All right, turn back in your
Bibles to Luke sixteen. Luke chapter 16. All of us have probably read
this at one time or another and are familiar with this parable,
yet perhaps because of the difficulty of it, have passed over it rather
quickly and never properly understood it. Well, we're going to look
into it very carefully tonight, and I think you'll see Let's read verses 8 through 12
again. Our Lord says, The Lord, or this
Master, commended the unjust steward, because he had done
wisely. For the children of this world
are in their generation wiser than the children of light. And I say unto you, Christ says,
Make to yourselves friends of the mammoth riches of unrighteousness,
that when you fail they may receive you into everlasting habitation.
He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in
much. He that is unjust in the least
is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been
faithful and the unrighteous mammon or riches, who will commit
to your trust the true riches? There are many warnings in Scripture
concerning riches, and I would have you now to turn over and
keep your place there in Luke 16, but turn over to 1 Timothy
chapter 6. solemn warnings given in First
Timothy concerning riches, covetousness, desire for riches,
and so forth. First Timothy chapter six, read
verses six through ten with me. He says, Godliness with contentment
is great gain. We brought nothing into this
world. And it's certain we can carry nothing out. Having food
and raiment, let us be there with content. But they that will
be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish
and hurtful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is the
root of all evil, which while some coveted after, they have
erred from the faith and pierced themselves through with many
sorrows." Keep your place there. Covetousness, desirable riches,
is the root of all evil, he says. It is the cause of falling into
temptation. snares, foolish and hurtful lusts,
and drown men in destruction and misery. Now the fact is, it's just a
fact, that most of us, most under the sound of my voice this evening,
are rich and increased with goods or abundant in them. And perhaps we have need of nothing. And I'll remind you what the
Lord said to the church at Laodicea. He said, and I believe this is
a direct result of their having said that we, that is, them being,
so to speak, fat and sassy or rich and no needs. He says, I
know your works. You're neither cold nor hot.
I would that you were cold or hot because you're lukewarm.
Neither cold nor hot, I'll spew you out of my mouth. Because
you say I'm rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.
And knowest not that you're wretched and miserable and poor and blind
and naked, spiritually. Wretched and miserable and poor
and blind and naked. I counsel thee to buy of me gold
tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich. Most of us are very rich in mammon.
You say, I don't have a big bank account. If you have an automobile,
You're rich. Believe me, I'm about to go to
a country where people walk for six hours to hear the gospel.
I'm about to go to a country where they live on a dirt floor,
where they cook on an open fire, where they have grass over their
roof. If you have a house, if you own a house, you're rich.
If you have a nice apartment, you're rich. Right? If you have more than one suit
of clothing, you are rich. If you have more than one pair
of shoes and you don't have sandals, you're rich. If you had more
than one meal in your cupboard, you are absolutely rich. Right? We're very rich, so no one in
here can plead that we're not rich. We are very rich, but I
believe we'd all admit we're very poor in spirit. But he goes on here in 1 Timothy
to say this, verses 17 and 18, "'Charge them that are rich in
this world.'" So here he is charging us all.
"'Charge them that are rich in this world that they be not high-minded.'"
Be not high-minded. In other words, we should remember. In other words, we should never
be lifted up with pride to say, look what I've done. Look what
I've accumulated. Look what my industry has gotten
me. Look what my ingenuity has accomplished. Look what my hard
work has done. Never. What do you have that
you have not received? Never be high-minded. Remember
everything you have was a gift the Lord gave, and he can just
as quickly take it away. Remember that. Always remember
that. That will rightly make you remember whose it belongs
to. and then rightly do with it as we should, which we're
going to look into more. He says here, Nor trust, verse
17, do not trust in uncertain riches. In other words, don't put too much faith or stock in
what we own, because it can sure be lost very rapidly. People
back during the Depression, I mean business owners, Wealthy, well-to-do
people. And in a night, I mean overnight,
they were waiting in soup, bread lines. Right? Job, let Job tell us about it. He was one of the richest men
on the earth. And in the space, in the course of a couple of
nights, he was the poorest man. Don't trust in him, he said.
But trust in God. Put all your eggs in one basket,
in Him, in Christ. All your faith, all your trust,
all your desires, all your pursuit in Him. You can't ever lose Him,
the unsearchable riches. And put your trust in God. Who
does give us, look at verse 17, who gives us all, richly, all
things to enjoy? He does. God gives us. and very
abundant. God makes rich. He makes rich. He makes poor. You know what
the Scripture says? But it says, charge them, verse
18, that they do good. See that? Charge them that they
do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, ready to hand out, willing to
communicate or meet the needs of others. Why does God give us richly all
things to enjoy, that we might do good and be rich in good works
and ready to distribute, willing to communicate? Do you know that
that's why you have a home, that's why you have an automobile, that's
why you have a job, that's why you have the things you have?
