I invite you this morning to
take your Bibles and turn with me to Matthew chapter 24. Let's begin reading with verse
45. Who then is a faithful and wise
servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to
give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto
you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But, and
if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth
his coming, and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and
to eat and to drink with the drunken, The Lord of that servant
shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that
he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint
him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." Our lesson this morning is about good and evil servants. That is what our Lord is dealing
with here. And before we deal with this, let me just say this,
all things, all things, all providence, all principalities, and all powers,
and all men serve God's eternal purpose to save His elect. They are all His servants. his servants. In Proverbs 16,
verse 4, it says, The Lord hath made all things for himself,
yea, even the wicked, even the wicked, for that day of evil. And in Proverbs 21, verse 1,
he tells us, the king's heart. What king? All kings. Every king. The king's heart
is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water. You know,
you go up in an airplane, it's hard to see from down here, but
you get up in an airplane and look down, And those rivers go
everywhere. They go east a while, go west
a while, and they go south a while. And they just wind and twist. Who laid out that river? Who
appointed that river its destiny? Made every turn for it? Well,
here He says it's the Lord. And as the Lord did those rivers
of water, so does He do to the heart of the King. And he turneth
it, whithersoever he will. And then in Psalm 76, in verse
10, he says, Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee, and
the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Old Pharaoh, down
in Egypt, you remember I studied when we were looking at Israel's
deliverance out of Egypt. Old Pharaoh hardened his heart. He hardened his heart. He sat
in his palace, in that throne room, and he did exactly what
was on his heart. He did exactly what he willed
to do. He did exactly what he wanted
to do. And Pharaoh hardened his heart.
But it also says God hardened his heart. God hardened his heart. And the truth is that he'll have
mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will, he'll harden.
That's what it says. That's what this Bible teaches.
Good and evil. This age or that age. Big or
small. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the cause according
to His purpose. And Satan is as much the servant
of God as Gabriel. That's right. He's God's servant. He does what God allows him to
do. And hurricanes and floods and
disasters are as much the servants of Christ as the apostles. Our
Lord tells us that none of us liveth to himself. No man, no
woman, no boy, no girl. I know you think you do. We think
we do, but we don't. He said, none of us live it to
himself, and no man dieth to himself. Whether we live, we
live unto the Lord, and whether we die, we die unto the Lord.
Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. You see
what I'm saying? All these things are servants.
When He talks about good servants and evil servants, those evil
servants, they're still servants. And they serve God's purpose
to save His elect. God our Savior rules everywhere. He rules everything, and He rules
everyone, and He rules them totally and absolutely. Even those who
are deceived by Satan and live out their days serving the spirit
of antichrist were told God sent them strong delusion. God did. God did. And in our text here in Matthew
24, both God's faithful and wise servants, and those He calls
evil servants, both were said to be servants of the Lord. So let's take a little time this
morning and just look at these two servants that He talks about.
He singles out two of them. He singles out servants called
men. Men. Good servants and evil servants. And let's look first of all at
these faithful and wise servants. Who are these servants? I believe
these servants are God's messengers to His people. I believe that's
what He's talking about here. And primarily here, I believe
He's talking about pastors, although certainly missionaries and evangelists
are included. Well, how did you come up with
that, preacher? I listen to you read those verses.
How did you come up with that? Well, listen to what he says. He says, first of all, they're
rulers over God's household. Who made them rulers? Who appointed
them? Who gave them the rule? How did
they get their authority? That's what men want to know
all the time. I've got a nephew who talked
to me for the longest time, and he said, This guy says he's sin
of God, and this guy says he's sin of God, and this guy says
he's sin of God. This guy, he does good works,
and this guy does good works, and this guy does good works.
How am I supposed to know which one is God's servant? How somebody
like me who has no years of knowledge of the Word of God, how am I
supposed to know who's God's servant and who isn't? And I
gave him the only answer there is. You won't but by the grace
of God. You never will. You never will. That's how Paul knew the election
of the Thessalonians. He said they heard him. And when
they did, they heard it as the Word of God. They heard Paul. And when he spoke, they received
it as the Word of God. This is God's messenger. How'd
they know that? By the Spirit of God. That's
how they knew it. Confirmed it in their hearts.
