The lesson this morning is found
in Luke chapter 12. Luke chapter 12, verses 45 through
59. Last week we talked about God's
faithful and wise stewards. He addresses them first. And
this week I want us to see God's evil and wicked stewards. I titled the lesson, An Evil
Servant. I get that from Matthew's gospel on this same subject of
Matthew 24, 48. He calls them evil servants. Let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 12, verse 45. But, and if that servant say
in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to
beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and be drunken. The Lord of that servant will
come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when
he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint
him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his
Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according
to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that
knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten
with few stripes. For unto whosoever much is given
of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed
much of him they will ask the same. I am come to send fire
on earth, and what will I if it be already kindled? But I
have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened
till it be accomplished? Suppose ye that I am come to
give peace on earth? I say nay. but rather division. For from henceforth there shall
be five in one house, divided three against two, and two against
three. The father shall be divided against
the son, and the son against his father, and the mother against
the daughter, and the daughter against her mother, and the mother-in-law
against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against
her mother-in-law. And he said also to the people,
when you see a cloud rise out of the west straightway, you
say, there cometh a shower. And so it is. And when you see
the south wind blow, you say, there will be heat, and it cometh
to pass. You hypocrites. You can discern
the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it that you
do not discern this time? Yea, and why even of yourselves
judge ye not what is right? When thou goest with thine adversary
to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that
thou mayest be delivered from him, lest he hail thee to the
judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the
officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee, thou shalt not depart
thence till you have paid Very last month. First thing that caught my eye
in these verses is that evil or good, they are God's servants. You ever think about that? They're
God's servants. Pharaoh was as much God's servant
as Moses was. And he calls himself. Nebuchadnezzar
was as much God's servant as Daniel or the three Hebrew children. And he calls Nebuchadnezzar his
servant. There's nothing in creation that
does not serve God in His eternal purpose of grace. Nothing. Acts of evil, acts of good. They all serve the sovereign
God and they all serve Him in His purpose of grace. Actually,
God's purpose of grace is the reason for creation. That's why
there is a creation. That's why we have a being in
this world. That's why everything you see
out there is being preserved. He's the reason not only for
creation, but for the preservation of mankind. If it wasn't for
God's purpose, He would have utterly destroyed every living
thing. When Adam sinned, but he didn't. Why is that? Did God compromise
his justice? No. But he had a purpose of grace. In Romans 8, 19, he tells us
that the earnest expectation of the creature, that word is
creation. The earnest expectation of creation
waiteth. What's it waiting for? the manifestation
of the sons of God. That's why it's preserved. That's
why it goes on. For the creation was made subject
to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected
the same in hope. Listen to this, Proverbs 16,
4. The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked
for the day of evil. evil servants are as much servants
as good servants. And they serve in that capacity
only as far as God allows them. They're on a leash. God said to Satan, have you considered
my servant Job? Oh yeah, but you got him hedged
about. I can't do anything, but if you
loosen your hand, if you allow me to do this, he'll do that. They go only as far as God allows
them, and wherever they have preeminence over the people,
it's a sure sign of reprobation. It's a sure sign of the judgment
of God. And when he says, if that servant,
he's not talking about the good servant going bad. A good servant
is one called of God, preserved in Christ, and kept by the power
of God through faith unto the day of Jesus Christ. He's a good
servant. He's simply talking about one
who holds the same position. False prophets are servants of
the same Lord as good servants, but they serve in a different
capacity. And the Lord here does not call
the scribes and Pharisees evil servants, although He does in
other places, but not here. Here He simply describes their
character. Kind of a, if the shoe fits,
wear it, kind of thing. And then the second thing I see
here is their character pointed out. They're impostors. They're impostors. A true servant
who loves God and cares for his house, and he's been chosen to
that position by God and made a steward of those things. This
servant is not going to be drunken. He's not going to beat up the
servants. He's not going to do those things. That's not his
character. He was chosen to that position
and enabled to fulfill that position. These are impostors, they're
ignorant men who don't know God. And they take advantage of the
Lord's absence or they think He's absent. They take advantage of those
things and they think in their heart they're not being watched.
Listen to this. Woe unto them, God said, that
seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, and their works
are in the dark. And they say, who seeth us? Nobody can see me. And who knows
us? Surely their turning of things
upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. There's
that vessel of dishonor. There he is. Or shall the work
say of him that made it, he made me not? Or shall the thing framed
say of him that framed it, he has no understanding? They're
servants of God. Even the devil is God's devil
and he's used of God. In the book of Revelations it
talks about Christ coming down to this earth and putting a collar
on his neck and a chain in his hand. He's God's devil. He can
do exactly what God allows him to do and no more. And they're cruel men. Now I
want you to hear something. Natural men do not know the love
of God. I know you that you have not
the love of God in you. That's what Christ told him.