God giveth us richly. that we be rich in good works. You know what that said? God
giveth us richly that. God giveth us richly all things
to enjoy. Yes, we enjoy them, but we're
not to hoard them and use them solely for our own enjoyment.
Verse 18, that they do good, that they be rich in good works,
ready to distribute. It's often said that the church
and the believers too should We are the church, that we should
not be a savings and loan, but a distributorship. In one hand,
out the next. Cast your bread upon the water.
You know what it says? Cast them. Cast them. What kind of farmer
would he be if he sowed sparingly or hoarded up or was miserly
with his seed? He wouldn't reap much of a harvest. Now, there's no sin. Listen to
me. There's no sin in things. Don't
let this self-righteous world make us believe that there's
sin in riches. No. Does it say that anywhere
in here? Does it say that riches are evil? It doesn't say that, does it?
Look back at it again. Verse 10, it doesn't say money
is the root of all evil. Does it? The love of money. Does it say if you're rich, you'll
fall into a snare and many temptations and hurtful lusts and drown in
destruction and perdition and you'll be damned if you're rich?
No, it doesn't say that. It says, David, we'll be rich. There's a difference. In other
words, a man, that's what he's after, riches. That's what he'll
get. Reap to the flesh, he'll get the flesh. What do you get
with the flesh? Temporal enjoyment. eternal damnation. Reap to the Spirit, you get the
Spirit. What do you get with the Spirit?
Temporal troubles, but eternal salvation. Right? There's no virtue in being with
or without riches. There's no virtue in being poor,
is it? Is there any holiness? Because
a man is poor, does that make him holy? No. There's no virtue in being with
or without. The virtue is in using what you have to its proper
use. There's the virtue. So here our
Lord, back in Luke 16, turn back there now. Our Lord gives a parable
of an unjust steward and what this man did to make amends for
his poor stewardship. All right, let's look at it verse
by verse. Begin with verse 1. The Lord said unto his disciples,
there was a certain rich man who had a steward, which had
a steward. Now, if you're a believer, you are a steward. This is you. He's talking about you. And didn't
he say he said to his disciples? He's talking to them. Pharisees
overheard it. He wasn't speaking to the Pharisees.
He was speaking to his disciples. You are a steward. Peter said
we are stewards of what? The manifold grace of God. Every word in the scriptures
is relevant. Manifold grace of God. Manifold means many. Manifold
means many. Abundant. We're stewards or keepers
or God has entrusted us with many riches. The grace of God. God has given
much to us, both spiritual and material. He's given us the riches
of his grace. He's given us a knowledge of
Christ, a knowledge of his gospel, the means to enjoy it. The means
to enjoy it, this nice facility, jobs to pay for, and so forth. But verse 1 says this unjust
steward, or this steward, was accused unto him that he'd wasted
his goods. We have, haven't we? Every last
person in this building. We have wasted our goods. No different than a prodigal,
really, on ourselves. We've not been
good stewards of God's grace. Scripture says. I've not been
a good steward. I've not preached as much as
I should. We have all none of us have witnessed as we should.
We haven't distributed as we should. We have not been good
stewards have we? Haven't given of our time, our
energy, our talents, our goods to the necessity of the saints
for the furtherance of the kingdom of God, for the salvation of
the lost have we? We haven't. So verse two he says
he called him The Lord, the rich man, called his steward and said
unto him, How is this? How is it that I hear this of
thee? Give an account of your stewardship. You may no longer
be a steward. So he called him. We're being called tonight by
the Word. Every time God's Word is preached, we're being called
to account, aren't we? Huh? I'll save that, Terry. I was
going to give that illustration. I'll save it. We're called to account every
time God's Word is preached. We're demanded. We're convicted. We're demanded to give an account
for ourselves, aren't we? Every time. We're convicted. Every time God's Word is open,
we're convicted about something, aren't we? She gave me this illustration
today. She said, she said, how do you
glorify and honor somebody? You tell the truth about them.
I mean, how do you glorify and honor Christ? How do you glorify
and honor Christ? You tell the truth about Him.
Because that's His glory, isn't it? That's His honor. That's His glorious majesty and
His blessed person. He said, I'm true. Everything
about me is true and just and holy and right, isn't it? How
do you glorify Christ? By telling the truth about Him.
That's what I endeavored so pitifully to do this morning, is to tell
us who He is. in truth, not hide any of his
majesty and his glories. How do you glorify Christ? You
tell the truth about him. Would that glorify us? You know how you would shame
us the most? Tell the truth about us, right? Expose us. Have somebody come up here and
tell everybody exactly like we are. It would shame us, wouldn't
it? It would expose us. Every time
the gospel is preached in truth, every time we worship in spirit
and in truth, we become convicted. We're called on the carpet, if
you will. We're called to give an account, aren't we? Thank
God the good news comes afterwards. If a man is a right and true
gospel preacher, he'll not leave the wound open. He'll bind it
and pour in oil and salve, won't he? But we're wounded. The Word
of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, and it wounds. Every time
it wounds us, doesn't it? Shows us what we are. Then it
heals. So we are called to account,
and the Master said unto him, Give an account. You may no longer
be a steward. Give an account. Now, a believer
is not in danger of losing his salvation because he's been unfaithful. If that were the case, there
wouldn't be anybody saved. Would there? Wouldn't be anybody
saved. John the Baptist might be the
only one. But a believer is in danger of
losing his salt. Doesn't Scripture call us the
salt of the earth? But if the salt has what? Lost its savor? It's not good for anything. But
to be cast out and trodden underfoot of the sons of men. He may lose
his usefulness. He may lose his stewardship.
