In the twelfth chapter of Luke's
Gospel, our Lord Jesus has been expounding to His disciples such
tremendously needed lessons about faith. And He used parables to
teach them. He told them about God's providence,
God's protection. No need to fear anything. No
need to fear anyone. No need to fear that God might
somehow fail to accomplish His purpose. He said, it's your Father's
good pleasure to give you His kingdom. He said that the time
would come when He would come Himself and gird Himself and
serve us forever. When He got done with His message,
Peter, poor Brother Peter, He seemed to always have his foot
in his mouth. He was a remarkable man, but
he had a tendency to speak when he ought to have kept his mouth
shut. And he said in verse 42, then Peter said to him, Lord,
speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? How many times have you thought
such a thing? You hear a man preach a message, and especially
if it's a little biting. And it seems as though he just
stuck his finger right in your heart. And you think, well, was
he talking to me? Sometimes even ask. I have folks
ask me sometimes, were you talking to me? Did somebody tell you
about me? And my usual response is, yes, somebody did, but not
who you think. And I certainly was talking to
you. I certainly was talking to you. It is my intention. Oh, I pray that God will enable
me, as I stand here right now, to speak specifically to everybody
here. Just as though I had opened your
veil this morning and knew everything going on in you. That's what
preaching is. As Brother Larry prayed, God
speaking through me to your heart. But the Lord was a little more
gracious than I am. He seems to just ignore Peter. He didn't say a word to him.
He didn't rebuke him. He didn't call him out. This was not one
of those times where that public open rebuke was necessary. But
you'll notice I said he seems to have ignored Peter. He didn't
ignore him at all. He just gave him the same message
all over again with a little more detail. Let's read it. Verse
42. And the Lord said, who then is
the faithful, that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall
make ruler over his household to give them their portion of
meat in due season? Verse 43, blessed is that servant
whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing of a truth I say unto you, that
he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But, and if that
servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming, and
shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, 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 Now look at this, that servant which knew his Lord's
will and prepared not himself, that is, he decided to do what
he wanted to anyhow, 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 whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed
much, of him they will ask the more." Our Lord is here describing for
us His kingdom. And his kingdom, in the broadest
sense of the word, includes the whole world. In these verses,
he again gives Peter a parable. And he describes two servants,
one faithful, faithful, not perfect, but faithful, not without fault,
but faithful, and not one who was in any way of the opinion that
he was worthy of emulation, but faithful. And another was evil. But you will notice both the
faithful and the evil are his servants, and he's the master. Now hear me. Hear me and understand
what I'm saying. The fact is all things and all
men, all creatures, particularly all rational creatures, serve
the gracious purpose of God toward his elect. We are all his servants,
every one of us. Hold your hands here in Luke,
and let me show you a couple of passages. Proverbs chapter 16. Proverbs
16. It doesn't matter who you are.
It doesn't matter who you think you are. You're God's servant. You're God's servant. You're
put here on this earth to serve Him. And serve Him you will. More than that, serve Him you
will in exactly the way He has purposed and intended. But you're
responsible to serve Him faithfully. Me too. Proverbs 16, verse 4. The Lord hath made all things
for Himself. I reckon that includes you and
me. The Lord hath made all things for Himself. Well, what an astonishing
surprise. He didn't make it just for you. He didn't make it just for me.