Confirmed it in their mind. Confirmed it in this book. They're
rulers over God's household and their job is to feed God's household
with meat in due season. That's what they're there for.
That's what they're there for. And we could easily fill up the
rest of our time on this one point, but let me just give you
a few things to think about here. He says in the Scriptures, I'm
going strictly by the Scriptures, His pastures are His gift to
the church. It is the gift of the ascended
Christ to His church. Isn't that what it says there
in the book of Ephesians? When He ascended up on high,
He gave gifts to men. He led captivity captive and
gave gifts to men. He gave some apostles. He gave
some prophets. He gave some evangelists and
pastor teachers. He gave them. That was God's
gift to His church. I'm going to tell you something.
A true pastor is not a burden to his flock. He's not a burden. They're not just added weight.
They're not wearisome to the flock. They recognized, received,
and rejoiced in as Christ's gift to them. God gave them. He called me to the ministry.
And He gave me the high privilege to preach. And that's what He
does. He gives this gift of pastor-teachers,
missionaries, evangelists, all these men. They're God's gift.
They're the gifts of the ascended Christ to His church. And I thought
as I prepared this what a gift it is to a young lady for God
to send her way a faithful, wise, and godly husband to give Himself
for her and to love her until death do them part. What a gift
that is. And that's exactly the way pastors
are given to churches. That's exactly how they're given. God espouses to the church a
faithful pastor. It's God's gift. God's gift. And His rule over the house of
God is by God's own purpose and decree. Listen to these Scriptures. He said, Remember them which
have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the Word of God,
whose faith follow, considering the end of their behavior, their
conversation, their walk in this world. And then listen to this,
Acts chapter 20, verse 28. He said, Take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock. Now watch this. I'm not sure. I've read this
and heard this a lot. But I am not sure I ever slowed
down enough to really understand what it is saying here. Take
heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over which
the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church
of God which He has purchased with His own blood. And then
here is one more, Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17. He said, Obey them that have
the rule over you, and submit yourselves, for they watch for
your souls as they who must give account, that they may do it
with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable to you. That man or woman, boy or girl,
who refuses to submit to God's pastors, he rejects Not only
the gift of Christ to his church, but he rejects one of the things
of the Holy Ghost. And that puts him on dangerous
ground because he said the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. Well, this is one of those things.
This is one of those things. You don't want to throw that
out the door. I read it to you just a few minutes
ago there in Acts chapter 20, over which the Holy Ghost hath
made you overseers. And if the Holy Ghost hath made
him an overseer, and a teacher, and a feeder of the flock of
God, and you reject him, or you treat him with indifference,
or you make no attempt to advantage yourself of the means, He said,
it's unprofitable then to you. You've taken all the profit out
of it. You've rejected God's means. The rule of the pastor is a willing,
loving rule. It's a rule of grace, not a rule
of law and duty. I tell you, I'd hate to be married
to a woman whose only connection to me was a marriage certificate.
Huh? There was not much joy there. Not much benefit there. Or a law of duty. And then this
servant, this wise and faithful servant, he can be known by his
work. The Scripture here our Lord gives us, tells us that
He feeds them with meat in due season. You know, God has a season
to be heard. He picks it. He decrees it. Over and over, He talks about
in that time He hath appointed. That time. That young baby that was tossed
out. You remember the story back in
the Old Testament. That young girl was thrown out
there. Unloved. Uncut. Unswaddled, unclean, laying there
in the dirt. It said, He passed by her and
it was a time of love. That was God's season. God has
seasons when He speaks to His own. And these pastors, they
feed meat to the congregation in due season. And it's His desire
and privilege to feed the flock of God with the meat of gospel
doctrine. knowledge and understanding.
He's not an entertainer. He's not up here to entertain.