He may lose his light. In other words, he might not
be a light anymore. Barnard preached a message one
time entitled, When God Kills Christians. And he preached it
from that parable on losing his soul. And he said, sometimes
God is through with people. I'm through with you. Doesn't
mean he's going to damn them or that they're going to be lost,
but he just said, that's enough. The fig tree, you know, bore
no more fruit. Whack her down. It's cumbering
the ground. We'll put somebody in his place
that can. Right? That's what Barnard, it's a good,
it's a good illustration. Well, here's what the man did.
Verse three, the steward said within himself, what am I going
to do? What shall I do? He was convicted, wasn't he?
He was troubled. He was sorry. He wanted to make
amends. He wanted to do what was right.
He'd done wrong up to that point. He wanted to do what was right.
He'd been unjust up to that point. He wanted to be just now. He'd
been unfaithful. He wanted to be faithful now. What shall I
do? My Lord, take it away from me. The stewardship, I cannot
do. What shall I do? He didn't make
an excuse or justify himself, did he? Well, I didn't have this.
I didn't have that. Did he? He said, well, I had, Lord, you
don't understand. Let me, let me explain. No, he
didn't do that, did he? And we don't, aren't those that
seek to justify ourselves, are we? We justify God in condemning
ourselves. You know what he said about the
people that came to hear Christ? Huh? The Pharisees, that's what
he said here, you're they which justify yourselves, Pharisees.
But it says in another passage that the people, the sinners
and all, justified God in condemning themselves. You're right, Lord. Everything you said about me
is right. He didn't justify himself or
excuse his faithlessness, but he cried out,
what am I going to do? Didn't he? Isn't that what the people of
Pentecost said? We're not, sir. No, men and brethren, what must
we do? The Philippian jailer, he'd done
wrong, didn't he? He said, well, I worked for the
Roman government. I had no choice, you know, I was in bondage. No,
he said, what must I do? Didn't he? What must I do? And
we need to cry out. before God come naked before
God almighty and say I have wasted my good like the prodigal son
come running back father I've seen against the against heaven
and then even when I say I've wasted my good what can I do
now I'm willing what can I do I talked about our children you
know when we did the study of our children you know everyone
of us would admit we've been poor parents and unfaithful and
all that what Today is today. Today is called the day of salvation. Maybe the day of salvation of
our children. So what do we say? I'm resolved. What to do? Starting today. Right? Not, I'm
going to think about it at a more convenient time. What shall I
do? My Lord takes away from me the
stewardship. I don't want to be lost. I don't want to be a
reproach to Christ. I don't want to be an unfaithful
steward. He says I can't dig. He sat down and thought about what
he was able to do. And evidently he was an older
man or maybe he was somewhat limited in his physical ability.
And he said, I can't beg, I can't do this for a living, I can't
do that, I'm limited in this and that and the other. He said,
but I'm ashamed to beg, I'm sure not going to go on welfare, I'm
not going to. Back then a beggar was, it's
not like it is now, you know. But back then a person was ashamed
to beg unless he was an absolute invalid or a blind man. That
was his only means of support. And this man had that much dignity
about him. He said, I don't want to beg.
I sure don't want to go to the people that are owing and beg
them. That's not right. That's not
bringing glory to my mind. This is what I'll do, he said,
verse four. I am resolved what to do. I am resolved what to do. All right. Stay with me now. I'll give you a little lesson
on Christian economics. I'm not making light. The Lord
does this. He tells us, you know, he even
tells us how to spend our money, how to manage our household affairs. That's what this is all about
right here, isn't it? Yeah, it is. He says this, I'm
resolved what to do. Now, I am sure that the remedy
to most of our woes could be clearly seen if only we would
ask and seek and knock. Right? Those three things that
our Lord gave us to do comprehend or take in everything. Ask for
wisdom. Seek the will of God. He said, you'll receive, ask,
you'll receive, seek, you'll find, knock, it'll be opened
unto you. The way, the will, the purpose,
where to go, what to do, it'll be opened to you. Right? Huh? I'm sure that the remedy
to most of our woes could be clearly seen if we would ask,
seek, and knock. But then, on top of that, we've
got to be willing to do what we find out. Right. That's another thing I talked
about in this raising of our children, you know. That we have
to be willing to do what it takes. We see the answer very clearly
from the scripture. If we didn't see something of. The wisdom of what God says in
the raising of our children in those five lessons, five weeks. Then we're blind. then we don't
want to believe what the Word of God says. Do we? And maybe
the problem is we don't want to do what it takes. We're not
willing to do. Is that not right? If we're willing
to do it, we must be willing to do what He said. This man
was. Here's what I will do, he said.
