The lesson this morning will
be taken from Luke chapter 19, verses 11 through 27. Luke chapter 19, verses 11 through
27. The subject is the parable of
the pounds. Let's read this text together. Luke 19, verse 11. And as he 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. He said, therefore, a certain
noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom
and to return. He called his ten servants, delivered
them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But his citizens hated him, and
they sent a message after him saying, We will not have this
man reigning over us. 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 he might know how much every man had gained by
trading. Then came the first, saying,
Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. Now notice what he said. He didn't say, I took your pound
and gained ten pounds. He said, your pound. gained ten
pounds. And he said unto him, well, thou
good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a very little,
have thou authority over ten cities. And the second came,
saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said,
likewise to him, be thou over five cities. And another 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, a strict and severe man. Thou takest up
that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of
thine own mouth will I judge thee, thy wicked servant. Thou
knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not
down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gavest
not my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required
mine own with usury, with interest? And he said unto them that stood
by, Take from him the pound, and give to him that hath ten
pounds. And they said unto him, Lord,
he hath ten pounds. For I say unto you, that unto
every one which hath shall be given, and from him that hath
not, even that he hath. What in the world is he talking
about there? He just said he had not. Now he said, take away
from him that which he seemed to have shall be taken away from
him. But these mine enemies, which
would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay
them before me." Now, I want to say this. A parable
is of little value if you don't understand what it means or why
it's given. You can't just take a story and
say, well, the story means this, the story says this. You have
to know why it was given. and what the subject was he's
illustrating. He plainly tells us in verse
11 that he spake this parable because he was nigh to Jerusalem
and because they all thought that the kingdom of God should
appear immediately. He keeps talking about having
to go to Jerusalem. He has to go there. He has to
do this. He has to do that. And in their
mind, all they're hearing from him is this is This is going
to be the coronation. This is going to be when He steps
out and takes over Israel. He's going to reveal Himself
as the King. He told them in plain words that
He was going up to Jerusalem where He'd be turned over to
the Gentiles, be put to death, and after three days rise from
the dead. That's exactly how He told it.
But their minds were fixed on a preconceived notion that Jesus
would establish an earthly kingdom, and then return to Israel under
their former state of glory, and they all wondered and debated
between themselves what position they would hold in the kingdom.
Who's going to be great? Who's going to be the captain?
Who's going to be governor? Who's going to be the headman? The reason why spiritual things
are so often misunderstood and so misdirected is because we
have so many preconceived notions about things. That's why. We go into the Bible with a preconceived
notion looking for proof of what it is we think we believe. Our understandings darkened,
the scripture said, being alienated from the life of God. The life
of God is knowledge. Knowledge of God. That's eternal
life. To know Him. And he says, our understandings
darken being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance
that's in us because of the blindness of our hearts. Paul said this. If our gospel be hid, it's hid
to the lost, in whom the God of this world, and I know there's
but one God, the true and living God, and there's a sense in which
the God of this world does blind men's minds, God himself. But
in this particular context here, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, that
he's not referring to the deity as God, it's God with a little
g. It's the God of men's imagination. And he's blinded the minds of
them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel
of Christ should shine unto them. And this parable is not about
adding members to his church, or money to his treasury, or
land to his kingdom. This parable is about the gospel
of His grace doing in us and for us what it's designed to
do. That's what this parable is all
about. They were so blinded by their
thoughts of an earthly kingdom that they missed the manifestation
of His lordship which He demonstrated on the blind man and demonstrated
in the salvation of Zacchaeus. They totally missed it. Their
minds were fixed on Jerusalem, fixed on a kingdom. Back in Luke 11, verse 20, he
said that if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt
the kingdom of God is come upon you. What else did he tell us
about his kingdom? He said the kingdom of God is
within you. It's not out here. It's here.
He sets up His authority. He sets up His governorship. His deity. He sets up His prince
in here. He sits on the throne of the
heart. He takes from the strong man. That's what the strong man...
That's why sin reigns in you. Because the strong man sits on
the throne. He knows human nature better
than anybody but God. And He knows how to manipulate
it. How to twist it and change things and make things appeal
to you. He sits on the throne. And our
Lord said, except one stronger than he come upon him. Take his
throne away from him. Nothing is going to help you.
That's the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is in you.