He's up here to feed. Feed. Pastors spend their time
in their spiritual kitchens preparing the Lord's Supper. And the less
that he's bothered during that time when he's studying, the
less that's on his mind during that time, the better the meal
is going to be. I come home, I had three kids
all at home all at the same time. And I come home from work, I
was hungry, put in ten or twelve hours out there pouring concrete,
I was wore out and I was hungry and I came in and there's my
three kids in the kitchen and my wife about ready to pull her
hair out. She couldn't hardly cook for those three kids. That's
the same thing. Can you take that picture and
picture your pastor in his study And just leave them alone. When she's
cooking, leave her alone. That's what I do. I go outside
somewhere. I get out of the way. Because
I'm anxious for that meal. I'm hungry for that meal. You know, over in the book of
Acts, the 12 said to the congregation, now we're talking about thousands
of people. We're not talking about 25. We're
talking thousands, 3,000 souls all at one time brought into
the kingdom of God. So we're talking about thousands
of men and women. But the 12 said, it's not meat
for us. There was a complaint that came
and the Jewish widows were getting relief, but the Gentiles weren't.
And a complaint was raised and brought before the church. And
the 12 said, it's not meet for us to wait on table. By that,
they weren't saying that it was beneath them to wait on tables.
But what they were saying was that it interfered with what
they were doing. It interfered with their calling.
And so when we talk about that, that's what I'm talking about.
And then these wise and faithful servants are known by their character.
They are faithful and they are wise, not of themselves, but
by the grace of God. Pastors are faithful in what
they preach. I got a call the other day, an
invitation to go up northern Arkansas, up above Fort Smith,
and speak to a bunch of pastors and people up there that have
broken loose from the Southern Baptist Association. and other
things, I'm sure, and preach to these people. Well, what am
I going to preach? What am I going to go up there
and preach to them? I don't know who they are or what they believe.
I'm going to preach the same thing I preach to you. I don't
even have to wrestle about it. I'm not even careful how I'm
going to answer them on the phone. I preach Christ. And that's what
I'm going to preach up there. They are faithful in what they
preach. They preach the gospel. They preach Christ, Alpha and
Omega, Sovereign Lord, accomplished redemption in Christ. And then
pastors are faithful to their flocks, little or big, weak or
strong, well-known or obscure. Their first duty is to their
flocks. I'm willing to do the work of an evangelist. And I
did agree to go up there and preach. And I do, from time to
time, go here or there to preach. And I'm willing to help other
pastors in need. And we're willing to take the
gospel to as many as God's providence will allow. But our hearts and
our labors are where God has put us. Right here. Right here. I don't care where I go. This
congregation is what's on my heart and on my mind. It doesn't
matter if I'm in Danville or up in Virginia somewhere or down
in North Carolina. And the pastor's wisdom, he's
faithful and wise, and his wisdom is Christ. That's what makes
him appear wise beyond his years. Christ. He's our wisdom. God
hath made him to be unto us wisdom. Wisdom. When you read the book
of Proverbs, and he's talking about wisdom, he's talking about
Christ. Now you read that book with that
in mind and it will change. It will speak to you. This is our wisdom as Christ.
How do you know God will punish sin? Because He punished it in
Christ on the cross. And these pastors shall be given
wisdom of God to rule and love over the church where God has
put it. Listen to this, II Corinthians
9.8, Paul said, God is able to make all grace abound toward
you that ye always, having all sufficiency in all things, may
abound unto every good work. Who gives you that sufficiency?
Christ does. Christ does. He is not going
to call a man into the ministry and not gift him. He's not going
to call a man into the ministry and not confirm the work. This
is God. This is God who has called us. And then secondly, the Lord gives
us four things to describe these evil servants. He gives us first
their character. Unbelief. Unbelief. They say, my Lord delayeth His
coming. Why would the all-wise, everywhere
present, unchangeable, sovereign of the universe delay his coming? I want you to think about that.
What a statement that false prophet has made. Is it something he
didn't see? Is there something out there
the God of glory didn't see? Is there something he did not
know? Is it some unforeseen power that caught him off guard? Did
Satan put up a better fight than he figured he would? Did men
resist more than he thought they would? Why would God our Savior
delay His coming? He wouldn't. He wouldn't. And He won't. He won't. It's utter ignorance and unbelief
that talks about our Lord as though He were not God. He is
God. God. And it's always the character
of an evil servant to question the teaching, ways, means, and
purpose of God in Christ. And it's ever their intent to
give Him a character like their own. Like their own. That's how they calculate what
God will do and what God won't do by their own character. And
then secondly, He speaks about their conduct. They're abusive.