Here's what I'll do. And here's what I'll do, so that
when this is all over, he said, look at verse When I'm put out
of the stewardship, I might have somewhere to go. So when I'm put out of the stewardship,
I won't have to be ashamed, and I won't be in want, and I won't
bring greater reproach on everybody and everything, including myself.
All right, now let's read verses 5 through 7. So this is what
he did. He called every one of his Lord's
debtors unto him and said unto the first, How much do you owe,
my Lord? And he said, A hundred measures of oil. And the man
said unto him, take your checkbook and sit down quickly and write
50. Now, man, this is a good deal. You've been to take advantage
of it. I'm going to I'm going to give you a good deal here.
Give me what? Give me 50 here. You owe 100. Give me 50. Can't
pass that up, can you? No, no. Yeah, I can swing that
somehow. And he did for seven. So he said
to another, how much do you owe? Man said 100 measures a week.
And he said, take your checkbook out and write the amount for
four score. Eighty. You can't pass that up,
can you? Huh? That's a real... No, no,
no. Write it out quickly. Give me
what you got. Give me what you got. So what happened here was
the man liquidated everything. And he got what he could to pay
off the Lord's... his debts. Right? This is what
happened. He liquidated. He did what he
could to get as much money as he could to pay off These days,
these days, right? He sat down, he took stock, he
counted costs, he counted the cost, he took stock, and then
he took action. He took stock, and then he took
action. Somebody said one time, one good action is worth ten
good intentions. I'll repeat that. One good action
is worth ten good intentions. We're all guilty of this. Talk
sounds good. We can all sit back and sound
like the most clever people on earth and the smartest and the
wisest. And from hearing us talk, you'd
think that we could instantly be, you know, millionaires or
scientists or doctors or lawyers or whatever, you know. Talk sounds
good, but it doesn't get anything done. I've known men, several
men and women, I've known people to sound like the world's most
clever people, yet do nothing. How about you? Have you ever
known anybody like that? Have you ever been like that?
I've known several people who sound like the world's most clever
people, but they never do anything. And then I've known people who
don't sound so clever. who don't sound so smart, and
I'll just use Brother Henry as an example. He was a good one,
wasn't he, Rick? Brother Henry doesn't have, I
don't think Brother Henry got past the eighth grade, did he? Brother Henry doesn't make any
pretense of being the world's smartest man. He knows Christ,
I believe that makes him pretty smart. But he doesn't make any
pretense of being a smart or clever man. and doesn't spout
his mouth off and go around talking about how clever he is and all
that. Henry owns a business. He owns
a farm. He pays all his debts on time.
He supports his church. He's a successful man, isn't
he? Do you see the contrast? There
are those who talk real clever and do nothing. And then there's those that don't
talk so clever but do it all. that do and accomplish great
things. Right? So this man, he sat down and
he took inventory of everything. He saw what was necessary and
did what he could. He saw what was necessary and
did what he could. They say Rome wasn't built in a day. It wasn't
built in a hundred days. It wasn't built in one hundred
thousand days. The moving of those massive stones,
the building of great monumental buildings took the sweat and
blood of hundreds of years to build Rome. It's built one step
at a time, one brick at a time. Every building is built one brick
at a time. It's hard work, but undaunted at the task. In endeavors
to build a building, we'll lay the first brick, right? We'll
sit down and say, I remember when we were, this house was
being built over here. We should have poured the, I
learned so much from that. I wish I'd have poured the concrete
slab in the garage and in the basement before we put the house
on it. Because you can't get a concrete
truck through a nine foot door. And how am I going to get the
gravel from here into that garage and spread out, and from down
here into that basement and spread? How am I going to do that? Well,
I'm going to hire a cat, a little bobcat or a little thingamajig,
and the fellow's going to charge me a million dollars an hour.
Or I'm going to move it with a shovel, thirty tons. I moved it with a shovel. All
thirty times. But Sam, I sat back with that
show and I thought, well, I wanted to cry. I wasn't going to get a thing
done, was I? Sitting there crying. So what did I do? Steve, the first ten were
just absolutely rough. I thought, I'm never going to
get anywhere. You know, the first half hour, the first two hours,
three hours, six hours later, hey, The pile was moving until
it was gone. Now, that's not that bad, was
it? Tough tasks are started one brick
at a time, one task at a time, one step at a time. We never
get anything done by talking about them. We sit down, count
the cost, then take action. The same thing holds true with
everything, whatever it be. Here's just what I'll do. I'm
resolved to do. I'm resolved what to do. And he did. And verse
8 says, The Lord commended the unjust steward. The Lord commended
him because he'd done wisely. He'd done wisely. He commended
him for doing what he could to get out of the mess he was in.