It's not in them to love. And so how are you going to keep
this congregation together? How are you going to keep this
house, as you call God's house, how are you going to keep it
together? With a whip. Isn't that what Pharaoh's servants
used? They used the whip. Keep them in line, the whip of
the law. You have to threaten them. God's
pastors don't threaten their congregations. They rule in love. They rule in understanding and
kindness and long-suffering and patience. They rule in love. My soul, if you don't do what
you do in love, it's an abomination to God. Here he tells you their true
character. They beat the men servants and the maid servants. Pastors are not disciplinarians,
except in extreme cases when men and women's behavior interferes
with worship or sets the whole church in a bad light, such as
an ungodly coupling, as it was in Corinth. open adultery, rank
idolatry, unlawful relationships, that kind of thing. We can't
have that. We can't allow that. But here in particular, he's
not talking about these extreme cases. He's talking about beating
them over their everyday service. In the Nazarene church that I
used to attend as a child, If you didn't tithe on time, they
sent a member of the church out to done you for your tithes.
Like a bill collector. Come to your house, knock on
the door. Hey, give it up. Publicly shame you for not dressing
properly. Avoid you if you didn't participate
in church activities. Act like they didn't know you. And that's not to mention the
weekly beatings you got from the pulpit with the whip of the
law. Now the master might find his
house in order, but the servants would be found scared by the
beatings and cowering in his presence. And God's servants
don't rule that way. They don't rule that way. Every
time he pictures his servants in the book of Revelation, they're
standing around him. giving Him glory, loving Him,
singing His praise. God's servants had the same problems
that plagued you. That's how I know how to address
them because I have the same problems you do. I've gone through
the same things you've gone through. The evil servants He describes
as legalistic, judgmental, self-serving men. They considered that house their
house, and they could do anything they wanted to. If they wanted
to get drunk, they'd get drunk. If they wanted to beat the servants,
they'd beat the servants. They did whatever they, they were
self-serving. And then thirdly, our Lord speaks
of a day that he's going to make himself known. Now we all know
that in the last day he's going to make himself known, but he
does continually. Continually. The Lord of that
servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at
an hour when he's not aware, and he'll cut him asunder, he'll
point him a portion with the unbelievers. I've seen this happen
in recent times. I have an eyewitness sitting
here this morning of that very thing. The Lord showed up, and
that was the end of that man's so-called ministry. It was over
in a heartbeat. I've seen it happen in recent
times. He'll come in an hour, you think not. You think, I'm
doing this. Everything's going my way. I'm
going to run things my way. I'm going to do things my way.
Boom. You ain't running nothing. You're
out. You're out. And I can only pray that the
Lord keep me from ever being that kind of a servant. God's house is commanded to obey them that have
the rule over you and submit yourselves for they watch for
your souls as they that must give an account. God left that
man there in charge of his house and he was accountable for the
house. That's what the Lord's telling those Pharisees, telling
those scribes and those doctors of the law. You're accountable to him. And
you need to obey them that they might do it with joy and not
with grief, for that's unprofitable for you. And he's not here talking about
an account in the last day, but every day. And I'm going to tell
you something. Satan is subtle. He knows more
about subtlety than we'll ever imagine. He knows exactly how
to bring a false teacher or preacher in and not even be noticed. Not even... But I'll tell you something worse
than that. is when they're brought in and
nobody even knows it. Everybody's satisfied. I'll tell
you, there's nothing worse in this life that God could do to
you as a judgment than just let you be satisfied. Hear anything
a man wants to say and leave and be satisfied with it. He calls them They're blind, God says. They're
all ignorant. He says they are as dumb dogs,
is how he describes them. They don't even know how to bark. That's what he says. Dumb dogs.
They cannot bark. Sleeping, lying down, loving
to slumber. Yea, they're greedy dogs which
can never have enough. And they're shepherds that cannot
understand. They all look for their own way. Everyone for his own gain. Isaiah
56. And then our Lord tells his disciples
that his purpose in coming was not to make some kind of universal
peace. Isn't that the basis of almost
every church in this world? Is that not their message? Peace,
peace where there is no peace. God loves everybody. God wants
to save everybody. That's not what Christ said. He said, I didn't come to put
out the fire. There's a fire burning, but I
didn't come to put it out. I come to bring about a division.
