When someone comes into contact,
into the presence of the preaching of the gospel, there's three
reactions that they have to the gospel. It's right here in our
text. There's three ways that they
take this. Two of them are very dangerous. Two of them, the Lord
says, you are wicked servants. And then there's faithful servants.
Let's read it here in verse 11. It says, And as they heard these
things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem,
and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. What did they hear? What are
these things that they heard? We just looked at Wednesday night, didn't
we? When the Lord saved Zacchaeus.
Zacchaeus had a big reputation. He was a big sinner. It says
there in verse 10 of Luke 19, for the Son of Man has come to
seek and to save that which was lost. That's what Zacchaeus was,
a lost man, a sinner, feared man. And we saw that there was
grace before grace, that provenient grace the Lord had put in him
to have an interest to see who Christ was. The Lord had established
a tree there, a sycamore tree, protected that tree, grew that
tree, gave life to that tree so Zacchaeus could climb it.
And we saw that that grace was specific. He called him by name,
Zacchaeus, make haste, come down. And it was effectual, effectual,
got the job done. Zacchaeus came down, and it was
life changing. This stingy, horrible, mean man
that fleeced the public and stole everything he could. He said,
I give half my goods, and I'm gonna restore fourfold anybody
I took something from. Right then, the Lord changed
him because he gave him a new heart. That's what happened.
He's the one that did it. That's why he came. That's why
he came to this earth. He says in Luke 5, I came not
to call righteous. I didn't come to find a bunch
of squeaky clean religious folks. I came to call sinners to repentance.
Harlots, publicans, commercial fishermen with tattoos all over
them and calluses and smell like fish. Physicians. Legalist. Horrible people. Not the sweet, clean ones. Not
the ones that look good on the outside. Sinners that know it. He makes us know it. In chapter
18, that blind man called out for mercy and Jesus, God Almighty
in human flesh, stood still. Have mercy on me, that's the
son of David. And he stopped. And he had mercy on him. He showed
him mercy, didn't he? He was on his way to Jerusalem
to make that sacrifice of himself, to go hang on a cross, to die
for his people. And he always had time to sin,
to seek and to save those who were given to him. He always
had time for them. Everyone that cried out for mercy,
always, every time received mercy. What a God we have. And he was
a friend of publicans and sinners. I'm only going to have you turn
to like two scriptures today, so I'll read these for you for time's
sake. In Luke 15, it says, Then drew near unto him all the publicans
and sinners for to hear him. They came to hear him. And all
the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners
and eats with them. It's not just loud in his presence.
He sits down and says, What do you want to eat? He eats with them. Boy, that's
good news to a sinner. That's good news to a publican,
a crook. We say with Paul, it's a faithful
saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. What was Zacchaeus?
He was the chief of publicans. He's been gracious to say, I'm
the chief of sinners. Ain't nobody worse than me. I
know that. I know you know that. I read
Paul saying that. I said, Paul, I know you really
think that. He's deep inside your heart, but I'm worse than
you are. That's what his children say. They did this on purpose.
He gave us this parable there in verse 11. It says, As they
heard these things, he added and spake a parable. He added
something to what they just saw happen in Zacchaeus. Because
he was nigh to Jerusalem, he was nigh to the center of religion,
and because they thought Here's the other reason they gave us
parables. They thought that the kingdom of God should immediately
appear. His disciples and those around
thought that Christ was going to Jerusalem to root out all
the errors, to get rid of all the heresy, to push out that
government, to push out that religion, and he was going to
set up an earthly kingdom that restored David's throne, have
Solomon's riches, and everybody's going to be just happy and eating
the fat of the herd, ain't they? That's what they thought. They
thought they thought, just like Naaman the leper, when Elisha
came to him and said, you go tell him to dip seven times in
the river. Naaman was wroth. And he said, behold, I thought
he will surely come out to me. I thought he was going to come
to me and stand and call on his Lord and put his hand over that
spot on my forehead and recover me, recover the leper. That's
what I thought. I didn't think he was going to tell me to go
dip seven times in the Jordan. All of our thoughts about spiritual
things left to ourselves are completely and always wrong.
