Okay now, today we're going to
take a look at Luke 16 verse 1 down through verse 13 of Luke
chapter 16. I'm taking the title for the
message from what our Lord wisely and powerfully says in verse
13. Luke 16 verse 13 where our Lord
says, No servant can serve two masters. no servant can serve
two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and mammon,
you cannot serve God and riches, that is you cannot serve God
and trust anything else for salvation. Now this parable of our Lord
is known as the parable of the unjust steward. Its meaning is
deep and for reaching, worthy of a great deal of study and
meditation upon, and faith, that's a gift of God, to believe all
things that are written thereon. We as believers are to give ourselves
wholly to these things and to meditate upon these things found
in the Word of God. The bottom line and the sum of
the gospel message is found in these words, you cannot, that
is, it is impossible to be a servant of the Lord and have your affection
set upon something else." Have your affection set upon this
world. Now, hold your place there, and
let's find the book of Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter
3, right after Philippians. Colossians chapter 3, look at
verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. If it's true you've been risen
with Christ, then seek those things which are above. Set your
affection, your mind, your heart on things above, not on the things
of this earth, for you are dead and your life is hid with Christ in God. Now, believers, find another
scripture. I want you to find 1 John this
time, 1 John chapter 2. 1 John chapter 2. Now, believers do live in this
world. We are physical creatures living
in this world. Believers do live in this ungodly
world, but believers are not of this world's glory, goals,
or ambitions. Believers are diligently seeking
Christ, His glory, His kingdom, and the glories and fashion,
because the glories and fashion of this world are soon passing
away. Now, 1 John chapter 2, Look at
verse 15, love not the world. Now we're in this world. Love
not the world, and these are the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. For all that is in this world, here's the sum of it,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life
is not of the Father, but is of the world, and the world is
passing away. and the lust thereof, but he
that doeth the will of God abides forever." How do we do the will
of God? By believing the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are in this world, but we
are not of this world. Our heart has been changed by
the mighty power of God. Now, I've read several several commentators
on this parable. One of the old commentators I
read after had this comment, and I'll pass it along to you.
He said, the passage we have now before us is a difficult
one. He said, there are knots, knots,
K-N-O-T-S in it, which perhaps will never be untied until the
Lord comes again. We might reasonably expect that
that book written by inspiration as the Bible is would contain
things hard to be understood. impossible apart from the revelation
of God. But the fault, he says, still
quoting this commentator, the fault lies not in the book, that
is the Word of God, but in our feeble understanding. If we learn
nothing else from this passage, right here, let us learn humility. Humility of mind before God. You see, the problem we have
in understanding the meaning of Holy Scripture is not in the
fault of divine writing, all Scripture is given of God. The
problem we have of getting hold of what the Word of God is teaching,
but rather in our own feeble, sinful, and carnal weakness of
mind, weakness of faith. So true, it surely is with me. When I read a passage of Scripture
that is difficult, impossible to understand apart from the
help of the Lord, I cry out Lord give me understanding and I pray
for us the Lord will help us and guide us and give us understanding
in the things of God that we might find great assurance of
salvation while looking to the Lord Jesus Christ alone as he's
revealed in this book. This book is all about, not a
history book, it's His story. The book of God is about the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now I've got two points in this
message taken from verse 1 down to verse 13. The first part in
verse 1 down through verse 8, the parable or the story that
the Lord gives, someone suggested that this was actually a true
story that the Lord had given here. The Lord requires of His
servants to be faithful unto Him in all things. In the least
things, and in the little things, and in all things, let us not
be like this unfaithful, unjust steward." Now, in this story,
the Lord gives us this unfaithful servant, account of this unjust
steward, as he is called, and I pray the Lord will help us
to lay hold of the lesson that is given to us here. All men,
all men, he called this steward before him to give an account.