Right? He put himself in a mess and
he was to be condemned. But he got himself out of the
mess and he was to be commended. And he was. He didn't get back. He learned a mighty hard lesson,
didn't he? He lost some money. It was the
Lord's money. He'd wasted it, but the Lord
commended him anyway. That's how merciful and gracious
the Lord is. Well done, now, good and faithful
servant. John, can you imagine the Lord saying that to you someday?
Huh? Huh? He's going to say that to
all of his children. Can you imagine that, Terry,
the Lord saying that to you someday? When you spent, I don't know
how many years, I don't know when the Lord saved you, maybe 30 years
old, I don't know how old you were. Some of you were up there
in years. How many years did you waste?
And if you die now, you haven't lived half of the years you wasted. And the time we've spent hasn't
been fully for His glory, has it? We've wasted our substance.
We've wasted the Lord's substance. And for him to say unto you,
well done, our good and faithful servant. That's mercy. Isn't that grace? He says that
on Christ's account, doesn't he? He looks at what Christ did
as if we had done it. That's the only reason. But he commended him. And he
says here, the children of this world are, in their generation,
they're wiser than the children of life. The children of this world are
much wiser in the way they do things than the children of light.
So here he says, verse nine, now does this give you problem,
verse nine? I say unto you, make to yourselves
friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may
receive you into everlasting habitation. Make friends with
the mammon of unrighteousness and I will have you turn. Do
you see in your center reference? Remember how I told you that
the best way to study the scriptures is to search the references?
The translators have done all the work for us, Rick. Turn over
there to the reference it gives there to that verse. Do you see
it? Matthew 19, 21. You see that? Matthew 19, 21
is what my Bible gives. Matthew 19, 21 gives a reference
to that, this thing of making friends of the mammon of unrighteousness,
that when you fail, they, who's they? The mammon of unrighteousness,
receive you under everlasting habitation. What's that talking
about? Well, Matthew 19, verse 21, look what our Lord says here.
If you'll be perfect, go and sell that you have and give to
the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven and come and follow
me. And then over in Luke chapter 11, he says this. Luke 11 is
another reference he gives. Luke 11 verse 41, he says this. Give alms of such things as you
have, give alms of such things as you have or as you're able,
and behold, all things are clean unto you. You've done right. You've done right. James said
this in James chapter 5. He said this. I'll just read
this one to you. He said about riches to the rich man who had
miserly kept things back and not distribute them, he said,
your gold and silver is cankered, rusted. The rust of them shall
be a witness against you. He won't be a friend to that man,
will he? Won't that man's gold and silver be his enemy? He won't
be his friend. It will rise up in the judgment to witness against
him. And our Lord says, using the
mammon of this world wisely for the glory of God, for the good
of others, in the way that we should, will not be a witness
against you, but rather it will be friendly toward you. Does
that make sense? It will be friendly toward you.
Do wisely with the riches now so that they won't rise up in
the judgment against you. All right? Now listen, listen
to it. He calls it here in our text,
the mammon of unrighteousness, the mammon of unrighteousness.
Why is that? Well, because of the deceitfulness
of riches. They're deceitful. People that
have them think they have something. They don't have anything. They
got metal, right? Man thinks he has a big house,
thinks he really has something, thinks he is something. That's
deceitful, isn't it? He's nothing. He's just got a bigger little
cabin than I do, you know. What's the big deal? What does
that make a man? Because his house is bigger than
mine, huh? Because his house... Because
a man's got a Beamer, drives a Beamer. I mean, you know what
a Beamer is? You mean you don't know what
a Beamer is? Well if you don't have one you ain't nobody you
know that. If you don't have one a Beamer.
I'm not going to tell you just find out you'll be somebody you
ever get one. You have to have in the garage
all the time it'll cost you a fortune to fix it but you'll be somebody
you have a Beamer and anyway that's deceitful isn't it it's
deceitful. deceitfulness of riches. It's
called a mammon of unrighteousness also because it's often accumulated
unrighteously. Most people that are filthy rich,
like this Ross Perot fellow—here I go—you don't get to be a billionaire
by doing everything above board. or by doing everything real honestly. Now, let's just face it. It's
called the mammoth of unrighteousness. You've got to walk over, step
on some toes and walk over some people and do some things here
and there, scheming, plotting to somehow or another to be rich
in this world. Yeah, you do. He's called the
mammon of unrighteousness because generally it's accumulated unrighteously
and wickedly. It's called the mammon of unrighteousness
because it's generally used. Isn't it? 99.9% of the money in this world
is used for wicked purposes. Anything that's not for the glory
of God is a wicked purpose. It's unrighteous. It's called
the Amendment of Unrighteousness because mostly unrighteous people
have it. God's people generally aren't
very well off in relation to the world. Well, you know, Christ
said, Render unto Caesar the things that belong to Caesar,
didn't He? Yet, He says all the gold and the silver is God's,
didn't He? It doesn't belong to Caesar,
does it? God made it. Yet the wicked world
wants it, so God gives it to them. The wicked world wants
it, so God gives it to them. Now, I said this before, there's
nothing wrong with money. There's nothing wrong with money. You may want to be holy and live
without money, but you won't live. Money, our society, it
operates on it. You cannot live or exist without
money. That's ridiculous. Right? Even
our Lord paid taxes, didn't he? Huh? Didn't he? Sure he did. Nothing wrong with money. There's
nothing wrong with possessions, like I said. What's wrong is
the love of it. What's wrong with it is the inordinate
pursuit of it, the desire for it, the improper use of it. And that's where we come in. We have all used it unwisely,
like he said. We've not used it as wisely.