We don't know what we're talking about. Left to ourselves. Man
in his carnal nature sat down with a Bible and the ability
to read the written word. I heard some comments on the
radio yesterday. One flat wrong ten-year-old could
read that text and tell you that ain't what it meant. And spiritually
it was even worse than that. It's horrendous. What we think. Remember we looked
at the other day, heresy, the root word of heresy is an opinion. Well, I think, what's God say?
Next time somebody comes up and says, you know what Kevin, I
think, go ahead and tell me, what's your heresy? Hope I don't give
my opinion either. What I think, I want to know
what God says about it. Paul told us, The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness
to him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned. Our Lord told us in Psalm 50, Thou thoughtest, thou
thoughtest that I was altogether such as one as thyself. You thought
I was just like you, but I will reprove thee. and set them in
order before thine eyes." Oh, I'm thinking, but God. If I was
left to myself and my thoughts, I'm undone. I have no hope. But if He reproves His people,
if He sets in order in front of them, well, now we got hope.
Now we know something. The Lord adds to what was said
and done to Zacchaeus by giving us this parable because he's
not a Jerusalem. He says there, verse 12, and he said, therefore,
because of these things, a certain nobleman went into a far country
to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. Jesus Christ is
that nobleman. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
nobleman. He's king of kings. He's lord of lords. That's who
he is. Nobleman means well-born. He
was born of a virgin, wasn't he? High in rank. He's our great high priest. He's
our mediator. He's God himself. And it also
means generous. Generous. He's more noble than
any other. He's more noble than any other.
He's noble and he's holy in all of his character, who he is,
and all of his actions, what he does. Oh, he's noble. Shall
not the judge of all the earth do right? That's who He is. And He's generous in mercy. Scripture
says He delights to show mercy. And there's plenty of mercy there.
Abundance. Our noble Savior came to this
earth to purchase His sheep with His own blood. He was born of
a virgin. He was made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law. To accomplish their salvation. To establish righteousness for
them. Because we have none of our own.
And having finished that work, completely finished the work
that the Father gave him to do, he rose on high. He went to a
far country. And he's coming again. This nobleman's
Christ. Why'd he have to go up there?
Zechariah 13 says, "'Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and the
sheep shall be scattered. Slay the shepherd.'" Why you
gotta slay the shepherd? How's that gonna save the sheep?
Them sheep ain't gonna be Saved unless that shepherd's smitten.
He must be. It says in Hebrews 1.3, "...who
being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His
person and upholding all things by the word of His power, when
He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand
of the Majesty on high." This nobleman has went to a far country. He's received his kingdom. He's
went to a far country. I have to turn over to John 14. He's in His throne right now
in glory in a far country. We can't ascend to. We can't
get to. And He's going to return. One day He's going to return
and He's going to receive His people unto Himself. It says
here in John 14 verse 1, Let not your heart be troubled. Ye
believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are
many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you and particular people, I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am, there ye may be also. I'm glad that's his purpose.
That's where I want to be. He's prepared a place for me
and I'm going to be where he is. That's good, isn't it? How do we get there? What's the
way of doing this? It says down in verse 6, Jesus
saith unto him, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the
life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Oh, what a loving, caring, patient
message, a long-suffering message we have. Christ is the only way. And He's coming again. Just like
with Noah, He gave 120 years of Noah preaching righteousness,
God's righteousness, Christ's righteousness for His people.
It's long-suffering and patient. He's given it to us still. We
all pay attention to it. Back in our text there in Luke
19, when this old man went to a far country, he gave something.
He left something behind with his people. It says in verse
13, And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds,
and said unto them, Occupy till I come. You possess this. Take
care of it till I come back. What are these pounds? Some say,
well, it's silver. It's gold. Another part of the
scripture is Matthew 25. It's talents, things. The Lord gave us His word. He
told us that in John 17. He said, Father, I've given them
thy word. He's gave us some other things too. Because in our natural
mind, we can't understand that word, can we? Just like Philip,
that Ethiopian eunuch. The eunuch read it, and Philip
heard him and said, you know what you're reading? He's reading
out loud. He said, how can I? He's reading the text, it says,
most plains you can be in. He said, how can I, except some
man explain it to me. Somebody preach this to me. Tell
me what this means. The Lord gave us His word. That's
what that great nobleman left on this earth. We got it right
here in front of us. And He gave us something to explain to us.