Christ in you. The hope of glory. His kingdom is being established
in the salvation of chosen sinners, and that salvation is displayed
in the sovereign grace of God, separating His people from this
present evil world. So here's the first thing we
see, His kingdom, His reign of grace, His power over all flesh. His kingdom is the willing surrender
of His people to their King. And the kingdom of God, he said,
is within you. You're the servants of whom you
obey. That's what he tells us in Romans
6. Secondly, I want us to see the
noble man. There is but one true noble man,
and that's Christ. That's Christ. What is a noble
man? Well, the dictionary says he's
a man of high class. High class. Boy, you don't get
a more class act than the Lord Jesus Christ. He is pure class,
pure class. He's a man of high class with
high social political status. He's king of kings and lord of
lords. He's the blessed and only potentate. You talk about royalty,
this is my son. You talk about special, to which
of the angels said he at any time, sit here at my right hand. He's a man of social, political
status. And it means also a man of high
moral principles and fine personal qualities. Well, he was perfect,
wasn't he? He's perfect in every way. His
morals were pure in every sense of the word. Christ is the true
noble man. Well, what does he tell us about
the noble man? Well, the first thing he tells
us was that he has many servants. Many servants. All men and angels
serve him in one way or another. Everything in this world serves
him. He's the king. Many vessels in the king's house,
some under honor, some under dishonor. He has many servants. He tells us that he was on his
way to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and afterward
to return. Our Lord rose from the dead.
He came, did what he came to do. He did the will of God. He
accomplished our redemption. He brought out for us a perfect
covering, a perfect righteousness. And he satisfied the justice
of God. And having done so, God raised
him from the dead, declaring our justification, and he ascended
up into glory. And God said, sit right here
until your enemies be made your footstool. He's received his
kingdom, and he's coming again. Our Lord rose from the dead,
ascended into glory, and there is receiving His kingdom, exercising
His power and grace and mercy over chosen sinners. And when
the last citizens call to Him, He'll return. He'll return. Also, He tells us that this noble
man was very strict and powerful. He said, don't fear men. All
men can do to you is take your life from you. That's the worst
he can do to you. God can destroy both soul and
body in hell. He's very strict and powerful.
He saved many, but he didn't save any to corrupt the character
of God or compromise the character of God. And this man is king. The Lord Jesus Christ is king.
He takes what he wants, when he wants it, how he wants to
use it, and he uses it exactly as he purposes to do it. Anything
he wants in this world. He said, if I was hungry, I wouldn't
tell you. You think you own those cattle? I own the cattle on a
thousand hills. I just loaned them to you. He's an austere man. Thirdly,
this nobleman called to himself ten servants. Ten servants. Now, I want you to keep this
in mind. I'm going to keep reminding you
of it. This was no ordinary man. This man was going into a far
country to receive a kingdom. He wasn't your average man. He
wasn't hurting for anything. He said, I go to receive a kingdom. Did He have more than ten servants?
Well, everything in this world serves Him. Every man, every
woman serves Him. Whether we live, we live under
the Lord. Whether we die, we die under the Lord. Whether we
live, therefore die, we're the Lord's. We're His servants. Even those men who would not
have this man to reign over them, He reigned over them anyway. This man is not hurting. And
he calls these ten servants. Out of all these people out here,
he calls ten to himself. But these ten are separated into
two classes in this parable. Some were faithful and good.
That's what he said to them, thou good servant. They were
faithful and good. Others were slothful and useless. If I understand these parables,
these servants were all called by the noble man. He called his
ten servants. That's what he said. They were
his to do with as he pleased. And this was a man about to receive
a kingdom. He had a multitude of servants,
but he called ten. The Bible plainly tells us many
are called, few are chosen. Everyone in the Building this
morning's call, my prayer is that some here are chosen. Chosen of God and precious. Each
servant received the same amount. One pound. Here they all come. And the Lord takes out the money
bag and he said, here's you a pound. Here's you a pound. And he goes
right down the line. Did he know which ones were evil,
slothful servants? You bet he did. Didn't keep him
from giving them a pound, though, did it? He gave them all an equal
amount, an equal provision. This pound is the gospel of God's
sovereign grace in Christ. You can't make it mean anything
else. Nothing else jives with the scripture. This pound has to do with the
gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ. And each of these
servants received the pound given to them. They all reached out
their hand and took it. Every one of them. Nobody said,
I'm afraid of you. The one that he called up to
him, and he said, well, now wait a minute, Lord, I knew you were
an austere man. Why didn't he say that in the
beginning? No, he reached out and took the
pound. Some of you here this morning
have received his gospel, maybe in word only, maybe. You have received it, you're
convinced that it's true, you're convinced that it's the Word
of God, and you have it, as it were, in your possession. But you're not benefited by it. Huh? Isn't that what he's talking
about here? You don't grow in grace and knowledge
of Christ. The love of God is not shed abroad
in your heart. You're not thankful for His grace.