This is what he said. The children of this world are
wiser in their generation. The way they use their money,
they use it to get richer, and they do. What is a believer to
use his money and his things for? Come on now. Huh? Yeah. To be rich toward God. Right? To be rich in good works. And
he says the children of this world, they use their money to
get rich in this world, to get more, to get more, and they do.
They rich get richer don't they? He says the children of light
ought to use what they have for the glory of God, for their eternal
good, for the good of others, and the kingdom of God ought
to get richer. Not materially necessarily, that'll
happen. But we ought to be rich in good
works, in spirituality, in love and faith, but we're not. Meeting the needs of the brethren
burdens of the gospel this is is the proper use of the things
we have in other words if we were as wise and as frugal and
as industrious and responsible about our earthly goods in order
to do good works and to distribute and so to the spirit. To see
the gospel have free course. We could see the same results
as the world does in their pursuit of the world. Does that make
sense? That's what he's saying there. That's what he's saying
there. You reap what you sow. He said
that before, didn't he? You reap what you sow. You know
that we can use fleshly things to further us spiritually? Huh? Yes, whatever you do. Didn't he say, whatever you do,
whether you eat or drink, You mean I can eat to the glory of
God? You sure can. Spurgeon said he smoked a cigar
to the glory of God. I don't know about that, but
he did. Then he ate it. Thank you, Spurgeon,
you know, being a lawless fellow, because he liked to smoke cigars.
And he said one day, he said, well, he said, he says, whatever
you do, eat or drink or whatever, to the glory of God. He said,
I intend to smoke me a good cigar and sit down and relax and enjoy
it and give glory to God Almighty for it. right or wrong, you know. We
can use these things somehow for the glory of God. All things
are made for His glory and to be used to that end. Let me give
you some examples here. All things, we can use fleshly
things to further our spirituality and to help others with spiritually.
You have a nice car? Most of us do. Most of us have
several of them. Some of us have several, and
none of them are nice. Some of us have twelve Toyotas,
and none of them run. You have a nice car, though? Then use it. Carry a brother
somewhere. You remember that illustration
of the fellow who wanted a pearl at a great price, you know, and
he went down and bought it, and it cost him everything? You remember that.
You have a nice car? Use it. for the furtherance of
the kingdom. Carry a brother to church. Carry
a widow who can't drive so well. Carry yourself to church. There
you go. Start there. Carry yourself to church. Wouldn't
that be using a car to further you spiritually? Sure it would. Do you have a nice home? Most
of us do. I've been in your homes. We have
nice homes. What are we to use it for? Ourselves? No, uh-uh. Keep the brethren.
We read that this morning, Father. You with us? What does it say
to you? It says you'd keep strangers, doesn't it? Is that what we read?
Is that what we said, read, Ellen? Yes, it is. We'd use our homes
to lodge strangers, to wash the saints' feet. And where do you
get a bath tub? Have somebody in and let them
use it. A brother, a sister. You've got to put your own feet.
Wash the saints' feet. Lodge sinners. Lodge strangers. You got a big garden? Got a big
garden? Huh? Some of you have acres and
acres and acres. You raise a big garden? You best be giving a few cans
of beans to somebody that needs them. Right? That's what it's
for. That's the reason you have the
acreage you have. Feed the brethren. You want to
be real wise about it? You've got a few acres and some
of it's not being used? Cultivate it and plant a cash
crop and give it to the missionaries. Right? Cultivate what you're
not using, sell what you plant, and give it to the missionaries.
And you've used what you have for the glory of God. Not just
so I can say, I've got this. Right? That's right. The children
of this world are wiser in the mammon of this world than the
children of light, or the things they have. This is what he's
talking about here, exactly, exactly what he's talking about.
Everything is to be used wisely for the glory of God, for the
good of others. That's what he said. Look at verse, back in
the text, Luke 16. He says in verse 10 and 11, he
that is faithful in that which is least, and what is least?