Turn over to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4. What this nobleman left his people
is what Christ gave as ascension gifts to his people on this earth.
Ephesians 4 verse 8. Wherefore he saith, When he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now verses 9 and 10's in parentheses,
that's speaking of Christ himself, declaring that's who he is, we
can pull that out. So verse 8, wherefore he saith, when he ascended
up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.
Verse 11, he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists
and some pastors and teachers. You notice that's the only thing
together, pastors and teachers? Goes together. I hope I can preach
to you this morning, and I hope I can teach you something at
the end of it. I hope we can apply this. That's my business. That's what God sent me here
to do. Nobody else. But He gave these things. For
the perfecting, that means the maturing of the saints. For the
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge
of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the
stature of the fullness of Christ." He gave His Word. He gave evangelists
to go around and preach these things. He gave pastors, preachers
and teachers, to explain these things, to tell us what this
means. Preach His Word. He gave us physical
eyes to read this Word. He doesn't give spiritual eyes
and spiritual ears to everybody, but He gave all men physical
eyes. I don't have it, but you can
learn Braille. He gave physical eyes to read His Word. He gave
us physical ears to hear His gospel preached. We may not like
what we read, we may not like what we hear, but we can, can't
we? He gave us a mind to think, not robots. The Lord said, come
let us reason together, didn't He? He gave us nature. He gave us His creation to see
His sovereign power in all things. He gave us weather to look at,
birds, hummingbirds. I always get hung up on hummingbirds.
Amazing! God gave us that to look at,
know who He is, declare who He is. He gave us hands and He gave
us feet to labor for the furtherance of the gospel. He gave them things. If I can, that's because He gave
it. He did not leave us without a witness. He didn't leave this
world and you're on your own, figure it out. said in Acts 14,
"...nevertheless, he left not himself without a witness, in
that he did good and gave us rain from heaven and fruitful
seasons filling our hearts with food and gladness." Even the
heathen, rain falls on them. They're provided food. We still
have cows. They haven't went sterile. Go
get you a steak, can't you? He gave the Holy Spirit. That's
a gift of Christ. He said, if I don't go away,
the Comforter won't come. He gave us that. He gave us His
Word, creation all around us, preachers to preach to us, eyes
to read, ears to hear, all these things. He gave them. You see
that? That's what that no woman left. That's in pounds. You get
that? He gave them. And He's gone to a far country
and He's coming again. He's seated in glory and He's
coming back to this earth. There's three reactions to the Gospel
of Christ. The Lord that's merciful to whom
He will be merciful. Man's nothing but sin. God's
gracious to sinners. And those that He saves. Christ
came to seek and to save the lost. He shall save His people.
They shall be saved plumb. Plumb saved forever. No matter
what. There's three reactions people
have to that. It says in verse 14. Here's the ones that hated
the nobleman openly. Luke 19, 14. Back in our text. But His citizens hated Him. He's
the Lord of all of it. Every man, woman, and child on
this earth, everything that's ever lived, He's the Lord of
it. You don't make Him Lord, He is
Lord. We know that. And everything in this world
is in His hand. But it says His citizens hated Him and sent a
message after Him saying, We will not have this man to reign
over us. He's going to get a kingdom in
return. He left gifts. No! Isn't that kind? Isn't that
gracious and generous? And them gifts that he left,
they didn't like that either. They hated the nobleman and they
hated what he left. Notice men's in italics. We want
to have this reign over us. I'm not going to have your grace
reign over me. I'm not going to listen to your pastor. I'm
not going to listen to your word. I'm going to read it. I ain't
going to do nothing with it. No! I ain't gonna have this rain
over me. I have a free will. I can do what I want. That's
what that's saying. This is every one of us and our
sin nature from Adam. That's how we come into this
world. We're citizens of this earth, and we come into this
world, if the Lord hadn't worked in us yet, and we say, I won't
have that man rain over us. I'll do something different.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it's not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be. That's what Paul told
us. That's what happened at the cross,
leading up to the cross. And Pilate asked them people,
they cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. And
Pilate said unto them, shall I crucify your king, your nobleman? Is this who you want me to kill?