The Lord hath made all things for himself, yea, even the wicked,
for the day of evil. And you can look at that, say
he made the wicked for the day of evil in this world. Yep. He raised up Adolf Hitler for
exactly the purpose he intended to raise him up. Certainly has
application there. But he's talking about the day
of judgment. He made even the wicked for the day of judgment. Chapter 21 of Proverbs, verse
1. The king's heart. And we don't
know much about kings these days. The nearest thing we have to
it would be one of those Saudi princes. They have enough power,
enough money, enough influence that they do just about what
they want to, at least in their realm. Nobody questions it. Nobody dares raise a voice of
opposition. The king's heart, doesn't matter
whether it's President Bush or President Clinton or President
Carter, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord. his passions, his thoughts, his
feelings, his emotions, his desires in the hand of our God. And like rivers of water, that
is like irrigation canals in a farmer's field, he turns it
with us wherever he will. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee The remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain. Satan
is as much God's servant as Gabriel. He's a rebel servant, but he's
God's servant. Don't ever get the idea that
somehow the devil is a rival to God, somehow He's out of God's
control. He is God's devil. He exists
for God's purpose, and when God gets done with him, he'll cast
him into the bottomless pit. They're no rival, no rival to
the throne and dominion of God Almighty. The fallen angels,
the demons of hell, the very devils, are as fully the servants
of God as those angels who sing his praise continually around
his throne and have never known sin. Our Lord gave us example
after example of this in the Gospels, didn't He? Demons came and said, what are
you doing? Are you coming to torment us
before the time? And they asked for permission from Him to be
cast over into a hurtous wild. And He granted permission according
to His will. And every human being is the
servant of God Almighty. Every human being. Some of us
rejoice in that fact. Oh, what a privilege. What a privilege that God Almighty
would allow such things as we are to serve Him, His interest,
and His glory in this world. What a privilege. Others despise the thought of
God's dominion, but they are just as truly under His dominion
and serve His purpose. For of Him and through Him and
to Him are all things to whom be glory forever. In Christ we have obtained an
inheritance, Paul says, being predestined according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his
own will. Everybody serves our God everywhere,
all the time, absolutely. Everybody in heaven, earth, and
hell serves our God all the time, absolutely. No exceptions. No exceptions. Preacher, can
you explain that? Well, I started to say no, but
I can. I can explain that. Now, hold on. This is deep. This
is deep. It's going to take a while for
it to sink in. Here's the explanation. G-O-D. God. God. He's a little bigger than
what we think He is. a little wiser than we are, a
little more in control than we have ever imagined. He is God. That means Ron, he rules. Nothing interferes with his rule. Nothing causes him to pause a
step. Nothing causes him to back up.
Nothing causes him to change his mind. But rather, everything,
I mean every breath in the nostril of every being, every thought
in the heart of every king, every passion in every man's heart,
is ruled exactly according to God's purpose for the accomplishing
of his purpose. I have a point in this. Turn,
if you will, to 1 Corinthians 11. And I'm guilty. I get distressed. I get upset
when I see the perversity and the prevalence of false religion
in our society. I get upset when I see that The
world around us has been hoodwinked with false religion, and false
prophets, false teachers have such power and influence, prestige.
I don't know why, though, that we get uneasy or uncomfortable
as though somehow God's purpose weren't being accomplished. The
point I want you to see this evening is this. Even those men.
who are false prophets, even those men who are messengers
of Satan, deceiving the souls of men with their perverse doctrine,
are the servants of our God and sovereignly are used by Him to
accomplish His purpose in all things. Peter speaks of these
false prophets who deny the Lord who bought them. You see, the
Lord Jesus bought the right to rule this world as the God-man,
our mediator for the saving of His people and the glory of His
name. He rules. Look in 1 Corinthians
11 verse 19. For there must be also heresies
among you. All the heresies that come. All
of them. All of them. No accidents. Did you hear what so-and-so said?
Who are these people? What are they doing? You know,
you'd be well advised never to even give a thought to trying
to figure out what the latest heresy is and why it arises and
where they get their notions. Find out what the truth is and
you can spot the error. Don't spend your time trying
to figure out what the error is. Just ignore that. This is
what happens. They must come. They must come. Watch this. That they which are
approved may be made manifest among you. The heresies come
and sweep away this and that. The heresies come and they take
this one here and they take that one there. But those who are
born of God stand firm. The heresies too are in God's
control. Now, in this parable back here
in Luke 12, our Lord gives us a word of instruction, of inspiration,
and warning. Particularly, He is speaking
to men who stand, as I do tonight, in the house of God as His servants. I want to show you two things
in the passage. Number one, in verses 42, 43, and 44, Our Lord gives us a description
of God's faithful servants. Now, without question, the parable
and the instruction that's given here may be applied to every
believer. You are, in your particular calling
in life, God's servant. Children of God, learn this and
learn it well. Wherever you are, Whatever your
gifts, whatever your position, whatever your place on God's
earth, if you're God's child, by best, if you're God's servant,
just as much as the man who's preaching to you right now, just
as much as the Apostle Paul or as Luke who wrote these words,
God's servant. Be faithful as God's servant
in the place where he put you. What's your calling? I'm the
servant of God. That's all. That's all. We have
men here who are carpenters and plumbers, men here who are electrician
fellows and electronic fellows, men here who are educators. We are God's servants. Whatever it is that God's given
you to do, wherever He's put you in your life, Whether He's
put you in a place of influence over many people, or in a place
of influence over just one or two people. Wherever God's put
you, you are God's servant. Your purpose in your place is
not to make money to spend on yourself. Your purpose in your
place is not to acquire more wealth for yourself. Your purpose
in your place in life, in your calling, is not to secure more
things. That's just not it. That's just
not it. Your purpose on this earth, in
this world, is to serve God Almighty. And what a privilege that is.