All men are accountable and responsible unto God. That includes you,
that includes me, that includes all men. All men are accountable
and responsible unto God to use what gifts, talents, and abilities
we have to the glory of God. To use what has been sovereignly
put in our hands to serve His eternal purpose to the fervent
of the gospel and to the glory of God. He's given us so many
precious things. Because everything we have, everything
we are, everything we own, given to us of Almighty God. Everything
we have belongs to Him. Everything we have belongs to
Him. There are no self-made men, no matter what they say. All
things belong to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. We're
only stewards here. We're only stewards here of what
He has given to us. Therefore, we should use it wisely
unto His glory. Psalm 24, you remember verse
1? The earth is the Lord, and the
fullness thereof, the world, and they that dwell therein,
the earth is the Lord. You're His. You're in His hand. And He has given you things Materially
and otherwise, He's given you things, talents and gifts, a
sharp mind, working hand. He's given you these things that
you should use everything He's given you to serve His purpose. Catechism says the chief end
of man is to honor and worship God. That's our chief end. That's why He made us. He made
us that we might serve Him. Now in this story, the rich man
had a servant that was given a trust to use his master's good
to serve his master, but instead he went about to serve himself
and to abuse his master's trust. When the master of the house
found out about it, His dishonest dealing, how he wasted what was
given to his trust, he was called to give an account. Let's read
these verses in Luke 16. There was a certain rich man
which had a steward. The same was accused unto him
that he wasted his master's goods. And he called him and said unto
him, How is it that I hear this of thee? Give an account of your
stewardship. For thou mayest no longer be
my steward." Then the steward said within himself, well, I'm
in a hard place, what shall I do? He's still scheming how to save
his hide. For my Lord taketh away from
me the stewardship, he says I cannot dig, I will not work with my
hands. And to beg, I'm too proud to
beg. I can't beg either. I'm too ashamed
to do that. I'm resolved what to do, that
when I'm put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their
houses. So he called every one of his lords debtors unto him
and said unto him, how much owest thou unto my lord? And the first one said, a hundred measures of all. And
he said to him, well, take thy bill, sit down quickly and write
fifty. Then another said to him, how
much owest thou? And he said, well, a hundred measures of wheat.
And he said to him, take thy bill and write four score. Now,
here's the puzzle. Verse 8, the Lord, now this is
not the Lord Jesus Christ, this is the rich man, the master of
the house, the Lord of the house, commended the unjust steward. Now, he condemned his dishonesty,
but he commended his zeal in trying to provide for himself.
The Lord commended the unjust steward because he had done shrewdly,
wisely, for the children of this world are in their generation
wiser than the children of light. Now, this takes much, much consideration
to study and to consider the unfaithful servant instead of
repenting and seeking forgiveness as he should have, he went on
scheming and defrauding his master to the benefit and to secure
his own future. He confesses that he was too
lazy to work. He says, I cannot dig. He confesses
he's too proud to beg. Both work and humility were contrary
to his sinful nature, so he called upon some of his master's debtors
and reduced what they owed to secure their friendship and maybe
to find a place to live in the future. Again, his plotting and
planning is unjust, right? He's still acting unjustly. This
is just like our fallen nature, our sinful, depraved nature too.
We cannot work to save our soul, nor do we have the ability to
keep the law. We have all sinned against God
and come short of the glory of God. We too, because of sin,
will not take our place before the throne of God as mercy beggars. We cannot work for salvation,
and by nature, because of our sinful nature, we're too proud
to beg for mercy." Have you ever taken your place before God's
throne as a mercy beggar? Turn one page, look at Luke 18. You remember the story of the
Pharisee and the Republican? The Pharisee, the self-righteous,
bragged on himself. The publican, verse 13, standing
afar off, the sinner, you remember the sinners, came to hear the
Lord, would not lift up so much his eyes to heaven, but smote
upon his breast and said, God, be merciful to me, thee, sinner. That's the wise place, to take
your place before the throne of God and cry like David said,
have mercy upon me, O God. according to thy loving kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercy, blot out my
sin." Look at verse 8 one more time. The Lord commended, that
is, the rich man, the Lord of the house, commended his unjust
steward because he had acted in a wise business way, shrewdly. And then the Lord said, the children
of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of life.
Now, what does that mean? I looked at this a long time.