And the chief priest answered, chief priest, religious folks,
better garments than this suit and tie I got on. They studied
the Bible all the time. All they had was the Old Testament
pointing us to Christ to come. The chief priest answered, we
have no king but Caesar. I'm going to have this man reign
over us. We'll take our own king. That's what Israel did too. They
didn't have a king and we want to be like all the other nations.
We want a king. God's prophet said, no, you don't. Here's what's
going to happen. The Lord said, let them have
a king if that's what they want. Let them have it. Acts 2.36 says, Therefore, let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
that same Jesus, whom you've crucified, both Lord and Christ. When the unregenerate hears of
the Lordship of Christ, this ain't some beggar that's just
done all he can do and hopes you help him. That ain't a God.
By definite, Webster would tell you that ain't a God. He's God
Almighty. He's the Lord. He rules and reigns
everything. When an unregenerate heart hears
that, by His nobleness, His sovereignty to give His pounds, His Word,
His faith, His salvation, and make servants of whom He will,
they can't stand it. Those Pharisees of crucified
Christ, they were very religious, and they cried out, kill Him!
Kill Him! because they love themselves
and their so-called free will. And it ain't such a thing. A
man's will's bound by his nature. You take a beaver and put it
in a home and turn a bathtub on, and it's gonna go grab stuff
inside that house and try to dam up that bathtub. That's its
nature. We're born of Adam's corrupt
seed. That's how we come into this world, and ain't nothing
good about us. And we might on the outside look squeaky clean,
like them settlers, but on the inside, we ain't nothing but
dead men's bones. People say, I don't think that's
so. It don't matter if you think it's so. It is. God said so. The response the nobleman had
to these people that said, we ain't gonna have this man reign
over us. Look down at verse 27. But those mine enemies, which
would not, that was their will, they wouldn't. They willingly
did not want this man over. Those mine enemies, which would
not, that I should reign over them, but reign hither and slay
them before me. That's the action of unbelief
and the result of unbelief. And that final day, when that
nobleman comes back, he said, I'm going to set the sheep on
my right hand and the goats on my left. I said, depart from
me. Slay them. That death that never
stops. Eternal death. First response
to the gospel. The fool says, no, God. No. We won't have this man reign
over us. And second, there's the reaction of God-given faith. Faith's a gift too, isn't it?
That's what the nobleman gives us. One pound. We all have one
faith. They all got one pound, didn't
they? Same pound. We all receive the same faith.
One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one birth. That's what we have,
isn't it? Paul told us that, for by grace are you saved through
faith. By the grace of God, through
faith. And that and all of yourselves,
it's the gift of God. Why have faith? If you have faith,
God gave it to you. It ain't yours. It is. It's faith
of Christ. That faith of Christ has faith
in Christ. It's the only place it has faith. That's the object
of our faith. It says in verse 15, And 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 they might know how much every man
had gained by trading. Not by selling, not by merchandising,
not by crookery, by trading. These will take account. Then
came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. Thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
Here's the nobleman's response, verse 17. And he said unto him,
Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in very
little, thou hast authority over ten cities. Over Matthew 25 it
says, Enter thou into the glory of thy Lord. That's something,
isn't it? Be in His presence. Be with Him.
Here's the reaction of faith. Verse 18, And the second came,
saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. Here's the
nobleman's response, exactly the same, isn't it? He said likewise
to him, Be thou over five cities. Matthew 25, enter into the glory
of your Lord. Come into His presence. And my
pastor always said, you don't take a parable and make it walk
on four legs to mean what you want it to mean. The man takes
this word and twists it any way he can to whip people and conjure
up junk, doesn't he? This ain't teaching rewards in
heaven. It absolutely is not. Well, now, if you just work harder,
you're going to have a bigger mansion. You're going to have
more crowns in your... or more jewels in your crown. That's
not what it's saying. Paul told us that in 1 Corinthians
12. He said, now, there are diversities of gifts. We, each one of us
in this room, have different gifts the Lord's given us, hasn't
he? But the same Spirit. There are differences in administrations
and the way that's governed and used and here in different assemblies
and local assemblies, we see that. Your house is run different
than my house is. But the same Lord. And there are diversities
of operation, but it's the same God which worketh all in all.