What a privilege that is. Serve Him then, wherever you
are. Our lives are to be spent in just that manner. He is the
Lord. He's the master. We're his servants. We are servants in his house.
And it doesn't really matter where we serve. Just suppose,
Merle, just suppose there were two angels going to be sent down
here on this earth to do something for the Savior. One of them going to be sent
down here to rule the largest kingdom in the world all the
days of his life. And the other one will be sitting
down here to sweep the streets in that kingdom. You reckon there'd be any strife
over which one did what? But the master said, look here,
he gave me a broom. He gave me a broom. Here I am
to serve him. And the other one wears a crown. Everybody looks at him and sees
him. He said, oh, I've got a responsibility. Serve him. It doesn't matter
where we serve him. It just doesn't matter. Serve
him. That's all that matters. Those
men who are gifted of God to be preachers and teachers in
his church, but are not called and gifted to be pastors. They
are also his servants and ought to be treated with the same respect
and dignity as the man who's the pastor or those who are never
gifted to speak at all. You see, in the kingdom of God,
there's no such thing as clergy and laity. There's no such thing
as big me and little you. In the kingdom of God, we have
one master and one Lord, and we are His servants. And being
His servants, we treat one another with respect and dignity. We're the servants of God Almighty.
And look here in Luke 12 and verse 42. The Lord said, who then is that
faithful and wise servant whom his Lord shall make ruler over
his household, to give them their portion, their portion of meat in due
season." Particularly, the passage is
talking about preachers, pastors, evangelists, missionaries. What a great trust. God Almighty
has put in these hands. We have this treasure, the Word
of God, the Gospel of His grace, the grace of God, His salvation,
this treasure, this treasure. Oh, what a treasure. In earthen vessels, in broken
clay pots, just broken clay pots that the
excellency of the power might be of God and not of us. I wonder why God is pleased to take a moron with no gifts and
no abilities and no talents, a worthless useless clod of human flesh and
use them to preach the gospel to other worthless, useless clods
of human flesh. Well, if I'd been doing that,
I'd have picked this thought. I'd have picked that one, too. I would have to. How come? That the excellency
of the power may be of God and not of us. So everybody will
know. If anything's done, it's good. God did it, not the fellow
he used. We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the
excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. Now in
this parable, our Lord describes his faithful servant by four
things. First, his position. God's servant
is here described as one whom the Lord hath made ruler over
his house. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter
3. The church of God. And I'm talking now to you people
right here. For this little space of time,
think of the church of God as being this group of people right
here. This group of people right here. I know the Church of God
includes all God's elect in every age and every country. I'm fully
aware of that. I know the Church of God includes our brethren
over in Lexington and other places where the gospel is preached
and men are worshiping God tonight. But the Church of God is a local
assembly of redeemed sinners worshiping and serving Christ
just like us right here, right now. This local church is the
church of the living God. Paul says it's the house of God.
It's an habitation of God through the spirit. It is God's family. It is God's household Now look
here first Corinthians 3 verse 16 The Church of God is God's
temple. It's God's temple You remember
our Lord said we're two or three gathered together in my name
there in mind the midst of them Both promise concerning the glory
of the temple the Lord God would come among them And when we come
together in this place, in the name of Christ, something happens
that's mystical, no man can explain. We come together to worship Him,
Larry Chris, we come together in His presence. The Son of God
said He'd be here, and here He is. It's His temple. Now watch
this. Know ye not that you are the
temple of God? and that the Spirit of God dwelleth
in you. Now watch this. If any man defile,
the word is divide or destroy. If any man destroy the temple
of God, him shall God destroy. For the temple of God is holy,
which temple you are. Now God's servants, God-ordained
pastors, are made by God to be rulers over his household. In the family of God, there are
fathers and young men and children. There are some who are strong
and some who are weak, some who are old and some who are young,
some who are very, very dependent, and some who are very, very independent,
some who need little attention, some who need much attention.