He beats His servants. The Lord didn't tell His servants
to beat His fellow servants. Now, I believe this has a two-fold
application. This has an application. First,
He calls them fellow servants. So that means this man is a pastor,
and he's beating the other pastors. He's wearing out these other
pastors. He's backbiting these pastors.
He's downing these pastors. He's slandering these pastors.
He picks at their reputation and questions their doctrine,
finds fault in almost everything and everyone except himself. And though he claims to be the
servant of the Lord, it also says he prefers to eat and drink
with the drunken. That is, his appetite is for
the world. His ministry is after man. That's what it's after. Man's
approval and man's promotion and man's support and man's glory. And they abuse their flocks.
Not just their fellow servants, but they abuse their flocks.
They prefer the whip to the communion supper and they prefer law over
grace or some unholy mixture of the two. And they prefer threatening
over love. You know, Paul said love never
fails. Never fails. Never fails. How often does threatening fail?
All the time. Huh? I don't care. I don't care
how much I threaten my kids. They did what they wanted to
do. But I tell you, when they saw what they did against my
love for them, it broke their heart. That's why I love rules. That's why it's a loving rule. We don't carry whips. I'm not
going to whip anybody. And I'll tell you this, the Lord
says, of these evil servants, they look not for Him. They look
not for Him. They'll be shocked. They'll be
shocked. You know, I had a friend, I was
working years ago up in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and we was working
on these big dairy barns, that big dairy country up there. And
these dairy barns were huge. I mean, they'd just go on forever.
And we was up there putting a new roof on a dairy barn. And I worked
with this man. His name was John Orrick. Called
everybody Doc. And old John was the strongest
man I've ever seen in my lifetime. That man took, we had barn metal
was about 20 feet long. And it's pretty heavy, that galvanized
metal. And it was windy. If you've ever tried to handle
sheet metal in the wind, you know what I'm talking about.
And I'd go out there and get it, and I'd try to walk it up,
and then I'd get it up there, and then I'd try to hand it up,
and they was up on top, had the hard part, up on top. I just
couldn't do it. The wind, I didn't weigh nothing
back then, and that wind was just whipping me. Old John Orrick
come down, he got two or three at a time, got all the way on
one end and tucked that metal up against his waist and lifted
up like that and handed it to us in that wind up on the roof.
And two of us up on the roof was about to come off because
we couldn't hold on to it. But anyway, we had a man who
came down from New York City. He came down there to work and
he's supposed to be a top-notch carpenter. But he was one of
these back biters. And he got down there, and he
was talking to the boss about John Orrick. And boy, he was
just ripping him up one side and down the other. And we was
standing right straight up above him in a big skylight in the
roof of that barn looking down, listening. And this guy was just
eating him alive. And all of a sudden, John Orrick
just jumped straight down through that skylight and landed right
in front of him. And that guy just turned as wide
as that notebook paper. And he was standing there looking
at the man that he'd been just railing on and backbiting and
slandering and calling him everything but a milk cow. And old John
just stood there. He never said a word. He just
stood and looked him in the face. And boy, he just melted. That's
what these guys are going to do. That's what they're going
to do. They're not looking for his coming.
They're not looking for his coming. They're playing games. They're
out here playing games. They're on a first-name basis
with him. And one day he's coming back. And he's coming back in
an hour that they think not. They're not looking for him.
Can you imagine what a surprise it would be to open the door
and see him whom you've rejected and denied and ridiculed looking
you in the face? And then lastly, he tells us
about their state. It's a state of darkness and
judgment. He that believeth not him shall
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. He's in darkness,
in chains of darkness. And the Lord of that servant,
he says in verse 50, shall come in a day when he look not for
him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and cut him asunder,
and upon him a portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping
and gnashing of teeth. Turn with me to 1 Thessalonians
5, and I'll wind this up. 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse
8. But let us who are of the day
be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a
helmet the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us
to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us. Whether we wake or sleep, we
should live together with Him. comfort yourselves together,
edify one another even as also you do. And we beseech you, brethren,
to know them which labor among you and are over you in the Lord,
and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for
their work's sake. And be at peace among yourselves.