And there's going to, I'm going to tell you, I never understood
this when I was in religion. I used to read about it and I'd
read about the curse of God and all of these things and people
being judged. But I didn't see anything. It
wasn't anybody mad at me. It wasn't anybody mad at my pastor. I never seen any persecution.
He was loved by everybody in town. And I'd read about this
persecution and see it in the Scriptures and I just finally
started applying it to a day gone by, you know. It didn't
apply to my generation. Oh yeah, it does. But you ain't
preaching truth. If everybody's your friend, you're
not saying anything. That's what Christ said. I come
to establish a division. There's going to be a division.
There's a division between darkness and light. There's a division
between error and truth. There's a division. A clear,
distinct division. And I'll tell you this. Turn
with me to Romans chapter 9. Everything God does, he does
on purpose. Everything. He's not a creature
of time, he's not subject to the unknown. Well, God didn't
know that. Oh, yes he did. He's omnipotent, he's omniscient,
he's omnipresent. He alone declares the end from
the beginning? How can a man declare the end
from the beginning if he don't have control over the whole thing?
It's an utter impossibility. And here's what he said, my counsel
shall stand, I'll do all my pleasure. And no matter what it is, our
God said I've spoken it, I'll also bring it to pass, I've purposed
it, I'll also do it. He's the God of purpose. Now
look here in Romans 9. He begins with a statement that
shocks any unbelieving man or woman. Romans 9, 13. He said,
Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. Well, when did he say
that? After Esau sinned? Uh-uh. Before he was ever born. Before these two ever did any
good or evil. that the purpose of God according
to election might stand not of works, but of him that calleth. And Jacob's a figure of God's
elect. They're called over and over, sons of Jacob. I'm the
Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Romans 9.16, so then, It's not of him that willeth,
nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. For
the Scriptures say it to Pharaoh, even for this same purpose have
I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee, and that
my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore have
thee mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Now you're going to say something when I say that. To the average
person, here's what you're going to say. Why then doth he yet
find fault? Or who hath resisted his will?
And here's the answer. Nay, but O man, who art thou
that replies against God? Do you think you're on the same
level as God? You think when God says something
you can stand back and judge what he says? You better bow
to it and obey it. This is not a suggestion. This
is not a sharing session. He's not spitting something out
for your approval. When God speaks, it's a command.
I don't care what he says. It's a command. He's God. He's the Sovereign. That's what Paul's telling us
here. Therefore hath he mercy on whom
he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. He's God. Why does he yet find fault? He's
God. I'm not God. We're so far from
the holiness, justice, and righteousness of God, even our wildest imagination
can't get there. The only thing we really know
about is when we look to the cross and see God's judgment on one who died for us. That
tells me something about the justice of God, something about
the righteousness of God. He spared not his own son. Had not the potter power over
the clay? The same lump to make one vessel
under honor and another under dishonor? What is God willing
to show his wrath and make his power known, endured with much
longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction?
What's God do with them? He endures them. Why? Because those same vessels of
wrath out there, they run companies. They do things in this world
that you benefit from. And they're your servants, just
as Esau was to Jacob. The elder is going to serve the
younger. And that's the way it is with these men. He endures
them. He has a purpose in this world. It has to do with his
elect. and that he might make known
the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he hath
aforeprepared unto glory, even us whom he hath called, not of
the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles." How come we ain't
out there doing that? How come we don't do what they're
doing? What brought about the change in our lives? He called
us. How'd he do that with an irresistible
calling? through the gospel of God's grace
and through the power of the Holy Spirit. And you obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine that was delivered to you. God's purpose in this world is
not a universal salvation or to save as many as will let him. His purpose is to manifest the
glory of his name and the salvation of chosen sinners through the
person and work of his Son. And everyone chosen of him and
redeemed in Christ will be affectionately called by the Spirit through
the preaching of the gospel. And all the rest shall be judged
according to their works and damned forever. One thing you'll
never read in the scripture is God commending or giving righteousness
or calling a man righteous because of his works. You won't find
it. It says, they were judged according
to their works and everyone whose name was not found written in
the book of life was cast into the pit. Every one of them. May the Lord teach us the truth
about His sovereign grace in Christ and how to be good servants
and how to be part of that good house that obeys those servants.
They stand accountable to God. They stand accountable to him.
All right. Thank you.