're not. We've been given the same message
of Christ's salvation. We've all heard to believe on
Christ. Some believe and are true and faithful servants, while
others are false and unfaithful. Well, how do you know what you
are? Does a deceived man ever know?
Well, if a deceived man knew, he wouldn't be deceived. I don't want to be deceived. Do
you? I don't want to wake up and find
my life to be a sham, my faith to be nothing, my refuge to be
lies. I want to know. That's why the
Apostle said, make your calling and election sure. It's incumbent
upon every one of us to do that. How do we know if we're real
or pretenders? Because Jesus is coming again.
Just as the Master said, I'm gone to receive a kingdom, He
said, I will come again. I will come again and require
of you concerning this gospel you heard. Jesus will come again into this
world and He will return in power and might and His Word At His
Word, He will separate the goats from the sheep, the wheat He
will gather into His barn, and the tares He will burn in everlasting
unquenchable fire. Does this not concern you, seeing
that we who have heard and have the talent, have the pound, receive
a greater judgment? Seeing our Lord, whom we profess
to serve, has given us a command. Here's your command. If you are
a faithful servant, here's your command. Occupy till I come. The word occupy means to trade.
To trade. The man gave them money. He expected
them to trade the money and to increase it. That's what he expected.
He expected them to increase it. The nobleman gave them money
expecting to increase on his return. Even so does Jesus Christ. When He gives His gospel, He
expects a return. on what he's given. He said, my word shall go forth
out of my mouth and accomplish exactly what I send it to do.
Isn't that expecting a return? It won't return void to me. It'll
do exactly what I purpose it to do. This parable is not meant
in carnal sense as some men suppose. Some men think that the gospel
is something that you trade like a stock or commodity and so what
they do is they think that well we need to get lots of people
in here. That's what he's saying. We need to put in a coffee shop
or we need to have all this kind of frilly stuff to attract the
world. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying trade the gospel
in a carnal sense. It is a very spiritual parable.
The Gospel is spiritual. So what He is saying in Occupy
is He is saying to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is our commandment. Grow
in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those servants who are the true
and faithful servants, who have salvation of Christ, life given
to them by Christ, will grow. Every grace that we have is not
merited. Not produced by us or by our
religious efforts. But grace comes by the gift of
the Holy Spirit. Gift of the Holy Spirit. Every
believer is given graces, fruits of the Spirit, love. joy, peace,
meekness, temperance, faith. Let me ask you who believe, who
profess to be servants of God, have you reached the full measure
of all those graces? Who has? Have you loved the Lord
like you should? Have you loved your neighbor,
your brethren, as you should? Are you full of those? No. Lord,
no. Meekness. Are you meek? Well,
I'm meek and I'm proud of it. That's usually how we do it.
But no, we need to grow. Faith. Are you full of faith?
Are you strong in faith? Not even close. So what is he
saying? He's saying we should exercise
these graces and grow in them. grow in the grace and knowledge.
We've not reached full maturity in these things. We can love.
I love the Lord Jesus, but I long to love Him more. I love you,
but I long to love you more. I know Him, but I long to know
Him more. You see, when this gospel comes,
and that pound is given to me, I want nothing more than it to
increase tenfold. I want nothing more than to please
my Master, to grow in the grace and knowledge
of Christ. Paul said this, Yea, doubtless
I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things,
and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ and be found
in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, But that which is through the faith of
Jesus Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that
I may know Him. Don't you know Paul knew Him? But yet Paul said that I may
know Him. What did Paul want? He wants
to grow. He wanted to grow. And so does
everyone who is living. Everyone who is a living believer
wants to grow. Is this your cry? Is this your heart? Is this why you come to the service?
Is this why you come to hear that you may grow in the grace
and knowledge of Jesus Christ? That I might know more about
Him More of his righteousness, more of his love, more of his
peace, more of his kingdom. I want to know more of him. Believers
are always trading in this matter of grace. Always. Never stop. Oh, that may God, may I be found
in Christ. May God give me more love, more
faith, more of these graces. Even so, when He returns, He
will reward those who are faithful. You who believe on Christ, you
who love Him and serve Him, Consider what He has for us. He said to
His sheep on His right hand, Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom of heaven prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world. For when I was hungry, you fed
Me. When I was naked, you clothed Me. And list all these wonderful
things. And what does the sheep say? Lord, when in the world did we
ever do anything for You? What do you say? do any of that. All I did was sin. All I did
was fail you. All I did was increase. Lord, increase, really? I've
not even begun. And He said, You that have done
it unto the least of these My children have done it unto Me.
See, our righteousness is through Him. Our righteousness is found
in Him. Our acceptance is found in Him. We are unaware of any of these
good things that we've done, and we count that all we do is
unprofitable. All my love and faith, joy, peace,
meekness, all these growing graces, I don't count them as part of
my righteousness. They're a result of my righteousness
that's in Christ. They're a result of His righteousness.
Even so here these servants, look what they said, look what
they said. When he comes back, he comes back and he tells them
to give an account. And look what he said. Then he
came to the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. Not my pound, thy pound. This is his pound. Lord, Thy
gospel, Thy grace, Thy mercy, Thy love, joy, peace, meekness,
temperance, faith, if there's any increase, it's Yours. You
gave it. Thy pound hath gained ten pounds. Is that not so with you? Oh,
yeah. Oh, yeah. That's it. That's it. It's all by His grace. Is this not true of all our graces?
If we are used of God in any way for the furtherance of His
kingdom, if we are used of God in our witness, in our preaching,
in any of these graces, whether we bring one or one million to
Christ, what glory do we receive? None. And I'm happy I'm happy about
that, aren't you? No glory for me, all glory to
Him. All glory to Christ. Now then,
lastly, these unfaithful. Look at these. In verse, look
back in your text, and then in verse 20, And the other came, saying, Lord,
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." This man received the same pound
as the others. What did he do? He kept it in
a napkin. Today, the unfaithful will take
this precious gospel They will fold it up in a napkin,
put it in their pocket, and go right back to their sin. They'll go right back to their
sin. And they'll only take it out
again when they come back here. They're unfaithful with what
God has given them. He's given His Word. And I'll tell you, to reject
His Word, to reject His Son, is an unfaithful and wicked thing. And when He was judged, the Scripture
says, that pound from him and give it to the one that has ten. You are not promised another
time to hear this message. All you have is now. And if you will not believe He
will tell you, give what you got. It's not yours anymore. Take them out and slay them before
me. What he does with them who hate
him openly, he will do with those pretenders who had his gospel
and did not believe. And I'll tell you, people can
jump up and down all they want to and hate the sovereignty of
God. But I tell you this, man is also
responsible. If you will not believe, I tell
you, O God, as my witness, you will hear my voice in eternity. You will hear my word in eternity,
and you will have no hope of escape. May God grant you faith to believe
on His only Son. And if you give that grace, oh,
may God be gracious to cause you to grow in it, to love it
more. I love it more now than I ever
did before. May God give us all grace to
grow a hundredfold for His own glory. What are you? What are you? Are you a faithful servant or
an unfaithful? May God comfort His faithful
servant. May God convict the unfaithful and bring them to
repentance and faith. My stand will be dismissed in
prayer.