But each what? Each one has been placed in God's
family exactly according to God's purpose and God's time. And God-ordained
pastors have been placed in his household to rule the house,
not as tyrants, not as dictators, not as lords over God's heritage,
but rulers placed over his house as stewards to care for his house. Most preachers these days are
I think I was talking to some of the men the other day who
were traveling, somebody recently. I call them Junebug preachers.
Kids these days probably never had the joy and experience of
playing with Junebugs. But when I was a boy, I used
to play with Junebugs. Obviously, they came around in June. Big
old green things, looked like overgrown Japanese beetles. And
we'd take them and tie them on a string and just fly them everywhere. Until they died, then we'd go
catch another jumbug and fly it on a string some more. As
before we had Nintendo. We played with jumbugs. And those
jumbugs just fly, fly. If you saw one flying around
and didn't see the string, you'd think he was free as a bird. But he's
on a string. Most preachers are jumbug preachers.
They don't dare cross the deacon board. the denominational board,
other preachers, a board of elders, whoever it is that controls the
purse strings that all they rant and rave and carry on in all
kinds of ways, but they're Junebug preachers. Not gods. Not gods. God's servants serve
your soul. If I'm His, Bobby Estes, I am
your servant to serve you. But I won't be put under your
thumb as a hireling to you. Uh-uh. Not God's servants. Not
God's servants. Where in the word of God will
you ever find a prophet or a preacher who was ruled or governed or
even influenced by the will of the people he was sent to serve?
The only preacher like that described in this book is a hireling. And
that's what they all are, just hirelings. God's servants are
responsible under God for the rule of his house. They rule
his house by his word, with the authority of his word, by the
power of his spirit. And they rule it according to
his will. A faithful steward. rules his master's house exactly
according to his master's will. Let me see if I can illustrate
it for you. Let's just suppose this is a
large family. Bob Duff is the father of the
house. And you're his children, his wife. And I come along here,
and he makes me his servant. And he's going to be gone for
a while. And being steward over his house, he puts in my care
all his legal property and power and says, now rule this house
just like this. That means that it doesn't much
matter how much squalling his kids do. I'm responsible to rule
the house the way you say. It doesn't much matter how much
squalling and bellyaching his wife may do. I'm responsible
not to her, but to you. You follow me? God's servants
are responsible to Christ the Lord to rule his house by his
word, exactly according to his will. And it doesn't matter what
the whim of the age is. It doesn't matter what people
want. It doesn't matter what they think. They're responsible
to Christ. He's secondly described by his
work. The pastor's work is to give them their meat. their portion
of meat in due season. Those who are stewards of God's
house are responsible to feed and provide
for His house. It is not a pastor's work I know this sounds so strange
in our society. I'm sure it doesn't sound strange
to you, at least you who have been here for a while. But it
is not a pastor's work to be a good socializer. If you were to look at a curriculum
for training preachers, seminary in Louisville or any other, it
doesn't matter which one you pick. It doesn't matter whether
it's Baptist, Presbyterian, or Catholic. If you look at a curriculum
for training preachers, a period of study of 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,
10, 12 years, and look at a curriculum going through every degree they
offer, and compare the number of courses in which the man is
trained in being a good mixer, a good businessman, a good socializer,
a good counselor, a good therapist, a good psychological massager,
with that which sets forth trading with regard to the gospel of
God's grace, you'd be flat astounded. You'd be astounded. Because everybody
thinks a pastor is supposed to be a socializer, an analyst,
a therapist, a counselor, a priest, a community doorknocker, a community
leader. God's servants are preachers. And that's all, folks. Just preachers. Just preachers. I read a brief biographical sketch
of Alexander McLaren this week. I didn't know much about him,
so I thought I'd do some research. I've read a good bit of his work.