How this plays out. Well, all Lord's people are plumbers.
That's nonsense, isn't it? We're different. Same Lord over
all. In John 3, they tried to tempt
John the Baptist with that and they said, you know, Christ and
his disciples are baptizing more people than you are. And he said,
he must increase and I must decrease. They weren't going to trap him
up in that, was it? We are His workmanship. There at the middle
of John 3, we come to that light. We come to Him that our deeds
may be manifest. I come to Him, the nobleman,
saying, Thy pound will manifest all my deeds, all my trade, and
all my hard work that are wrought in God. They brought them pounds
and said, sure, pound. You did this, Lord. You left
this to us, put it in our hand, and this is what we did. They
said, buy a pound, have gain. They acknowledged what they had. Every bit of it belonged to the
Lord. The results of it belonged to the Lord. It's His. They were
faithful to the Lord's purpose in preaching the gospel of Christ
and Him crucified and serving His people. They did it with
diligence. They did it joyfully, and they were obedient in doing
so. He told them, occupy till I come, didn't He? It ain't complicated. You keep it. Tend to it. That's
what I put in your hand to do. That's what I told us to do. It said in Mark 16, Go ye into
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He
that believeth shall be saved. No, it says he that believeth
and is baptized shall be saved. Those that believe are obedient.
Abraham, he was obedient to the Lord, didn't he? Why? He believed
God. That's why he's obedient. Noah, he built an ark. The Lord
didn't ask Noah, Noah, if you would pretty please build an
ark. He said, go build an ark. And if Noah wouldn't have built
that ark, he'd have drowned like just everybody else did, didn't he?
But God gave faith and obedience. That faith's obedient to adhere
to His Word. The Lord uses people. He uses
men and means and the gifts that Christ has given us. It's by
the faith He gives His people that we believe God, that we
believe His Word that He's given us, and we walk in the light
He's given us. It pleased God to call out His
people by the preaching of the gospel. Brother Mike read back
in a study, by the foolishness of preaching. Not foolish preaching,
the foolishness of preaching. That's how He's pleased to save
His people and to call them out. That's the means He ordained
to call His sheep to Himself and they will hear His voice
And they will follow him. Hands down, it's gonna happen.
Ain't a one of these, I only got a half a pound left. I did
bad in the stock market. No, he blesses it. They're obedient,
he blesses it. And we look for our nobleman's
return. We labor in the faith He's given us and the means and
the grace He's given us while we wait for His return. That's
what Paul said to Titus. He said, looking for that blessed
hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us. It's always a gospel.
That He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto
Himself a peculiar people. His people, His sheep, zealous
of good works. I want to do righteousness. That's
what the whole time we were going through 1 John when I first got
here. Believe Christ, love the brethren. I want to do everything
I can to love you and serve you. And I want to serve Him. Him
in you. That's what I want to do. I'm
zealous for that. I ain't good at it. I don't do it as I want
to, as I ought to. But that's my desire. I'm zealous
towards that. That's what I want. The first reaction of the gospel.
to the Lordship of Christ that blatantly objects to it. They
cling to their free will and they say they will not. The second
response is a faith. God-given. Those made willing
in the day of His power. His workmanship created unto
good works. Obedient to the Lord. Those that
are given life and faith and a new heart, they obey God just
as Abraham did. And it was counted to him for
righteousness. Because we believe Him. We believe His Word He's
given us. And the third reaction. Third response to preaching the
gospel is fatalism. It seems prevalent in this area. They call them hardshells where
I'm from. Hyper-Calvinists and everything else, people that
just, well, God's sovereign, just sit back and... This is
dangerous when you pay attention to it. God gave me this message
to tell you, and so I know this is dangerous. We don't just skim
over this. We need to hear it. He gave it.