I wrestled with this a long time. This seems to be a rather strange
statement in this story. The rich man, the Lord, said
to the unfaithful servant, you've done wisely. Now, he was not
commending his dishonesty. He was not commending his dishonesty,
but rather was commending his actions in trying to provide
and secure his future. He was commending that he acted
as a shrewd businessman in these different dealings that he was
doing to provide for his future. Then the Lord said, the children
of this world, talking about unbelievers, are wiser in their
generation in carnal things in the riches of this world than
the children of light. And that's so. This man with
regard to earthly things, this unjust steward, seems to be wiser
than the children of light, that is, believers, in that he diligently
used what resources he had to provide for his future good,
his future state. Now, here's where I'm going with
this. We would do well to be as zealous
and diligent as this unfaithful servant in making preparations
for our future state before God. What does eternity hold for us? We should always redeem what
time we have to seek the Lord. We should always make much of
the means the Lord has given unto us to prepare to meet our
God. Remember, it's appointed unto
men once to die, and after that? After that? Judgment. Judgment's coming. We should
be wise and shrewd as this man was in securing his future. We should be wise in redeeming
the time in these four things. First of all, in hearing the
word of God. We should be shrewd and wise
and zealous and diligent always about hearing the gospel being
preached. That's what we do every time
we meet together, we bring forth the gospel message of Christ.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of the Lord. Secondly,
we should be as shrewd and diligent and zealous in not only hearing
the gospel preached, but in believing the word of the Lord. We should believe everything
in this book. That's what believers do. By
him all that believe are justified from all things which could not
be justified by the law of Moses. Being justified by faith we have
peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We should be as
shrewd and diligent as is unjust servant in not setting our heart
upon the failing riches of this world, but always looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ and trusting our future and our salvation,
committing our salvation into his hand. That's what saving
faith does. Saving faith doesn't look back,
doesn't look in here. Saving faith looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ for all of our salvation. Here's the fourth thing. We should
be as shrewd, zealous, and diligent in counting all things lost for
Christ. That's what the Apostle Paul
said, I count all things lost. that I might win Christ and be
found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is of the
law, but that which is through the faithfulness of Christ."
God help us to do that. I know apart from His grace,
we won't. We won't. Now here's the second part of
this. In verse 9, 10, 11, and 12, and down in verse 13. I want you to keep in mind the
theme of what the Lord is saying here in verse 13. No man can
serve two masters. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will hold to the one and despise
the other. You cannot serve God and have
other trust in riches or whatever it may be. Self-righteousness
or whatever it may be. Tradition of your father or whatever
it might be. Now look at verse 9 carefully.
The Lord says, I say unto you, I say unto you." Now, remember
who He addressed these thoughts unto? Look at Luke 16 verse 1. And He said unto His disciples. So we're talking directly to
the disciples. And we're going to find out here
that the Pharisees also heard these things and were covetous
and derided upon Him. For they were trying to serve
the Lord with a divided heart. The Lord makes application for
us. I say unto you, I want you to
take this personal, as the Lord is speaking to you right now,
for He is. Now look at verse 9 carefully.
I say unto you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon, or riches
of unrighteousness, that when you fail, they may receive you
into everlasting habitation. Let's read on. Verse 10. He that is faithful in that which
is least is faithful also in much. He that is unjust in the
least is unjust in much. If therefore you have not been
faithful in the unrighteous manner, who will commit to your trust
true riches? And if you have not been faithful
in that which is another man, who shall give you that which
is your own?" Now, let's consider this very, very carefully. He says here, make to yourselves
friends with earthly riches, your money, your gifts, your
talent, your time, and use them as friends, not gods, as friends
to do what? To serve the Lord. To serve the
Lord. So that when you stand before
God in judgment, they are not used as a testimony against you,
as an enemy against you, but rather as a friend. Now, he gives
us an example of this. In Luke chapter 16, look, verse
19, Luke 16, 19, "...there was a rich man, which was clothed
in purple and fine linen, and fed sumptuously every day. And
there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which laid at his gate
full of sores, desiring to be fed with crumbs which fell from
the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sword. And it came to pass that when
the beggar died, he was carried by the angels into Abraham's
bosom. That is, he went to glory as
a believer. The rich man also died and was
buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Now, listen carefully. Your earthly riches, which the
Lord says here to make friends of them, your earthly riches
will not purchase eternal life, no matter how you use them, we
are saved by the grace of God alone. Right? Let's establish
that. Salvation is by the grace of
God alone. You cannot buy pardon. I don't
care how rich you are, how many millions, trillions of dollars,
we're saved by grace alone. not by works of righteousness
which we are done, but according to His mercy He saved us. We
are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ." Peter said
that, for as much as you know, you're not redeemed with corruptible
things, silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. Now listen, your earthly riches
will not purchase you eternal life, or save by grace alone,
but they can keep you out of heaven. What? They can keep you
out of heaven if you trust them rather than Christ. Now, I can
make good on that. Turn to Mark chapter 10. They will not buy you heaven,
but earthly riches, if you trust them, will keep you out of heaven. In Mark chapter 10, there was
a young rich man who approached the Lord Jesus, Mark chapter
10, And he had great possessions,
it said in verse 22. The Lord told him, he said, you
lack one thing, in verse 21, go and sell what you have, give
to the poor, and you'll have treasure in heaven, and come
and take up your cross and follow me. See, you can't serve two
masters. You sell everything you have,
Take up your cross and follow me." And he was sad at that saying
and went away grieved for he had great possession. Now read
carefully. And the Lord looked round about
and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have
riches enter into the kingdom of God. Now does this mean if
you're rich you can't have salvation? Now read on. And the disciples
were astonished at his word, but Jesus answered again and
said to them, children, how hard is it for them that trust in
riches to enter into the kingdom of God? You see what he's saying
here? It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle
than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven. It's
not that this man had riches. The problem was his riches had
him, had his heart, his affections. And they were astonished at a
measure saying among themselves, who then can be saved? And the
Lord Jesus looking upon them saying, with men it is impossible,
but not with God. For with God all things are possible
with Him." Now, turn back to Luke 16 verse 10. He that is
faithful, he that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful
also He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also
in that which is much, also in much. He that is unjust or unfaithful
in the least is unfaithful and unjust also in much. The Lord gives us a great contrast
here. The man that is faithful to the
Lord in the least things... David said, I'd rather be a doorkeeper.