Material things. Material things are least. They're
nothing. They're perishing. Right? A house, a car, a piece
of dirt. A piece of dirt. What is the
least thing on the earth? Yet men fight wars and spill
blood over it. Dirt! If we can't use a piece of dirt
faithfully, why should God give us unsearchable riches? We've been unfaithful in that
which is least. He which is faithful in that which is least is faithful
also in much. He that is unjust in the least
is unjust also in much. Let me give you an illustration
here. I hire a man to cut my grass. Let's use a spiritual illustration.
Let's say somebody is going to cut this grass out of here. This
will really apply better. Am I going to cut the church
lawn, OK? That's a good thing. I mean, it has to be done. It
has to be done every week, every summer, right? Every week of
the summer, sometimes more than once a week. And if it didn't,
people would drive by and the grass would be knee-high and
people would think, man, they don't care anything about that.
You know, is the church still open? If they shut down, you
know, it's a good thing. It makes the grounds look neat.
It makes people look like, makes it look like we appreciate what
we have here and thankful for it. It's like our houses. We wouldn't dream of letting
our grass get knee deep with it, huh? Or would we? We do, but we don't like it.
Well, it shouldn't happen around here. I mean, this one ought
to get cut first. All right. A man comes in to
cut the grass. He does a half way job. I mean
he does a half way job. Do you think he ought to. If
he does a half way job does a lousy job but you think he ought to
be given greater responsibilities. Why no if he can't cut grass.
If he can't do a simple job like that who's going to trust him
to do a bigger job. Exactly. the thing that's what
exactly our Lord is saying if we can't be faithful in at least
that. He's not going to give us great things. If I give a man my bicycle and
he abuses my bicycle, you think I'm going to loan him my car?
Huh? If he tears my bicycle back with
two flats, you think I'm going to give him my Well, don't be silly. I'll never
loan him my bike again. Our Lord says here, if you've
not been faithful in unrighteous riches, who's going to commit
to your trust of true riches? Who's the Lord going to give
us spiritual knowledge and make us faithful and wise and mature
and stable? And if we can't just do the least
little thing he asks us to do, calls upon us to do, does that
make sense? I said this morning, you know,
if we're going to take part, if you're going to be a member
of the family, you've got to take part. If you're going to enjoy the
benefits of a family relationship, you've got to take part in responsibilities,
don't you? Huh? Are you with me? If you're going
to enjoy the benefits that the family enjoys, you've got to
take part in responsibilities, don't you? Sure. Sure. Your son drives your car, your
daughter drives your car. It's the only reason that they
wash it. when they get back there you know right here. When our
Lord says we can't do the least little thing for his service
and do it well the best of our ability for his glory he's you're
not going to give us make us a preacher. or make us a leader
in a church or make us a witness out in the community or make
us this, make us that or give us great faith or give us peace
or give us maturity. Maturity starts by taking a little
responsibility, doesn't it? Huh? Isn't that where maturity
starts? Where did maturity start? As a young person. A young person. Catherine's age is where maturity
starts and even earlier. If she can learn to do a few
things, a few chores at home, she grows and matures and takes
on bigger responsibilities. And when the time comes, she
can take on great responsibilities and do a good job of it. If she
can't learn to make her bed, she's got to do that first. Right? You're not going to be a nurse
like mommy any day if you can't learn first to make your bed.
You're not going to take care of somebody who's sick in the
bed if you can't learn to just make a bed. That's just a good
sense, isn't it? Now here's a common scenario,
okay? Here's a common scene. Scenario means scene. A man or
a woman buys a house. They own a house. They buy a
car. And that's fine. There's nothing
wrong with that. Nowhere in the scriptures does
it condemn us for having houses and cars. Right? There's nothing
wrong with that. All right. Man or woman, they
own a home. They buy an automobile. Okay?
But then, the way capitalism is, if you're industrious enough,
you just keep accumulating, keep accumulating. Before long, you
have two cars. Before long, you have a house
full of furniture. Before long, you have this. Before long, you
have that. Before long, you have a boat. Before long, you have this. Before
long, you have acres. And before long, you have this.
And then, until man, you're just loaded down. And not only are
you loaded down with things, but you're also loaded down with
pieces of paper that come in every month. Right? The bills start pouring
in. And in the meantime, we didn't
really use the things we had on other people. For God's glory,
we only used them on ourselves, spent our time and our money
to accumulate more and more and more. And finally, before we
know it, we're head over heels in debt. We have a lot of things,
but we have a lot of debt, and we spend every dime we have just
to pay our debts. And then there's nothing left
over for the ministry, for that which is really important. Isn't that a very common occurrence?
Doesn't that happen everywhere? Does it happen to you? what we're going to do. We've got to have this right
here more than anything on earth. We're going to do we ought to
do what the unjust steward did. Do what the unjust steward did.