Christ is the one that gave it. It says in verse 20, And another
came and said, Lord, behold, here's thy pound, which I have
kept laid up in a napkin. Why did he do that? Why did he
keep it laid up in a napkin? For I feared thee, because thou
art an austere man. You're a hard man. You're a sovereign
God. You don't need me. If you want
to save a bunch of people, you can save them. If you want this
pound to double, you can double it while sleeping. You're an
austere man. And thou takest up where thou
layest not down, and thou reapest where thou didst not sow. Buddy. He said, you're sovereign. I
haven't touched this thing. And he hadn't had it. It was
covered in the napkin. He was in the presence of it,
but he wasn't in possession of it. He didn't occupy it. He didn't
touch it. It was covered in a napkin. He
said, I've kept it. I've kept it. You know what a
napkin is? We can call it handkerchiefs now, and words change over time. It's a sweat cloth. He wouldn't
wipe on his face because of sweat trying to trade that thing and
labor for it and keep it up and occupy it. Don't need that. You
ain't breaking a sweat. I'll just take that napkin. I'll
just wrap it up in that. Yeah. That responsibility I have, that
diligence that's put in me, that desire that's put in me to further
the gospel, I'll just wrap those gifts up in that napkin and tuck
it away. Brother Henry had some hard words
on that. What this man's doing is he's
taking God's sovereignty and he's blaming his no-count laziness
and putting it on God. That's what he's doing. He's
being a fatalist. And that's dangerous. Here's
a response to it. Verse 22, And he saith unto him, Out of thine
own mouth will I judge thee. The Lord will judge everybody
when He returns on how you want to be judged. I tell you that.
You want to stand on your merit, on your words, on your thoughts,
on your heresies, or your diligence, or whatever originates in you,
I'll judge it out of your mouth. We say, Lord Christ, don't look
at me. It's your pound. I wish it was
a hundred. He'll judge us out of our mouth
on that too, won't He? He'll give us that mouth. He'll give
us the heart to profess that. They saith unto him, out of thine
own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. What did
He call them? What's the one that said, we
won't have this man reign over us? Wicked. What about the one
that said, well, you're sovereign. If you wanted to do this, you
could have. You don't need me. Wicked. That's what he says. Have thine own mouth while I
judge thee, thou wicked service. And now he's saying, here's what
come out of your mouth. Thou knewest I was an austere man,
that I take up where I lay not down. I reaped that I did not
sow. That's what you said, wasn't it? Well, if you knew that, verse
23, wherefore then gavest thou not my money into the bank, that
at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? At least
you could have just put it in the bank, got a little bit of
interest. You could have got 0.2% in a savings account. If
that's what you believe, if you think I pick up where I don't
lay down, I reap where I don't sow, that's what you'd have done.
If you said it's man's works and man's will, you'd have put
it in the bank, wouldn't you? And he said unto him that stood
by, take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath
ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds. And he said, I don't care, he's
got eleven now. For I say unto you that unto every one which
hath, it shall be given. And from him that hath not, he
never did have it, he didn't touch it. Wrapped up in a napkin.
Even that he hath shall be taken away from him. Even his eyes,
his ears. We have a tongue, don't we? A tongue caught, Lord, for
mercy. That's gonna be gone. That voice
is gonna be silenced. It'll be nothing but gnashing
of teeth. That's what he's getting at. Faith and fatalism. I know, and most of you know,
God is absolutely sovereign in all things. He's sovereign in
creation. Every leaf that's on every tree,
everywhere in the world, ever, it fell when He wanted it to
fall. He's over the sparrows, the trees, every molecule that
comes over the surface. He's sovereign in all things. He's
sovereign in providence. Everything that comes to pass.
If I'm sick, if I'm healthy, if I'm good, whatever it is,
He's sovereign in it, and He's sovereign in salvation. If a
man's going to be saved, God's going to do the work. He's going
to be plumb saved, and He's going to know about it. He's not going
to be like a primitive Baptist who said, well, if the Lord predestined
somebody to salvation, He had some elect. They ain't never
going to hear the gospel preached. They don't have to know who He
is, and they'll still be saved. That's a lie. That's fatalism
is what that is. I know those things, and you
know those things. He's the one that reaps. He's the one that
sows, isn't he? It's his ground. He owns it.
He's the nobleman. He plows his ground. We got that
parable of the seeds, don't we? Four types of ground. He plows
the ground. He puts the pasture where he wants, and he puts the
fertile ground where he wants. And I go through and sow seed. He waters it. He gives it life. He makes it grow. He does everything. He's the one that does that.