The biographer who wrote this brief sketch seemed not to be
terribly admirable of this trait, but he said Mr. McLaren had little
to do with social issues in his day and seldom spoke about any
of those things. He spent all his time studying
and preaching. I thought, man, that's the kind
of guy I want to send in. Study to show yourself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth. It's the work of the pastor to
give, to give, to give, to give. I want to say this for folks
who hear tapes. If there's anything on this earth
that is likely to get me not to go somewhere and preach is
for somebody to call me up or write to me and say, what would
it take to get you to come out here? How much would it cost? Not God's
servants. Not God's servants. Never. Never. Nothing more offensive. Our Lord
spoke to the preachers in Ezekiel's day, and he said, my flock became
a prey, a prey to every beast of the
field, because there was no shepherd. Neither did my shepherds search
for my flock, but the shepherds, the preachers, fed themselves,
not my flock. Paul said, we preach not ourselves.
We preach not for ourselves or about ourselves, but Christ Jesus,
the Lord, and ourselves, your servants for Christ's sake. That which is to be given is
meat, the meat of the gospel, the meat of life in Christ Jesus,
and is to be given in due season so that the pastor gives to each
one his portion of meat. Grace for the guilty. Pardon
for the fallen. Redemption for the ruined. Righteousness
for the wicked. Cleansing for the defiled. Reproof
for the wayward. Comfort for the troubled. Strength
for the weak. Christ for everybody. And then
his character is described. Our Lord describes his servants
as men with these two traits, faithful and wise. Only God can make a man either
faithful. Paul said, let a man so account
of us as ministers of Christ and stewards of the mysteries
of God. Moreover, it is required of stewards that a man be found
faithful. That's all. That's all. That's all. David Peterson, as
you serve your God in the place where your God has put you, for
the glory of your God, he requires one thing of you, faithful. That's all. That's all. That's all. Don Fortner, as you
serve your God in the place where your God has put you, for the
glory of your God, He requires one thing of you. Faithful. And God's servants are David
and Don, if they're His servants. His servants are moreover described
here as wise. Wise because they are taught
of God and have the mind of Christ. And they are found doing what
God has called them to do. Look at verse 43. Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Let me see if I can figure out
how to say what I want to say. Men and women who are God's servants,
being called and gifted of God in the life which God has given
them, know what God would have them to do. They know. They know. They know. If I'm God's servant, I have
a mission. I have work to do. And I know what it is. Now, for
me as a pastor, that may seem to be a little clearer than for
others. But the fact is, it is our responsibility
to serve God's glory, God's kingdom, God's interest, God's people. Our responsibility to do so. in the place where God has put
us faithfully. That's it. I have a mission. I have a responsibility. I have
a work to do. I have a mandate from God. God
has sent me here to preach the gospel of His grace in this generation,
from this pulpit to this world for the glory of Christ. It's
my responsibility and our responsibility together to do it to the best
of our ability, to the fullest extent of usefulness possible
in our generation. Someone asked John Calvin one
time, what would you like the Lord to find you doing when He
comes? Calvin said, I'd like for Him
to find me not idle when He comes. Oh, that's what I'd like. God's servant is constant in
his labor and perseveres in his work. Now look at verses 43 and
44. The Lord describes the reward
of his servants. Blessed is that servant whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Doing what? Doing what it put him here to
do. So doing. Doing what? Giving
my people their meats in due season. So doing. Doing what? Doing that which
he trusted to your hands for his glory and his people. Of the truth, I say to you, you make him ruler over all that
he hath. Him that honoreth me, God said,
I'll honor. The scriptures, of course, teach
nowhere, imply nowhere the notion of degrees of reward as contrary
to everything revealed in the gospel. But God rewards faithfulness. both in this world and in the
world to come, giving his servants all that he has. And you know what? I just ain't
interested in anything else. All that he has. all that it
has. I've told you the story before
about the preacher flying. He sat down beside a fellow. The fellow wanted to talk a little
bit. He introduced himself. He said,
I made my father in business together. And the preacher thought,
well, I can identify that. He said, me too. He said, is
that right? He said, my father and I, we
We deal in jewels. And the preacher said, that's
amazing. Me too. The fellow took him back a little
bit. He says, is that right? He said, my father and I, we
deal only in the rarest of jewels. And that preacher remembered
the passage in Malachi, I believe it is, where he said, they shall
be mine in that day when I make up my jewels. He said, me too. This fellow looked at him a little
strange, and he said, I'm on my way now to meet my
father. And that preacher, he said, me
too. And that fellow, he said, I sure
hope he'll be pleased with what I've done. God's servants. What an honor. Amen.