Do what it takes to get out of debt. Then begin again to live
within our means Using our money and our possessions wisely, frugally,
but above all, for the glory of God. He said, seek ye first
the kingdom of God and his righteousness. And what? All these things will
be added unto you. Solomon, the Lord gave him anything
he asked for. He asked for wisdom. And the
Lord gave him riches on top of that. See, because you first
asked for that which was most necessary, I'm going to give
you riches anyway. That's exactly what the Lord said. Exactly. And God will bless. Turn over
to 2 Corinthians 9, and I'll quit here. Two more Scriptures,
and I'll quit. 2 Corinthians 9, and we'll turn
over to Luke 6. 2 Corinthians 9, look at this
with me. I'm helping you out here. The
Lord's helping us out here. In this mercy, Barbara, in this
grace of our Lord, just even tell us how to spend our money
and what to do and how to live our lives and how to pay our
bills. We're so ignorant, aren't we? We're like little children.
We'll get in trouble. We'll get in trouble in a minute,
drop of a hat. We get all in trouble and bent
out of shape, and He has to come rescue us. And He always does.
2 Corinthians 9, verse 5. Second Corinthians nine, verse
five, he's talking about giving here. He said, I think it's necessary
to exhort the brethren that they should, that they would go before
unto you and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof you had
noticed before that the same might be ready as a matter of
bounty and not as of covetousness. Now go on, I'll explain that.
But this I say, he which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly. He which soweth bountifully shall
reap also sparingly. And say that. Now I know these charlatans and
these crooks today are saying this much. You know twist and
abuse and I know where it's a plant of seed faith planted a seed
of faith. Right planted in my pocket. That's
what they're saying. I know that, but nevertheless,
he says here, he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man, according as he purposes
in his heart, so let him give. Tithing is not the believer's way of giving. It's give. You can say tithes
that give, isn't it? That means more than ten. Not
grudgingly or of necessity, or that is because you have to or
are supposed to, but God loves a cheerful giver. reason he loves Christ more than
anybody else. God loves a cheerful giver. He willingly came down
and gave himself, and verse eight, now look at this, now here's
what I want you to get to. God is able to make all grace abound
toward you. But the cheerful giving comes
first, Violet, you see that? Doesn't it? Like I said, don't
misconstrue this. I know these crooks have abused
this, but it's so. God is able to make all grace
abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency
in all things, may abound to every good work. As it is written, verse 9, he
hath dispersed abroad, and given to the poor his righteousness
remaineth forever. Go on. Now, he that ministers
seed to the sower, both minister bread for your food and multiply
your seed sown, increase the fruits of your righteousness,
being enriched in everything to all bountifulness, boundfulness,
liberality, which causes through us thanksgiving to God. In other
words, God keeps things upon us and we're so thankful and
he blesses us with such an abundance, but of that abundance, the ministry
of the church gets met. Right? The ministration of this
service, not only supplies the wants of the saints, but abundant
also by many a thanksgiving unto God. Thanksgiving unto God. Verse
15, I sure like that verse, don't you? Thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift. Christ thanks unto Christ for
making himself poor that we might be rich. Right? Christ counted the cost He saw,
the gospel's here, that Christ saw the debt that we owed, and
he didn't just take partial payment, he paid it all, didn't he? That's
where the type stops in that parable. Christ didn't just take
partial payment, he fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law. He paid every debt we owe, every
sin was paid for in his own body on the tree. And he sacrificed
himself to set us free from sin's debt. Christ gave all. He made himself poor that we
might be rich. But you know what, Jeanette?
Christ was made poor, but you know that he's richer than anybody
now, isn't he? Because he took upon himself
the form of a servant and gave himself, God gives him a name
above everything else. Right? Does the principle
apply or not? Sure it does. Luke six, and I'll
quit. Luke chapter six. You've got
to see this, okay? Luke chapter six, verse thirty-eight,
and I'll quit. Luke six, verse thirty-eight. Luke six, thirty-eight. Give. Give. And it stands to reason,
if we don't have it to give, we're not expected to give. That's all the more reason that
we ought to do what it takes so that we can give. Get out of the mess we're in
so that we can get back to what is truly good and profitable
and acceptable unto God. Give, and it shall be given unto
you. Good measure. In the scriptures say, the lions
have fallen unto me in pleasant places. Don't you imagine that's what
lot said. Man I got some good property here. Boy I tell you
the surveyors line fail and a good I got the well watered plains. Good measure. God doesn't give
scampily. Good measure. Press down. In other words you ever had somebody
give you a sack of whatever. and put it in your sack or put
it in your can and stomp down or press it down a little tight
and pour a little more in there. Huh? That's what he's talking
about. Good measure. Press down. Shaking together. Running over. Joseph's brethren couldn't get
back with all the stuff. They came with sacks and went
back with wagons. Huh? it running over and man will
give into your bosom. You'll get gifts from places
you didn't. With the same measure, here's
the whole principle here, with the same measure that you meet
with all, it shall be measured to you again.