We know that, don't we? I was a friend of the Baptist. I grew
up around that. I said, well, if they want to save somebody,
He'd save them. They don't believe in missionaries. Ain't no sense
in doing that. Don't get on the radio. If God
wants to save somebody, the Bible's going to fall through the ceiling,
laying in their lap, I guess. God's sovereign in all things,
but not just doctrine. The faith He gives us and the
fatalism that we're so prone to is how we see this applied
in our lives. I want you to bear with me on
this just a second. We live in this world, don't we? We come
here three times a week, we hear about Christ, but we walk out
that door. And the bulk of our life is outside that door, isn't
it? We live in this world. We're alive. So I want to show
you what the difference is in these two. I'm going to start
with myself, with the preacher. Preachers and teachers, I'm here
to preach to you, I'm here to teach to you, right? Do I have faith
or am I a fatalist? If I cannot study, we've got
conferences coming up, and I've got this week, and I prepare
messages, I knew I had to preach today. If I don't have the time
to study, and it's just not possible, and the phone's ringing, and
that's what I'm here for. You call me if you've got questions.
God didn't send somebody else here for you to call, except
me. Lean on me, that's fine. If I don't have time to study,
and I'm just unable, and I beg the Lord to give me a message,
and I trust Him to give me a word for you, that's faith. I've got
to trust Him when I do have time to study. But if I've got the
time to prepare, and I've got the time to study, and I've got
the time to pray for you, and to pray He gives me a message
for you, for your hearts to comfort you, and I don't do it, and I
say, well, the Lord's going to just bless it. No, He won't.
That's fatalism. No, He won't. reading of the
Word, if I don't get up and read the Scriptures, if I don't put
time into studying these Scriptures and thinking of what blesses
me that I understand and I can give to you without comment,
and I say, well, I'll just spin the wheel. The Lord will make
it work. That's fatalism. I've got to do special music.
I'm trying to get calluses back on my fingers before I've got
to go down to Florida. If I were to say, well, I remember
some chords, I remember some songs, I'll just get up and sing
the Lord will bless it. It's fatalism, isn't it? Faith
says, I'm going to be diligent, I'm going to get my calluses
built up and practice some songs, and then maybe the Lord will
bless it. That's a difference. That's in preaching and teaching.
In provision, you work in the ability the Lord's given you
to provide for our families. He tells us to. Ain't nothing
confusing about that. That's as plain as a nose on
our face, how we're to do. And we say, God, keep my body.
God, keep my job that you gave me. God, keep the family you
gave me. You'll provide for us. I'm going to go out and I'm going
to hit it like I live, hard and fast. I'm going to give it all
I got. I'm going to work under you. That's faith. That's what faith
is. Laying on the couch saying, well, if God wants me to have
a job, somebody will call me. That's fatalism. That's dangerous. That's true. Brother Henry said
that, and I wholeheartedly agree. Fatalism scares me just as much
as Arminian does. Do you know that? Why? God said,
you're a wicked servant. That's why I told them other
ones, wasn't I? and protection. Those missionaries down in Papua
New Guinea, Lance and Robin, that's a dangerous place. I think
they still have cannibals there. That's rough, buddy. If they
said, God's put it in my heart, He's given me this pound, I'm
going to go down there and I'm going to preach to them people and I've
got a word for them. I've got good news for them.
The Lord will protect them. That's faith, isn't it? That's
faith. I understand that. Lord, let
me enter into that some and I get it. Now you say, I'm going to
go backpacking through North Korea because God's sovereign.
He'll take care of me. Maybe he won't. They send you straight
to prison. That's fatalism. That's foolish,
isn't it? Physically, I thought of Lance
and Robin too. They're down there and they don't
have medical aid. They ain't got a hospital they can go to.
And they get sick, it's the same prayer and faith it takes whenever
you do have a hospital. But if they're down there, they
don't have the means of healthcare and stuff, and one of them gets
sick, you pray to the Lord. That's faith. He'll honor that. But
if you ain't got enough good sense, if he has given you the
means that he uses for his people, and you ain't got enough good
sense to go to the hospital or something, that's fatalism. I've known people,
they claim to be reformed and whatever that nonsense means,
and that's why a man was dying of stomach cancer, and he wouldn't
take a pill for pain, and he was miserable, and it was horrendous
to watch. And he was scared to death, if
he took a pill to help him, that he was going to go to hell. That
self-righteous fatalism is what that is. That ain't faith. That's
saying you can handle it. That's nonsense. God gave us
that stuff. My good friend's sick. He's got
pneumonia right now. His physician loves him. It's
his son. You think you give him good advice?