But you act as though it was just a common thing. Here's another
fact of life. I'll take it. I'm convinced of
it. I'll take it. I'll set it right
here. It'd be mine. Some like these citizens hated
him. They hated him. He was their king, but they sent
a clear message after him. They didn't tell him to his face,
but they waited until he left, and then they sent some folks
out there to, here, you go tell him this. I remember a man that Winston
and I both knew for years, and he heard me bring a message on
Christ being made sin, And he called Winston up and he said,
you go tell that man that I said he's not a saved man. And Winston
said, I'm going to give you his phone number. You can call and
tell him. You can call him. That's what these folks did.
You go tell him we're not going to have that man reigning over
us. Some are called. Everybody in
this place this morning being called, you're called when the
gospel's preached. The gospel is not a pretty please
will you do this. The gospel is a command. He now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent. If God says something,
it's a commandment. It's not a request. It's a commandment. He's God. Everything He says
is law, isn't it? He's God. There's no higher source
than Him. And some, like these citizens,
hated him, but others received the gospel, but they received
it in word only. Others were called with an irresistible
calling. They received their pound knowing
who gave it to them, and why it was given, and what it was
given for. They felt privileged to receive
it, and they did everything they could do to see it prosper. Some
were chosen and called by an inward work of the Spirit. Not just in the head, but in
the heart. Some, having been made stewards,
gave themselves to the work given to them. They gave themselves
to it. They didn't walk away from it.
They gave themselves to it. They understood who this was.
They understood what this kingdom was all about. They understood
He was coming back. An effectual call is a calling
of a sinner out of this world. He's called from the conversation
and company of them in it. And what I mean by conversation
is their behavior. An effectual call is a call to
a participation of grace. It's a participation of the grace
of God and to all the gifts given by that grace. And all those
called with this calling walk worthy of it in that they understand
what it is. They understand that they're
objects of this grace and they're dedicated to the King. And they
immediately, immediately want to see this gospel prosper. Plainly set before us the ministry
of reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5. In chapter 6 and verse 1,
he said, We then, as workers together with him, beseech you
also that you receive not the grace of God in vain. How do we receive the grace of
God in vain? We receive the doctrine of grace
in vain. The gospel of grace and the means
of grace when we receive them in word only. When we receive
them in an outward and a physical way. When we refuse to take advantage
of them. Huh? That's the biggest charge
against a professing church in this world. They refuse. He had
a pound. He had the same pound that guy
had. Over here, he wound up at 10 pounds. Well, this guy had
the same pound. Had nothing to do with the guy. When the guy
came to the Lord, he called him to him. He said, thy pound hath
gained 10 pounds. He didn't say, I gained 10 pounds.
Thy pound did this. But the first one didn't believe
it. He just took out his napkin, and he wrapped it all up, and
he put it in his shirt pocket. I'll keep this pound. I'll keep
this pound. They all received it from a good
source, from the king himself. They all had it in their possession.
Some used it for the benefit of the king's glory and some
hid it away. What is this prospering that
he keeps talking about? What is this usury, this work
that he keeps talking about? That work is the work of God
in you. That's the kingdom. That's where
God manifest his glory is in the salvation of his elect. It
ain't in buildings. It's not in denominations. It's
not in any of these things. It's in what goes on right here.
And it either prospers to the glory of God, or it's wrapped
up in an act. Nobody sees it. Nobody understands
it. Nobody sees anything about the
glory of God. They all received an equal portion,
one pound. They received it from a good
source, and they all had it in their possession. Some used it
and saw an increase while others trusted what they'd hid away
to be in a safe place. God's gospel is sent to those
he chooses to send it, and it's sent with whatever intentions
he's purposed to send it. The gospel always glorifies God. If you leave here stomping and
spitting in my face, The gospel prospered. It was a saver of
death under death or life under life, but it always prospers. Sometimes he sends it to bless,
sometimes he sends it to expose, but in every case, it's the same
gospel. Fourthly, his instructions. He
says, occupy till I come. That's an interesting word. It's
used twice in the Bible. You'll find it one time over
in Ezekiel chapter 27 and verse 9. And there he's talking about
a cargo, a precious cargo put in the hold of a ship. And a
crew of men taking that cargo from one place to another. He
uses that word occupy. Here's my gospel. Occupy till
I return. Take this gospel and preach it
where I send you, where I open the door, to whom I open the
door. You preach this gospel. Don't go home and wrap it up
in a napkin. Go home and meditate on it. Think
about it. Apply it to your life. Get an
interest in it. This is where the glory of God
is. Use it for the benefit of the
King's glory. Occupy till I come. Another time
it's used is right here in Luke. That's the only other time you
find it in the Bible. And what it means here is to
be busy. It means to use it for increase. Use it for increase. I hate to
think that I stand up here every week and preach for an hour and
a half these two messages, and people just go home and And they
take it and they wrap it up and put it up on the shelf. If I
ever need it, I'll have it ready. I want to see you prosper. I
want to see you prosper. I want to see that pound make
ten pounds. You see what he's saying here? Busy oneself. in trade. You know, when he came back,
he called them up to see how much they had made in trading. That word trading is the same
word as occupied. Very same word. The gospel is the means of life.