I'd rather be a faithful doorkeeper than to dwell in the tent of
the wicked. The man that is faithful to the Lord in the least things...
will be faithful to the Lord in the greatest things, and he's
talking here about true spiritual riches in Christ. We are to be
good stewards of the manifold grace of God. In 1 Corinthians
chapter 4, it says this, Let a man so account of us as ministers
of Christ, as stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it
is required in stewards that a man be found faithful unto
the Lord. He that is faithful in the least
will be faithful in much. He that is faithless or unjust
in the least will be unjust in much. May the Lord give us by
His grace a faithful heart, to make us faithful servants to
the Lord, to give us a sincere believing heart, a broken spirit
that draws nigh unto the Lord, serving His greater purpose. But he that is unfaithful in
the least things will also be unfaithful in great things as
well. Now look at verse 11. Luke 16
verse 11. He that is faithful, Verse 11,
if therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous manner,
now we're talking about, again, earthly riches. If you've not been faithful in
the unrighteous manner, in the unrighteous things, who will
commit to your trust true riches? Now here we contrast between
natural things and spiritual things. If you've been unfaithful,
or not faithful to the Lord, using the earthly goods and riches
that he's put into your care, would he give you true riches
of the gospel of Christ? Would he give you true riches?
Only by his grace. Would the Lord give us this trust,
the trust of the gospel, into our hand? Only by his grace. Earthly riches are deceitful
and uncertain. We are not to set our heart upon
them. Spiritual riches, that he mentions
here, true riches, spiritual riches and true riches are eternal
riches. Those who are rich in faith are
truly rich with God, made heirs of grace and of glory, heirs
of God, and joint heirs with Christ. In Christ we have an
eternal inheritance that is incorruptible, undefiled, and fades not away. We have only these things by
His grace, true riches. Those who are rich in grace are
infinitely rich, abundantly rich. Those who are rich toward God
are presently rich. Those who are rich toward God
in Christ are perfectly rich. For you know the grace of our
Lord Jesus Christ that though He was rich, yet for your sake
He became poor, that you through His riches might be truly blessed
of God with all spiritual blessings in the heavenly in the Lord Jesus
Christ. who will commit to your trust
true riches, only those to whom the Lord by His grace has made
faithful, and by faith that's the gift of God, to receive all
things given to us of God." Now, everything we have. is by His
grace. The Apostle put it this way,
Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours,
whether Paul or Apollo, Cephas or the world, life or death,
or things present or things to come, all are yours, and you
are in Christ, and Christ is God's. Now look at verse 12,
And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's,
Who shall give you that which is your own? Who would do that?
Only God by His purpose and grace. Now here's the good news of the
gospel. The riches of this world belong
to another man. Because everything we have is
of God. That is, they all belong to God.
We're only stewards of them for a little while. We brought nothing
into this world and it's certain we're going to carry how much
out? How much are you going to carry out when you die? We're
going to carry your body out, but your bank account is going
to stay right with your family, not with you. You're going to
leave everything. Rich is here, but the riches
of his grace. We're only stewards of the things
of this time world for just a little while, but the riches of His
grace, notice this statement here, underscore it, "...who
shall give you that which is your own?" Your own? Your own? Now, the riches of
His grace are eternal riches, we are freely given to us in
Christ, and they are ours eternally. We brought nothing in, we're
going to carry nothing out, but the Lord will be with us. He
said, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll be with you. He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. The eternal riches we have in
Christ that are freely given to us shall never be taken from
us. Never be taken from us. Who shall
give you that which is your own? None but our Lord Jesus Christ.
Nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing and no one. We are eternally
united to Christ. What is His is ours. For we are
one with Him. We call that the eternal blessed
union of faith. Christ's righteousness is ours.
Christ's reward is ours. He is our exceeding great reward.
In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we're
complete in Him. He is our reward. His glory is
ours. Did you know that? We're the
believers. Turn to John 17. John 17. Look at verse 21. You see, what
He gives us, these natural riches are temporary, and we're going
to leave them right here. When we die, they're staying
right here. But those things that He gives us eternally in
Christ are ours forever. I'm making that clear? They're
ours forever. Now, here's the reason. John
17, this is the Lord's mediatorial prayer for His people. Verse
21, "...that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in
me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us, that the
world may believe that thou hast sent me, and the glory which
thou gavest me I have given them." that they may be one, even as
we are one, I in them and thou in me, that they may be made
perfect and one, that the world may know that thou hast sent
me, and hath loved them as thou hast loved me. But one more verse,
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with
me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou gavest
me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world,
and God hath loved his people everlastingly with an everlasting
love. Now, look at verse 13 in closing. No servant can serve two masters. Now, when the Lord saves us by
his grace, there's a change of masters. No longer are we serving
self. We have a new master. We're under
new management. No servant can serve two masters,
for either he will hate the one, love the other, or else he will
hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon. No man can serve two masters.
Now my question for us is this, whose servant are you? Whose
servant are you? Examine yourself whether you
be in the faith. Whose servant are you? Are you
serving Him, seeking His glory, resting in His righteousness,
or seeking to establish your own righteousness by the deeds
of the law? True faith cannot be a divided
faith. True faith doesn't rest on, well,
you know, my works were pretty good. True faith doesn't rest
there on the works and some on Christ. True faith rests on Christ
alone for all of salvation. True faith cannot be divided.
It cannot have two objects. There's one object of faith.
You cannot serve two lords or two masters. There's one Lord. Some wise preacher of the past
said this, Christ will be your Lord, Christ will be Lord and
Master of your heart, your mind, soul, or He will not be your
Lord at all. It's either all or none. Are
you all in? I'm all in by His grace. You cannot serve the Lord with
a divided heart. Now, I like what Joshua said. Wednesday night we'll begin a
study through the book of Joshua. But Joshua said this in Joshua
chapter 24, when he was about to die, the Lord was about to
take him out, and he said, all that God had promised, not one
word will fail. And then he says this, if it
seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom
you will serve. Now, listen to the rest of this
quote, because a lot of people misquote this. If it seem evil
to you to serve the Lord, Now, it doesn't seem evil to me. I
want to serve the Lord. It's good and right. Joshua said,
"...Choose you this day whom you will serve, whether the gods
which your father served, that were on the other side of the
flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell." Now,
if you're going to choose among the pagan gods, go ahead and
make your choice among the gods of the Amorites, or the Philistines,
or Dagon, or some other gods, false gods. But as for me and
my house, As for me and my house, this house, we're going to serve
the Lord. We're going to serve the Lord.
You see, the Lord Jesus Christ died for us that we should live
to serve Him. I like what Elijah said as well.
In 1 Kings 18.21, Elijah came to all the people and said, How
long will you halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God,
Follow Him. But if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not
a word." How sad. Is the Lord God? Is He God? Absolute, Sovereign, Eternal
God? Then what? Let's follow Him. That's what His sheep do. You
remember John 10? My sheep hear my voice. I know
them and they do. They follow me. They look to
me. They look to the Good Shepherd.
They look to the Good Shepherd. Now in closing, I want to read
this. Turn back to the book of Mark chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. Now I would encourage
you to go home and look at that scripture there in Luke 16 very,
very carefully and consider how weighty, weighty it is. Mark
chapter 8 verse 34. Mark 8, verse 34. And when He
called the people unto Him with His disciples also, He said unto
them, Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, take
up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake
and the gospel, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world. So what, you're the richest man
in the world. What does that mean? In the light
of eternity, it means absolutely nothing. What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his soul? That's what's
at stake, my soul. My soul's eternal. Well, what
shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For whosoever there
Therefore shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous
and sinful generation of him also shall the son of man be
ashamed when he cometh in the glory of his father with his
holy angels." Now, you see what I mean? That's a deep, deep parable. That's a deep, deep parable.