I love you, daddy. I ain't gonna lie to you. Our great physician
is more powerful, more knowing, caring, and able than anything
else in the world. And he's given us means on this earth to use. When the apostles, they traveled
and preached, Luke was with them, wasn't he? They had a traveling
physician with them. The Lord provides and He protects
His people. We looked at raising our children,
too. If I said, well, if God wants my children to grow up
and be good children, be good citizens, He'll just make them
that way. That's horrible, isn't it? He gave me his word, and
a preacher to teach me growing up, and I'm going to do the best
I can, put the best food I can in them, raise them right, tell
them what's right, put them underneath the sound of the gospel as long
as they're underneath my roof. I can do all that. God still made me
grow up to be horrible people. But he ain't going to do it without
it, is he? He gave me the faith to do that. I need to act on
it. That's what I want to be. I want to be the one that's used.
I want to be that means. The Lord uses means. And I want
to be that means that's used for the further of His gospel.
To tell men and women who Christ is. Tell us what we are. Take
some skin off the back. That's alright. Tell us who that
bomb of Gilead is. our cure is. That's what I want
to do. I've been given His Word. God
sent me a preacher to preach Christ to me. And He gave me
spiritual eyes to see Him in this Word. He gave me ears to
hear the message that He gives. And I want my understanding in
Him. And I want the faith that He's given to grow. I want it
to mature. I want it to perfect. I want
that pound to increase. I want to grow in grace and love
for Christ and for His people. I want to serve them more. I
want to be joyous when I serve, diligent when I serve. And I
want to support the work of the gospel. I want the furtherance
of His gospel to be my primary focus. To praise Him, to edify
His sheep that He's already called out and call out those ones that
haven't been called out yet. That's my desire. Like Zacchaeus. He gave half everything he had,
didn't he? If I gave half my efforts in anything else I do
in this world, providing for my family, giving occupation,
whatever we do, if I gave half that much effort into studying
His Word, and prepared, and preaching to you, and praying for you. I saw that too, I was watering
the driveway. I'll tell you about that later, but it gets dusty,
Santa Ana. I thought if I prayed half as
much for you all as I do for myself, boy, would the Lord bless
that. That'd be something, wouldn't
it? That's what I want to do. Lord bless it. He says, scripture
say, make your calling election short. It says in verse 26, Matthew
not, or I'm sorry, Luke 19 verse 26. For I'm saying to you that unto
everyone, which hath shall be given. Who's he going to give
to? Those that already have it. everyone
which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even
that which he hath shall be taken away from him." Well, if I get
this, that ain't work preaching either. We have a responsibility.
If the Lord gave me this stuff and I don't do nothing with it,
Does that mean I'll lose my salvation? No, you never had it in the first
place. You took that sweat cloth and wrapped it up in a napkin.
You was close to it. That hurts my heart. I have a
deep fear for that. People hearing the gospel preached,
having it right in front of them. Here's His Word. Here's who Christ
is. Christ isn't without His doctrine.
Here's the small bites we can eat that elephant. Here's how
we do it. And they'd say, hmm, boy, that's an austere band.
I've got to do something. I've got to reap something. I've
got to sow something. No, buddy, you missed it. That ain't it. Those that hath, hath always
hath. And they'll be given more. That's
what I hope. All right. Father, thank you
for this day. We'll thank you for this parable
that you've given. Let us hate it. Give us sight to see our
nobleman. Don't let us reject him. And
don't let us take his sovereignty as our excuse. Let us bow to
him, bow to his lordship, serve him, love him, love his people.
What a great nobleman we have, Lord. What a kingdom He's prepared
for us with Him. And we look for that day He returns.
Lord, keep us till that day. Make us good and faithful servants.
It's Your pound. Give us diligence, Lord, to occupy
that pound. Thank You for this. Be with our
brethren everywhere. Be with Brother Tom as he heals. Give us doctor's
wisdom. on me with your people everywhere.
It's in Christ's name that we ask. Amen.