It's the children's bread. It's the means of faith and repentance. And the gospel is what keeps
us. It's our sustenance. Give us this day our daily bread.
Busy yourselves with it. Carry it to the place where He
sends it. Put it to use. Use it to the
increase of your own souls. There's nothing more needful
for your souls or to the increase of the glory of God than the
gospel of God's sovereign grace. He left us one thing when He
left this world. His gospel. He said all power. This is what the kingdom is all
about. He said all power in heaven and earth is given unto me. All
right, you go see how much land you can get. No, he said, all
power given unto me in heaven and earth. Go preach. Ain't that what he said? Go preach. Take my gospel. Busy yourselves with it. Carry
it to the place I send it. Put it to use. Oh, so many things, so many things
he says about the gospel. Paul said it was the power of
God unto salvation to everyone that believed the gospel. The
preaching of Christ crucified, he says in 1 Corinthians chapter
1, is the very wisdom of God. It's not only the power of God,
but it's the wisdom of God. How God can be just and justify
sinners. The wisdom of God. The authority,
listen to me, the authority of the King is established by it. There's not going to be a bowing
to the will of God in Christ without the preaching of the
gospel. How are you going to call on Him in whom you have
not believed? How are you going to believe
on Him of whom you have not heard? And how are you going to hear
without a preacher? And then we're kept by the power of God
through faith. unto salvation. So it's our sustenance,
isn't it? And I don't know how many times
he says it, at least three, the just shall live by faith. That's not talking about a one-time
thing, that's talking about a daily thing. And then Paul says this, you were the servants of sin,
But you have obeyed from the heart. Now listen to me. Listen
to what he says here. That form of doctrine delivered
you. You become free from sin and
become the servants of righteousness. How'd they do that? They heard
the gospel. And then Paul says this. We had
this gospel in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. It's his talent and his gain. Thy talent, he's had gain. What do you do? Honestly? Nothing. Nothing. So very little. So very little.
Here you are, you're eking out a living, and you're poor, and
lots of folks, they can just do anything they want to, but
you're not. Boy, you've got to really watch everything. Along
comes this man, he's so rich, it's beyond your imagination,
and he gives you a treasure. You're going to wrap it up in
a napkin? You've never had a treasure like this. You're going to show
everybody, tell everybody, Hey, look, look at this. Look at this. You know, I thought when the
Lord first did a work in my heart, I thought everybody on the top
side of God's earth was going to jump up and down when they
heard this. I really did. I was that naive. I thought they're
going to throw this stuff away just like I did. They're going
to see this treasure. They're going to see His glory.
hear his name, they're going to see his excellency, and they're
just going to take what they got and throw it away and grab
this. They didn't. They said, we're not going to
have this man reign over us. My God's not like that. That's
what they told me. And then lastly, there'd be a
day of reckoning. Those who took the way. what
they were given will lose what they've been given. They'll lose
it. It'll be taken from them and
given to another. He'll take what they have and
give it to another. Every one that hath shall be
given and from him that hath not, even that which he seemed
to have, will be given to another. And all those who refuse to bow
to Him, they're going to be brought before Him and what? Slayed. They're going to be slayed. I
tell you, there's not a more important thing, a more needful
thing for any man than to hear this gospel. And don't do, okay,
I put my hour in. I put my hour and a half in.
I heard this. Enjoyed a good meal, now I just
go home and wait for next week. Don't do that. Don't do that. Take what you've heard and let
it go in. Ask God to apply it to your soul. Ask God to make his pound prosper. And he'll get all the glory.
That's the kingdom. That's the kingdom. All right,
thank you.